No Dog training means more to most new puppy owners than that first important lesson: Not in the House!
Teaching your Dog to go to the toilet outside the home, not in it, usually starts between six and eight weeks of age. Dogs as young as four weeks old, have been started on the house training, but at such a young age, a puppy is unlikely to have enough muscle control.
Like any dog training, the trainer’s patience is as important as the dog’s temperament. ‘Sit’, ’stay’ and other behaviours can often be learned in a few days. ‘Potty’ training can take weeks - sometimes as short as two, often a month or more.
As with other learned behaviours, you should look for signs of the impending action, then enforce and direct them with a voice command followed by praise. In this case the technique works to the trainer’s advantage, since all dogs will naturally go to the toilet. The trick is to get them to do it when and where you want!
Look for signs such as circling or squatting, then pick up the pup, say ‘outside’ and hurry outside. The puppy may circle some more, but will often squat immediately. As it begins, say “quickly” (or some other phrase) in a clear, firm (but not angry) voice. Wait until the puppy finished and give lots of praise.
You won’t always be able to catch the puppy about to begin, but don’t become angry or impatient when the dog goes to the toilet indoors. It takes time for the dog to learn to tell you it’s time to ‘go outside’. It also takes time for the muscles needed to control bladder and bowels to develop.
Young dogs need to go to the toilet every 2-3 hours, on average. If you haven’t spotted evacuation behaviour within that time, take the dog outside anyway. Issue the command ‘quickly” and wait. At first, usually, the dog will have no clue what you want.
Again, even when outside, it helps to wait and watch for the desired behaviour then issue the command. That helps the dog associate the command with the behaviour. If the dog hasn’t gone after a few minutes and a few ‘quickly’ commands, take it back inside for an hour. Of course, if you spot the pre-toilet behaviour in less time, go outside again immediately.
Dogs have a surprising ability to quickly learn what their ‘alpha’ (the leader of the pack) wants. This is almost always accomplished by associating a verbal command with behaviour, followed by praise. Punishment is usually counter-productive, and nowhere more so than in toilet training. Never rub a dog’s nose in waste.
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 puppy pads designed for the purpose. Some small breeds that live all day in the home may not need to go outside at all.
The technique has a couple of down sides however. Unlike cats, dogs will rarely go in a perfumed litter box. Newspapers (even with the top layer removed after the dog goes) will eventually create an unpleasant smell in the house.
Also, long before the odour becomes unattractive to humans, dogs can smell their own distinctive aroma. They don’t find it unattractive - quite the opposite. And that’s the problem.
Dogs that are paper trained will often prefer to eliminate indoors. Sometimes they’ll miss the paper by only an inch, creating a mess to clean up.
Once the odour is in the carpet, the dog will often seek that spot out as its proper ‘place to go’. This makes training the dog to go to the toilet outside even more difficult. Best to suffer a few accidents than to create a hard-to-overcome habit.
Patience, praise and consistency are the keys to any dog training. Elimination training is the first test for you and your dog.
Terry King runs Parcel Pets - http://www.pets2home.co.uk/cat–Training-Aids–TRAINING_AIDS.html - a leading UK pet supplies web site and has had pets all his life. He lives with his wife Louise, dog Sam, Cat Sabrina and 5 fish!
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