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House
Training Your New Pup |
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If your dog is
going to live inside the home, you are going to have to go
through the housebreaking process. It isn’t hard, it needn’t
be messy and it needn’t be a struggle. It doesn’t have to
take a long time. Remember that it is a training issue and
you’ll need to have more than casual input. It will take
some of your time but the more involved you get, the shorter
that span will be.
The Rules
Housebreaking Rule Number One: This is The Most
Important Rule – If you don’t catch your puppy doing it then
don’t punish him for it!
Housebreaking Rule Number Two: Praise your puppy when
things go right. Don’t let this be a situation where your
only action is saying "No" when they are caught in the midst
of using the wrong area. If they do it right – let them
know!
Methods of Housetraining
Starting Inside: There are several ways to housebreak a
puppy. With the first, you can put down papers or pretreated
pads, encouraging them to use these areas for going to the
bathroom. The pads are scented with a chemical that attracts
the puppy to use them. Whenever you see them starting into
their "pre-potty pattern", such as walking around and
sniffing the floor, you gently pick them up without talking
and carry them over to the papers/pad and then praise them
when they go to the bathroom (Rule 2).
When all goes well and they are using the papers
consistently, the papers are either moved closer to the door
and/or another set is placed outside. The transition is made
from concentrating the toilet habits to one spot inside the
home to one spot outside the home. Finally the papers inside
are eliminated. The only problem with this method is that
for a period of time it encourages the animal to eliminate
inside the home. In our experience, housebreaking may take
longer when this method is used.
Crate Training: The second popular method of
housebreaking involves the use of a crate or cage. The
often-stated reasoning is that the animal is placed in a
cage that is just large enough to be a bed. Dogs don’t like
to soil their beds for they would be forced to lay in the
mess. It works and while in these confines most pups will
control their bladder and bowels for a longer time than we
would expect. Young puppies, at 8 or 9 weeks of age can
often last for 7 or 8 hours, however we would never
recommend leaving them unattended in a crate for that long
in most circumstances.
During housebreaking, whenever the puppy is inside the home
but can’t be watched, it is placed in the crate. This might
be while you are cooking, reading to the children or even
away from the home. The last thing you do before you put the
puppy in the crate is take him outside to his favorite spot.
The first thing you do when you take the animal out of the
crate is another trip outside. No food or water goes in the
crate, just a blanket and maybe a chew toy to occupy his
time. Overnight is definitely crate time. As your faith in
the puppy grows, leave him out for longer and longer periods
of time.
Most people do not recognize an important advantage of crate
training. It does more than just stop the animal from
messing in the house. It also teaches the puppy something
very important. The puppy learns that when the urge to
urinate or defecate occurs, it can hold it. Just because the
pup feels like it needs to relieve itself, the pup learns
that it doesn’t have to. This is thought to be the main
reason why puppies that have gone through crate training
have fewer mistakes later on.
Make sure you buy the right size cage. You want one that has
the floor space that provides just enough for the puppy to
lie down. But cages are useful throughout a dog’s life and
it would be nice if you didn’t have to keep buying more as
it grows. That isn’t necessary. Simply purchase one that
will be big enough for it as an adult but choose a model
that comes with or has a divider panel as an accessory. With
these you can adjust the position of the panel so that the
space inside the cage available to the pet can grow as it
does.
Using too large of a crate can often cause long term
problems. The puppy will go to one corner of the cage and
urinate or defecate. After a while, it will then run through
it tracking it all over the cage. If this is allowed to
continue, the instincts about not soiling its bed or laying
in the mess will be forgotten and the puppy will soon be
doing it every day when placed in the crate. Now a
housebreaking method has turned into a behavioral problem as
the puppy’s newly formed hygienic habits becomes its way of
life.
Constant Supervision: The last method involves no
papers, pads or crates. Rather you chose to spend all the
time necessary with the puppy. This works very well for
people who live and work in their homes, retired persons or
in situations where the owners are always with the animal.
Whenever they see the puppy doing its "pre-potty pattern"
they hustle it outside. It is important that the dog is
watched at all times and that no mistakes are allowed to
occur. This method has less room for error as there is
nothing like a cage to restrict the animal’s urges nor is
there a place for it to relieve such as the papers or pad.
When she is taken outside, watch the puppy closely and as
soon as all goes as planned, she should be praised and then
brought back inside immediately. You want the dog to
understand that the purpose for going outside was to go to
the bathroom. Don’t start playing, make it a trip for a
reason. Verbal communications help this method and we’ll
discuss them soon. For those with the time, this is a good
method. We still recommend having a crate available as a
backup when the owners have to be away from the animal.
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