The goal of "house training" a puppy
is to teach your new pup that she/he should eliminate only in a
specific place, e.g., the backyard or papers on the patio.
The most important tool you will need
is patience and perseverance. In addition, the following supplies
will be needed:
House training puppies can begin as
early as five weeks of age and, depending upon the individual puppy
and your ability to consistently work the program, will take several
weeks to several months to accomplish. Be patient! Your puppy
gradually develops both the physiological (muscle) control and
the behavior habits that lead to a fully house trained
dog.
There are two basic approaches to
house training: 1) training the puppy to always go outside to
eliminate; or 2) "paper training," which means the puppy learns to go
on newspapers or pads sold at most pet stores. These two approaches
are very different. In fact, if you start out paper training and then
decide to switch your dog to an outdoor potty area, you may run into
more difficulty than if you started out training for the outdoors
from the beginning. Both these approaches are described in detail
under Step-by-Step Tips below.
It is very important to establish a
specific location where your house training pads will go. Pick a
location in an area of the house that is least used (laundry room,
for example), but one that is still easy for your puppy to get to.
Choosing an area that is least used for family activities will help
the puppy learn not to soil its pack's living quarters.
In the early days of paper-training
it is helpful to leave a little of a soiled pad or paper to remind
the puppy that this is the location where she/he last went. This will
encourage elimination in this same spot next time!
If outdoor elimination is your goal,
it is highly recommended that you start training this from the
beginning. Many people don't realize how easy it is to teach your
puppy to go in one particular area of your yard instead of using your
entire yard as a potty area. Use a houseline to escort your pup to
the designated area.
By restricting access to only a small
area of your yard (e.g., temporary fencing, leashing your puppy and
supervising elimination) and by ensuring that this area is cleaned up
every day, your puppy will choose to go back to that specific area.
This leaves the rest of your yard for games and training,
entertaining guests without fear of soiled shoes, and child-safe play
areas.
If you have trouble house training
your puppy, and you feel you have been adhering to a good house
training program, consult your veterinarian. There could be a medical
condition interfering with your puppy’s ability to control its
elimination.
Many people who live in apartments, condos, and
townhouses choose to teach their dogs to eliminate on papers or pads indoors.
Although this works for many small dogs, this may not be practical with larger
dogs because of the volume of waste that would need to be captured on the papers.
Before you decide to paper-train your
puppy you should be sure that this is the way you want your adult dog
to eliminate throughout its life. Some dogs have a difficult time
being retrained to go outdoors once they’ve learned that going
indoors is acceptable. No sooner do you remove the pads, thinking
your dog has made the transition from paper-training to outdoor
elimination, when, oops, your dog has an accident indoors.
The only difference between
paper-training and training for outdoor elimination is the location
of the potty area. That is, paper-training takes place in a specific
place indoors, while outdoor elimination takes place in a specific
place outdoors.
Successful house training programs
rely on being able to predict and prevent accidents. The following
are the key components of a successful program:
Gosh, this all seems to take a lot
of work. You’re right! That’s one of the reasons why
many people choose to adopt older dogs! Remember though, the
habits you are instilling will last a lifetime, so get help from
your family, and be persistent.
Very young puppies (6-8 weeks of
age) should not be left in the crate for more than a couple of
hours at a time and not even for that long if they have not had a
chance to relieve themselves first. Otherwise, you will force the
puppy to eliminate in its sleeping area, which will seriously
jeopardize your house training program.
Limited access
Until your puppy is house trained
be sure to set him/her up for success. In addition to maintaining
a structured schedule, it is very important to limit the
puppy’s unrestricted access in the house unless the puppy has
your undivided attention. as many people have discovered, this is
hard to do. You can very easily get distracted for two minutes
(some will say two seconds!), taking your eye off your puppy, and
that’s when the puppy decided she/he needs to
potty!
Puppies learn very early not to
soil in the area in which they rest, sleep, play, or eat. For the
first two weeks of their lives, a litter’s excrement is
cleaned up by its mother. at about three weeks of age, when the
puppies start eliminating without the aid of their mother licking
their genital areas to stimulate them, they start moving away from
their living quarters to eliminate (this appears to be
"hard-wired" in puppies).
By the time most of us get puppies around the
age of seven or eight weeks of age, they’ve had several weeks of house
training already. All we have to do is set them up so that they can continue
to recognize the difference between our living quarters, while they simultaneously
develop the physiological control to "hold it" for longer and longer until
they can leave their living quarters to eliminate.
There are two easy ways to help
puppies see the distinction between their living quarters and
potty areas. The first is helping them not make mistakes by
supervising them when they are loose in the house, and the other
is by "crate training."
"Crate training" simply means
creating a physical space that is large enough for the puppy to
stand up, stretch out, and turn around, but not large enough to
eliminate without having to step or sleep in his/her own
excrement. By confining the puppy to this restricted area for
short periods of time, and then longer and longer ones, they learn
to develop the physical control to "hold it" until they are
escorted to the potty area you have chosen for them.
An added benefit of crate training is the crate
is a good place for the puppy to take naps and breaks when you cannot supervise.
This prevents house training accidents, chewed personal articles, and potentially
dangerous activities such as chewing on electrical cords or poisonous plants.
To prevent a puppy from crying all night during its first night at home, put
the puppy in a crate and place the crate on your bed. after a couple nights,
you can place the crate on the floor, and eventually further away from your
bed until it is in its permanent place.
You can use a crate or an exercise
pen (much like a child’s playpen), or you can block off a
small area of a room. The important point is to make the area
small enough so that the puppy cannot simply take five or six
steps, eliminate, and then return to his/her bed or toys. This
will simply teach the puppy that going in its living quarters
(indoors) is okay.
An exercise pen gives you the added flexibility
of starting out small, based on the size of your 8-week-old puppy, and gradually
increasing the area to accommodate your growing puppy without having to purchase
a larger crate.
You can also use an exercise pen
to build a restricted area right next to a doggy door. This allows
the dog to learn to play and sleep inside and to go outside to
eliminate. Teach your puppy from day one that the crate or
exercise pen is a good place to be. Leave the door open and entice
your puppy to go in by tossing yummy treats and fun toys
inside.
When the puppy willingly runs into
the crate to get treats and toys, close the door, for just a few
seconds, and then open it again. as you toss the treat inside, say
"Break time!" Repeat several times, gradually building up to
closing the door for longer and longer periods of time, but always
with you still in sight.
Stuff a marrow bone or Kong with
peanut butter, cheese, kibble, and other goodies. Toss the stuffed
treat into the crate, say "Break time!" and after your puppy has
gone inside, quietly close the door. Once your puppy is engrossed
with the treat, leave the room for a few minutes, coming back
every so often, and praise him/her quietly.
Gradually build up to longer and
longer times your puppy is in the crate. You’ll find that
your puppy may seek out the crate when she/he wants quiet
time.
The crate, or puppy playpen, if
you will, is an important tool in the most successful house
training programs. However, it should not be used to isolate your
puppy for hours on end. It is a management tool intended to help
you teach your puppy the skills she/he needs to live in human
society.
Supervising Your Puppy
Supervise your puppy’s
activities so you can predict and prevent house training
accidents. In addition to maintaining a structured schedule and
limiting access, it is very important to supervise your puppy at
all times when she/he is not in its crate or other restricted
area.
Supervision means having an
active, watchful eye on your puppy. Even if you are playing with
your puppy, she/he may, all of a sudden, need to go outside. If
she/he starts sniffing excessively, circling, or acts distracted
while playing, escort him/her to the designated potty area. Many
puppies will play hard for about twenty minutes and then have to
go outside for a quick break. Set a timer for every 20-30 minutes
to help avoid accidents. Interrupt your play to take your puppy
outside or to his/her papers. Minimally, puppies should be taken
to their potty area at least once an hour.
It can be helpful to attach a
10’ cloth clothesline to your puppy’s collar and the
other end to your belt loop as you move around the house. This
ensures that you won’t forget to supervise the puppy, and
most puppies will not eliminate on your foot! Tethering your puppy
to your chair while you read or watch TV or work on the computer
will also help ensure that you don’t become too engrossed in
your activity and not notice that the puppy has wandered off to
relieve himself in another area of the house.
If you cannot supervise your puppy
100% of the time, consider giving your puppy a stuffed Kong in its
crate while you attend to personal business. Many house training
programs deteriorate due to poor supervision.
Rewarding Success
When you escort your puppy to its designated
potty area, say "Do your job," then stand by quietly so that you do not distract
your puppy from the task at hand. After the puppy has eliminated, praise and
give him/her two to three small, but yummy treats. You may find that your
puppy quickly learns that going outside to the potty area is a lot of fun.
always praise and treat to "punctuate" what a remarkable event just
occurred!
Don’t come right back in
after the puppy has eliminated. Play or let the pup explore for
several minutes. This will help you avoid inadvertently teaching
the pup to delay eliminating because she/he wants to stay outside
longer!
As soon as you notice your pup starting to signal
that she/he has to go to the potty area, reward him/her. Such signals include
running to the door, whining or scratching at the door, seeking you out and
whining, etc. Reward (praise, treats) your pup for these signals, and you
will find that s/he catches on very quickly that those signals are "bankable."
What do you do with puppies who
never signal; rather, they walk quietly to the door and then have
an accident because no one happens to be looking at the door or
the puppy at that moment? Teach your puppy to ring a bell or bark
at the door. You can hang a bell on the doorknob and reward the
puppy when s/he touches it, gradually building up to pushing at it
to get the door to open. (Clearly, this is best to teach at a time
when the puppy doesn’t have to go now.) You can also
install a battery-operated remote doorbell ringer next to the
door. The chime box can be placed in a central location in the
house where you will always hear it. (Visit our training section
on tricks for more information on how to teach this
"trick.")
Don’t Punish
Mistakes
There is a joke among trainers
that goes something like this: If your dog makes a mistake, go get
the daily newspaper, roll it up, and wap yourself
on the head several times. Bad trainer! Bad
trainer!
We are a puppy’s teacher.
Should we assume that our student’s mistake is willful
disobedience or simply a young animal who hasn’t yet learned?
Give your puppy the benefit of the doubt! Were you supervising?
When did you escort the puppy to the potty area last? Did the
puppy just drink half a bowl of water and play hard with the
kids?
Rather than punish the puppy,
simply clap your hands once or twice if you catch him/her in the
act. This should only startle the puppy long enough to interrupt
the flow and whisk him/her to the potty area. It may take several
minutes for the puppy to relax and take care of business. Then,
remember to praise and treat for the correct behavior.
If you find evidence of an
accident after the act has occurred, do not punish the puppy. Dogs
live in the present. They won’t have any idea what you are
yelling or spanking about. Signs that humans interpret as "guilt"
are actually appeasement behaviors, exhibited in an attempt to
deflect and defuse human anger (or aggression, in the eyes of the
pup).
There is usually a price to pay
when using punishment to train our dogs. In the case of house
training, think about this from the puppy’s perspective:
"Hmmmm," thinks the pup. "When I pee in front of Mom or Dad, they
go nuts, yelling, smacking me, rubbing my nose in it. Ugh! I
better not go to the bathroom in front of humans anymore. Instead,
I'll wait until they aren’t looking, or better yet, I’ll
sneak behind that potted plant and do it there!"
And, again from the dog’s perspective:
"Hmmmm, I know we’re in my potty area, but when I went in front of them
last time (in the house), they went nuts. I’d better not go in front
of them. I’d better wait until they’re not around." Then, after
standing around outside for 15 minutes, everyone is back in the house. "Hmmmm,
they aren’t looking now, and I’ve really, really gotta go. Now’s
my chance. Whew, did I ever have to go after all that standing around with
them hovering around outside."
Makes sense, doesn’t it?
Punishment doesn’t work. It only teaches your puppy something
you really didn’t mean to teach.
There will be occasional mistakes.
Make sure you have an enzymatic stain and odor remover handy.
First, remove the puppy from the area. Next, remove solid material
and/or blot up as much as you can with a cloth. Then, follow the
instructions on the bottle.
Take a deep breath and keep with
the program!
House training (Behavior
Booklet)by Dr. Ian Dunbar
