No training is more basic for pet owners than that first important lesson: Do it outside!
Teaching your new puppy to eliminate outside the home, not in it, can start between six and eight weeks of age. Dogs as young as four weeks have been started on the program, but at that age not many 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 sometimes takes weeks - maybe as short as two, often a month or more.
As with other learned behaviors, it helps to observe 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 trick is to get them to do it when and where you want!
Observe for circling or squatting, then pick up the pup, say ‘outside’ and dash outside. The puppy may sometimes circle some more, but will often squat immediately. As it starts, say ‘Go potty’ ( or some other unique phrase) in a clear, firm (but not angry) voice. When the puppy has finished, lavish her with praises.
You won’t always be able to catch the puppy about to begin, but don’t become angry or impatient when the dog eliminates indoors. It takes time for your puppy to learn to tell you it’s time to ‘go potty’. It can take time for the muscles that control the bladder and bowels to develop.
Young dogs need to go 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 watch for the desired behavior then issue the command. That helps the dog associate the command with the behavior. If the dog hasn’t gone after a few minutes and a few ‘Go potty’ commands, take it back inside for an hour. Of course, if you notice the pre-elimination behavior sooner, go outside again immediately.
Dogs have a surprising capacity 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 waste.
Paper and/or crate training is preferred by some. A pup can be trained to go on a newspaper, a litter box for puppies,or on one of the chemically treated 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 downsides however. Unlike cats, dogs will rarely eliminate in a perfumed litter box. Elimination on newspapers often leaves lingering odors in your house.
Also, way before the odor becomes unattractive to humans, dogs can detect their own distinctive aroma. They don’t find their scent unattractive - quite the opposite. So that spot continues to be the problem.
Dogs that are paper trained will often prefer to eliminate indoors. Sometimes they’ll miss the paper by just an inch, resulting in a smelly mess to clean up.
Once the scent 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.
Patience, praise and consistency are the key elements for successful dog training. House training is the first obstacle for you and your dog.
Get more tips and advice on housetraining or dog training at Luvurdog.com/dogtraining
Mail this post
Recent Comments