HOUSE TRAINING YOUR PUPPY.....
House training is a stage that every puppy has to go through. But just like other learned behaviours some puppies pick it up much faster than others. The trick is not to despair as they all eventually learn.There are a couple of important tips that the owner/handler can learn when housetraining their puppy. That is to anticipate and watch for the signs. Wright and Morten have written that;
“As ageneral rule, puppies need to go to the loo at the following times :
- immediately after waking.
- after eating or drinking.
- when excited.
- after playing and sometimes during a wild game if he did not have a chance to go out before the game started.
- At least every waking hour!”
In anticipation of your puppy needing the toilet there are a couple of signs that tell you your puppy is about to do the toilet. Sniffing the ground in a focused way,circling in one spot, tail held high. These are all signs that you should walkyour puppy to the spot you have chosen as its spot for eliminating, probably inthe garden.
Cratetraining is recognized as an ideal way to speed up the house training process.In the wild most animals will leave their nest to another spot to eliminate. Most animals will not eliminate where they are either sleeping or eating.
Using acrate to confine the puppy from time to time encourages them to want to leave the crate to eliminate. Initially put your puppy in it’s crate for up to an hour at a time. Confining the puppy like this for small amounts of time will encourage them to eliminate as soon as they come out. Therefore the handler will need to take the puppy outside to it’s chosen spot to perform. It is important to pick a spot that is easy and quick to get to. It is also important that these trips to the garden for the sole purpose to eliminate does not descend into a game. The puppy has to learn what is expected of it when it istaken out to it’s spot. If the puppy does not do the business in the first ten minutes, take it back to it’s crate and leave it in their for ten to fifteen minutes. Then take the puppy out to it’s spot again and stay with it,encouraging it to perform. As it progresses the handler should introduce acommand to associate with the behavior of eliminating. The puppy will then learn to eliminate on command through time. It is very important to remember to praise the puppy profusely as soon as it performs and NEVER chastise for not performing. If an owner does not have a garden, say they live in a flat, thenthe puppy can still be taught how and when to eliminate at the door. By placing some polythene sheet on the floor with some newspaper on top of the polythenethe floor covering will be protected and the newspaper is easily disposed of.Once the puppy masters the association of the command to the act the handler can then move outdoors to the nearest place which is safe for the puppy to eliminate on command.
Perseverance and patience is the key to teaching puppy house training as it is with most things you will be teaching the puppy. And from time to time there will besetbacks.
These are the times which make or break the training process. The handler must never chastise the puppy for having the odd relapse, instead clean up the mess without comment or fuss. If the handler gets onto the puppy the chances are it will encourage the puppy to be secretive about when it needs to go, and willlead to the puppy looking for somewhere secretive to perform. Like behind thecouch, or in another room when handler isn’t looking. Dogs are like humans in regards to the length of time it takes to learn a behavior, they are all different. Some puppies will grasp it fairly quickly and some will seem to take forever. But in general they all eventually learn. It can take in some cases upto twelve months to be fully house trained. Where an owner can leave the dogall night without getting up in the morning to any mess.
There are afew things which a handler can do to help the puppy avoid making mistakes.
Overfeeding will result in the puppy having to eliminate more than usual, giving avariety of foods to the puppy will cause it to eliminate at differentintervals, by not setting a routine for feeding the puppy, feeding late atnight will also cause over night elimination, it is also important to use the correct cue words when praising your puppy for performing correctly. Saying“good girl” or “good boy” when the puppy eliminates will encourage it to eliminate every time it hears those cues. So the handler needs to be careful to pick a cue or command that is only associated with eliminating, like “hurryup”, or “wee wees” or something similar. However the handler must always accompany the puppy to the garden so that he/she is present when the puppy performs and can give the praise.
Initially whilst puppies are learning to eliminate in the garden they may not eliminate when taken for walks. Puppies are creatures of habit and will most likely wait till they are back in the garden where they can eliminate in ‘their spot’. One way of breaking this habit is to get up very early and take the puppy out for awalk before it has had time to do it’s morning business. The handler must have plenty time stop that they can keep the puppy out for as long as it takes. Again once it does the puppy should be rewarded. If however despite staying outfor as long as you can afford, the puppy doesn’t go, it is important that the puppy is taken straight into the garden upon returning so that it can go, orelse there will be an accident in the house. Another important point is to make sure any accidents that do occur in the home are cleaned thoroughly with a petdeodorizer. Even if you think you have cleaned up properly smells will stilllinger for the puppy and draw it back to that spot. If accidents continue tohappen then it’s probably because the puppy does not understand what is expected of it. The handler must go back as far as is needed to go over thetraining again until the puppy gets it. It is not the puppies fault. Patienceand perseverance is the key to success. Some times a bitch puppy or dog will pee whenever a visitor arrives or the owner returns from work or a visit. This is not the same as normal elimination; instead it is what is called as submissive or excited urination. The trick here is to tone down your greeting. As Cesar Milan would say “No touch, no talk, no eye contact” until the puppy has calmed down.
To summaries then, If using a crate to house train the puppy;
“Show him where to go
Take him to the spot
Stay with him
Encourage him
Praise him
Reward him.”
But remain patient and positive.
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