Housetraining
No training is more basic for pet owners than that first important lesson: Do it outside!
Training your new puppy to potty outside the home, not in it, usually starts between six and eight weeks of age. Dogs as young as four weeks can be house broken, but at that age few have the muscular control to succeed.
Like any dog training regimen, trainer patience is as important as the dog’s temperament. ‘Sit’, ’stay’ and other behaviors can often be learned in a few days. ‘Potty’ training your puppy may take weeks – perhaps as short as two, often a month or more.
As with other learned behaviors, due diligence is necessary to watch for signs of the desired actions and enforce and direct them with a voice command followed by praise. In this case that technique works even more to the trainer’s advantage, since all dogs will naturally eliminate. The tactic is to get them to do it when and where you want!
Watch for circling or squatting, then pick up the pup, say ‘potty’ and dash outside. The puppy may circle some more, but will often squat soon after. As it begins, say ‘Go potty’ (or some other unique phrase) in a clear, firm (but not angry) voice. Wait until she is finished and then her praise lavishly.
You won’t always be able to catch the puppy about to begin, but don’t become angry or impatient when the dog potties indoors. It takes time for your puppy to learn to tell you it’s time to ‘go potty’. It also takes time for the puppie’s muscles needed to control bladder and bowels to develop.
Puppies need to potty every 2-3 hours, on average. If you haven’t spotted pre-elimination behavior within that time, take the dog outside anyway. Issue the command ‘Go potty’ and wait. At first, usually, the dog will have no clue what you want.
Again, even when outside, it helps to wait and notice for the desired behavior then issue the command. That helps the dog associate the command with the behavior. If your puppy still has not relieved himself after a few minutes and a few ‘Go potty’ commands, take him back inside for an hour. Of course, if you spot the pre-elimination behavior in less time, go quickly outside again.
Dogs have an amazing ability to quickly learn what their ‘alpha’ (the leader of the pack) wants. This is almost always accomplished by associating a verbal command with behavior, followed by praise. Punishment is usually counter-productive, and nowhere more so than in waste elimination training. Never rub your puppy’s nose in the mess.
Paper and/or crate training is preferred by some. A pup can be trained to go on a newspaper, or on one of the chemically treated doggie pads designed for the purpose. Some small breeds that live all day in apartments may not need to go outside at all.
The technique has a couple of downsides however. Unlike cats, dogs will rarely eliminate in a perfumed litter box. Newspapers will often leave an unpleasant smell in the house.
Also, long before the odor becomes repulsive to humans, the aroma is a heavenly scent for dogs. Puppies don’t find the smell unattractive – quite the opposite. And therein lies the problem.
Dogs that are paper trained will often prefer to potty indoors. Sometimes your puppy may miss the paper by only an inch, creating a mess to clean up.
Once the odor is in the carpet, the dog will often seek that area out as its proper ‘place to go’. This makes training the dog to eliminate outside even more difficult. Best to suffer a few accidents than to create a hard-to-overcome habit.
Praise, patience, and consistency are the keys to any dog training. Elimination training is the first test for you and your dog.
Get more tips and advice on housetraining or dog training at Luvurdog.com/dogtraining