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TOILET TRAINING
If your puppy has an accident, you roll up a newspaper tightly - then you smack yourself over the head, because you were not paying attention and allowed your pup to fail! |
I refer to this as toilet training as opposed to house training. The reason being it is excellent to have your dog eliminate on cue even though it may live predominately outdoors. This gives you the means to ask your dog to perform if you require a sample for the vet or even show the dog which area of the garden you want it to perform its toilet in. If you are taking your dog out in the car, you can ask it to perform its ‘business’ before you leave avoiding stops on the side of the road which can be dangerous to both you and your dog.
The act of eliminating is totally normal and what we, as owners dislike, is when the puppy performs in inappropriate places! Toilet training is very quickly and easily accomplished simply by praising and treating your pup every time he/she performs the behaviour. A cue such as ‘wee-wee’ or ‘hurry-ups’ can be paired with the action which will make your life even easier.
Where toilet training is concerned, the most important factor is timing. For this we need to be aware of the normal times a puppy will need to eliminate and simply bring in the training at the appropriate time.
On average, puppies will urinate within about thirty second of waking up and the defecation usually takes place a couple of minutes after that. To make your life easier, wake up the puppy when you are ready and take it to the designated place, remembering to praise as soon as the behaviour has been performed and pairing the new cue of ‘wee-wee’ etc with it - you can even provide a nice treat, which will further reinforce the behaviour you want. Not only will the puppy go to the place you require, you are developing an excellent habit of going to the elimination place on waking up.
A puppy’s bladder has a capacity of approximately 75 minutes at eight weeks, ninety minutes at approximately 12 weeks and in the region of two hours at eighteen weeks. Therefore if you take your puppy to eliminate every hour on the hour and also after playing, after eating and after sleeping you are well on the way to successful toilet training. Knowing that your puppy is likely to eliminate at these specific times allows you to get your puppy to his/her spot, and most importantly allows you to praise and treat every time it happens. Dogs are extremely bright animals and will happily perform behaviours especially when they know that they will be treated and praised afterwards. Another indicator that your puppy may need to eliminate is if he/she starts to smell the ground and walk in circles. This may sound like a lot of work, but they really do learn very quickly and the rewards to us, as handlers, are having a house that doesn’t smell like dog pee and a much better relationship with our dogs.
What to do when your puppy has an accident and performs in the house. First of all, determine why the accident happened. Did you forget to take him/her out after playing? Was the play a bit rougher than usual and the puppy got unduly excited? When you are following a toilet training routine as explained above, there are very seldom accidents, but if they do occur, examine why so that you can prevent the same thing happening in future.
The one thing you do not do if your puppy does have an accident, is shout or perform, rub its nose in it or anything along those lines. Rather take a newspaper and hit yourself over the head for not realizing that it needed to eliminate in the first place! The area that has been marked needs to be cleaned as soon as possible. Do not use any household cleaning products as they often contain pine scent, chlorine or ammonia and although they may smell good to us, to a dog it makes the area smell even more like a toilet. Instead rather use one of the pet stain removers or simply use a mixture of half white vinegar to half water. Whatever method used, ensure that it is cleaned several times. A dog has a far superior olfactory sense than we do and if it smells the marking, the outcome will be that it continues to use the place as an inside toilet. Make sure that the cleaning mixture will not stain the carpet first.
The act of eliminating is totally normal and what we, as owners dislike, is when the puppy performs in inappropriate places! Toilet training is very quickly and easily accomplished simply by praising and treating your pup every time he/she performs the behaviour. A cue such as ‘wee-wee’ or ‘hurry-ups’ can be paired with the action which will make your life even easier.
Where toilet training is concerned, the most important factor is timing. For this we need to be aware of the normal times a puppy will need to eliminate and simply bring in the training at the appropriate time.
On average, puppies will urinate within about thirty second of waking up and the defecation usually takes place a couple of minutes after that. To make your life easier, wake up the puppy when you are ready and take it to the designated place, remembering to praise as soon as the behaviour has been performed and pairing the new cue of ‘wee-wee’ etc with it - you can even provide a nice treat, which will further reinforce the behaviour you want. Not only will the puppy go to the place you require, you are developing an excellent habit of going to the elimination place on waking up.
A puppy’s bladder has a capacity of approximately 75 minutes at eight weeks, ninety minutes at approximately 12 weeks and in the region of two hours at eighteen weeks. Therefore if you take your puppy to eliminate every hour on the hour and also after playing, after eating and after sleeping you are well on the way to successful toilet training. Knowing that your puppy is likely to eliminate at these specific times allows you to get your puppy to his/her spot, and most importantly allows you to praise and treat every time it happens. Dogs are extremely bright animals and will happily perform behaviours especially when they know that they will be treated and praised afterwards. Another indicator that your puppy may need to eliminate is if he/she starts to smell the ground and walk in circles. This may sound like a lot of work, but they really do learn very quickly and the rewards to us, as handlers, are having a house that doesn’t smell like dog pee and a much better relationship with our dogs.
What to do when your puppy has an accident and performs in the house. First of all, determine why the accident happened. Did you forget to take him/her out after playing? Was the play a bit rougher than usual and the puppy got unduly excited? When you are following a toilet training routine as explained above, there are very seldom accidents, but if they do occur, examine why so that you can prevent the same thing happening in future.
The one thing you do not do if your puppy does have an accident, is shout or perform, rub its nose in it or anything along those lines. Rather take a newspaper and hit yourself over the head for not realizing that it needed to eliminate in the first place! The area that has been marked needs to be cleaned as soon as possible. Do not use any household cleaning products as they often contain pine scent, chlorine or ammonia and although they may smell good to us, to a dog it makes the area smell even more like a toilet. Instead rather use one of the pet stain removers or simply use a mixture of half white vinegar to half water. Whatever method used, ensure that it is cleaned several times. A dog has a far superior olfactory sense than we do and if it smells the marking, the outcome will be that it continues to use the place as an inside toilet. Make sure that the cleaning mixture will not stain the carpet first.