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 few have the muscular control to succeed.
With any dog training plan, trainer patience is as important as the dog’s temperament. ‘Sit’, ’stay’ and other behaviors can often be learned in a few days. House training typically takes weeks – sometimes as short as two, often a month or more.
As with other learned behaviors, it helps to watch for signs of the wanted 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. You want to train them to do it when and where you want!
Watch for circling or squatting, then pick up the pup, say ‘outside’ and take him outside. The puppy may circle some more, but will often promptly squat. When he starts, say ‘Go potty’ ( or some other unique phrase) in a clear, firm (but not angry) voice. When the puppy has finished the deed, praise him lavishly.
You won’t always be able to catch the puppy about to eliminate, but don’t become angry or impatient when the dog eliminates indoors. It takes a while for your puppy to learn to tell you it’s time to ‘go potty’. It also takes time for the muscles needed to control bladder and bowels to learn control.
On average, puppies need to eliminate every 2-3 hours. 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 notice for the desired behavior then issue the command. That helps the dog associate the command with the behavior. Wait a few minutes and If the dog hasn’t gone, even after a few ‘Go potty’ commands, take it back inside for an hour. Of course, if you spot the pre-elimination behavior in less time, go quickly outside again.
Puppies 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 dog’s nose in waste.
Paper and/or crate training is preferred by some. A pup can be trained to eliminate on a newspaper, 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 seldom go in a scented litter box. Newspapers (even with the top layer removed after the dog goes) will eventually leave an unpleasant odor in the house.
Also, long before the odor becomes unattractive to humans, dogs can smell their own distinctive scent. Puppies don’t find it unattractive – quite the opposite. And that is where the problem lays.
Dogs that are paper trained will often prefer to potty indoors. Occassionally they’ll miss the paper by just an inch, creating a nasty mess to clean up.
Once the smell is in the carpet, the dog will often seek that spot 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.
The keys to any dog training are patience, praise and consistency. Elimination training is the first quest for you and your dog.
Get more tips and advice on housetraining or dog training at Luvurdog.com/dogtraining
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