Probably your first training that you undertake with your newly acquired puppy
or dog is to ensure that it is properly house trained (also known as house
broken). Regard this as the
equivalent of potty training a human baby except that thankfully house training
a dog will be much quicker and far less trouble. However, some of the criteria
that apply to a human baby also apply with regards to house training or potty
training your puppy or dog. Like a human baby your puppy:-Will not be completely in control of his bowel or bladder movements until it is
more mature.Will not be sure of acceptable toilet manners in your house.
Puppies need to eliminate their bowels often, at least 2 to 3 times as often as
adult dogs. Only at about 6 months is he able to control himself, but then
seldom up to 8 hours. So, when your puppy has the inevitable accidents and messes where it shouldn't,
please don't rub your puppy's nose in it, or hit it, or smack it with a rolled
up newspaper which many people advise. You wouldn't treat a human baby like
that would you? All these actions will only serve to confuse your puppy or dog
and in fact will be counter productive to your house training efforts.A dog will not link the punishment, often administered well after the event, to
the act of his messing in the house. He will however associate a mess and the
presence of a human, as something which results in punishment. He will then
when he has made a mess avert his gaze and "look away or appear to look
guilty". This is often mistaken by the owner, who feels that the dog has this
"guilty look" because he knows he has done wrong.
This may encourage the owner
to continue with this treatment, resulting in further confusion to the dog
leading to anxiety build up which is likely to exacerbate the problem, through
loss of bowel control, which can also result in submissive urinating whenever
the owner approaches.So, how should you house train your dog?Under natural environmental conditions a dog or wolf will lick her puppies to
stimulate elimination. The mother will then eat any deposits to keep the den
clean. Instinctively the puppy has an aversion to soiling its sleeping area and
normally from an age of 3 to 4 weeks will attempt to leave its sleeping area in
order to wee or pooh. Dogs learn quickly through a reward based system. Use the
above two facts to quickly house train your dog:-Immediately upon arriving home with your newly acquired puppy or dog, before
even entering your home, take him to the area where you want him to wee and
pooh. Let him explore, hopefully he will walk and sniff around a bit. If things
go well he may oblige by eliminating. If he does, immediately reward him with a
tasty treat.Take your dog inside. After an hour, and every hour after that, take your dog
outside to the selected spot. Reward him immediately with a treat if he does
anything. It's probably more likely however, that he will not oblige. Be
prepared to spend at least 5 minutes with your dog while he sniffs around the
area. If after 5 minutes he still hasn't done anything take him back inside,
but this time take him back to the outside area after 10 minutes.
Of course if
you did have success with him eliminating previously then you only need to
return to the outside area every hour.Always take him outside to the selected spot immediately after his mealtimes,
on waking, after play or after excitement.Take your dog to the selected area should he show signs of restlessness which
includes whining, sniffing, running with nose to floor, circling around or
scratching at the door, getting ready to squat. All these signs could indicate
that your dog needs to wee or pooh.In all the above cases it is preferable when taking the puppy or dog outside to
allow him to walk or run from inside to outside himself. This will ensure that
he quickly learns to whine at the outside door when he needs to go outside.During sleeping hours it will be impractical to let your puppy go outside every
hour. However it will help immensely if you are prepared to get up once during
the night say after about 4 hours to allow your puppy to relieve himself. This
will certainly cut down on accidents.You should ensure that you confine your dog to an area which is easy to clean
in case of accidents.Should you see your puppy attempting to squat indoors, scoop him up as quickly
as possibly and take him outside, alternatively a loud shout "No" to startle
him often stops him in time allowing you then to lead him outside.In case of accidents don't scold your dog it will just confuse him. Simply
clean up as soon as possible, use a deodorant to ensure no urine smells are
left else your pup will be attracted to go to that area again. Do not use
ammonia based cleaning agents as this may smell similar to urine to the puppy.
When cleaning up it is best to do it without the dog being present. With the
correct training outlined here you will not need to do this too often as your
puppy should soon become housetrained.While your puppy or dog eliminates itself use a word to signify the event. You
only say the word while your puppy is actually in the act. You might use "do
it" or any other word/s, but keep it simple and uncomplicated. I say "go now"
to my dogs. What will eventually happen is that your puppy or dog will
associate this word/s with the act of relieving itself and your dog will
actually learn to relieve himself on command, provided of course that he has
the need to do so.During the training process you should reward a successful outcome with praise
and perhaps a tasty treat. If you feel that you will need more help to house train (house break) your dog
or puppy, there is a book that I wholeheartedly recommend. What I like about
this book is that it also gives you access to a very good forum. If you are
having any problems that the book does not solve you can always ask for free
expert advice at the forum. For more information on my recommended house training book. Please Click Here!Using a crate can assist immensely with creating a comfortable environment for your puppy as well as assisting with the house training process.
