How To Housetrain A Puppy
An adult dog will need to relieve himself once or twice a day. And he’ll generally have no trouble finding a way to let you know when it’s time.
A puppy, on the other hand, will need to go outside as many as eight or nine times a day. And if he can’t make it, he’ll pick the nearest convenient spot to do his business. Usually the carpet or a corner of the hardwood floor.
That should be all the incentive you need to get your puppy house training completed as soon as possible.
Here are some secrets to help make that happen:
Finally, you’ll do yourself a favor if you go into this process with the understanding that your puppy is going to have accidents. It’s almost inevitable. When they happen, clean them up thoroughly (a puppy will be tempted to return to that same spot in the future), and continue working the routine you’ve established.
If you follow these puppy house training suggestions, using praise at every opportunity, you’ll find it won’t be long at all before your puppy is completely housebroken.
The Pack Hierarchy
All potential dog owners and would be dog trainers should understand how dog society works in the absence of humans. You’ll want to understand the pack hierarchy, and use that understanding to your advantage as you train your dog. Here’s a quick overview: all pack animals have a lead animal. In the case of dogs, it’s the alpha dog. All other members of the pack look to the alpha dog for direction and guidance. In turn, the alpha dog provides leadership in hunting, fending off other predators, protecting territory and other vital survival skills. This pack arrangement is what has allowed wolves and wild dogs to be such successful predators, even as other large predators have been driven to extinction. How does this aid in training? By being perceived as the alpha dog, you immediately gain the respect and obedience of your dog.
Dog Training Equipment
It’s not entirely necessary to have special equipment to train your dog. However, depending upon the type of training you’d like your dog to receive, there are some situations in which good training equipment will make the process both easier and faster.
For instance, dog obedience training can utilize such simple equipment items as clickers, treat balls (which are amazing), extendable leashes and other similar equipment. These are all relatively inexpensive and easy to find. Agility training equipment, on the other hand, can be a little more challenging to find and definitely ring up the credit card bills. Agility equipment can include everything from mini-teeters (just like they sound … little teeter-totters for training) to Buja-Boards, weave poles and much more.
If you’d like to get an idea of the dog training equipment involved in agility training, check out Affordable Agility. Here’s their description of a neat agility equipment set that sells for only $159.00 …
The Agility-in-a-Bag Set weighs only 18 lbs in the bag, and is made of furniture-grade UV-stabilized plastic, and the tunnel & chute is made with ripstop nylon. It features some of the most popular obstacles, including:
- 6-pole weave set - with it’s own free-standing base. Unit pops together, and the poles can be slanted for training the popular “weave-a-matic” method.
- Adjustable jump - with a displaceable bar (for safety) that adjusts to any height by sliding the 2 jump cups up and down on the side bars.
- Adjustable Tire jump - 24″ diameter hoop that slides up and down on the side bars.
- Pause box - Great training aid and substitute for the pause table. Dog must stop and either sit or lay down for a 5 second count.
- Tunnel & Chute - 3′ tunnel with 22″ diameter and attachable 8′ chute. Use the tunnel by itself, or attach the chute for extra challenge. Color is subject to availability only.
- Carrying Bag - sturdy canvas-like material with wide strap. (bag is blue and yellow as shown, and has a pocket on the outside).
- Instruction Manual, that includes pictures and training tips for each obstacle.
It’s a very cool set. Well worth checking out.
There are numerous other Internet sites that carry good dog training equipment. If you do any shopping around, you’ll quickly discover that the Internet provides you with more options and cheaper prices than you’ll generally find in town. So, don’t hesitate to shop around on the Internet first.
The nice thing about dog training equipment, whether it’s for obedience training or agility training, you can use it nearly anywhere … at home, in a friend’s backyard, at the local dog park, even in a field out in the middle of nowhere. Training equipment is generally lightweight, portable, and easy to pack. Plus, it doesn’t have to be stuffy. Dog training equipment can be funky or old fashioned, bright or dull. It’s all up to you.
Finally, you can also use dog training equipment for fun instead of training. For instance, if you want to teach your dog to come, sit and stay or other basic commands, you’ll find that toys can be a great help. Training need not, and should not, be all work and no play!
Dog House Training, Part Two
In our last post, we talked about setting up a training area for your dog. Now we’re ready to take the next step toward house training your dog.
Setting Up The Toilet Area
The second part of your dog’s house training is to establish his toilet area. Your dog must have access to this place every time he or she needs to eliminate. It’s also important for you to accompany your dog each time he does his business until he’s in the habit of eliminating in the toilet area. This will help ensure that your dog uses only the established area.
Hand in hand with this, a regular feeding schedule will help create a regular schedule for your dog’s toilet habits. Once you understand his typical elimination times, then it becomes much easier to give him the opportunity to do his business in the designated area.
Once your dog is familiar with his toilet area and using it on a regular basis, you’ll want to make sure not to confine him without access to the area for extended periods of time. If he accidentally eliminates in his training area because he can’t hold it, then the entire housetraining process will be set back and become that much more difficult.
Continuing The House Training Process
Once your dog is consistently using his toilet area, it’ll be time to extend his confined training area to the rest of the house. This process should be done slowly, starting with one room at a time, and should only be extended once you’re sure of your dog’s ability to control his bladder and bowels. Allow your dog to eat, play and sleep in the new room only when supervised. If you’re unable to supervise him, place him back in the original training area.
Speeding Up The Process
If this process is too lengthy for your needs, it can be shortened if you proceed cautiously. Remember, though, it’s easier to take your time up front than to have to retrain a problem dog later. With that in mind, there are a couple of ways to speed up the process of house training your dog. First, use lots of praise and rewards when your dog does his business in the established toilet area. And second, don’t punish him for his mistakes. Punishment will only confuse him and slow down the house training process.
Dog House Training
There’s no question about it … house training is one of the most important areas of training your dog to be a valued part of the family. It’s not always fun. In fact, house training your dog can be frustrating and nerve-wracking. But the good news is that you have a secret weapon … you get to use your dog’s natural instincts to your benefit.
See, the great thing about dogs (and this is what’s going to make your house training much easier) is that they’re instinctively clean animals. A dog does not like the idea of soiling the area where he sleeps and eats. Because of this, he’s generally quick at developing good habits of doing his business in the proper area at the proper times. For example, a dog that’s accustomed to eliminating on concrete or gravel will prefer that surface over grass or dirt, and visa-versa. These natural canine instincts work to your advantage during the house training process.
Setting Up The Training Area
The first step to house training your dog is to establish a training area. This should be a small, confined space such as a bathroom, or part of a kitchen or garage. Please note that this is not the same as crate training. A crate can be effective for puppies or small dogs, but many larger dogs will find a crate too confining.
This confined area should be designed to be comfortable for your dog. It’s an area where he’ll eat and sleep and learn to identify as his own. So include his bed, a water dish, and some chew toys. To help make the area even more comfortable, spend time there with your dog. Play with him. Pet him. And understand that while he may eliminate in this area early on, once he recognizes it as his own space, he’ll be reluctant to soil it.
Whenever you’re not with your dog, he should be confined to this training area.
In our next post, we’ll address setting up the toilet area for your dog and how to continue the house training process.
Dog Training With Hand Signals
While we most often communicate with our dogs through verbal commands, such as “sit” or “stay” or “down,” this isn’t always possible. An example might be the training of a deaf dog. Another example might be a trainer who has a weak voice or vocal cord damage. Under such circumstances, dog training hand signals can often prove to be a lifesaver.
The advantage of using hand signals for training is that your dog is already naturally attuned to your body language. Why? Because that’s the very nature of dogs, that’s how they communicate with each other. Even when your dog can hear your commands, he’s reading the expression on your face, the movement of your hands, the posture of your body. All of these send messages to your dog. Which means that whether you’re aware of it or not, you’re already using dog training signals.
So before you even get started with dog training hand signals, understand that it’s simply another way of communicating with your dog. It’s not harder or easier. It’s not more effective or less effective. It doesn’t require more of your time, or a greater effort on the part of your dog. It’s just different. That’s all. Just different.
The next great thing about dog training hand signals is this: your choice of hand signal doesn’t matter. There is no right or wrong way to conduct this form of training. Some trainers make up their own system. Some trainers follow an established sign language such as ASL (American Sign Language). Other trainers use a combination of the two. It’s all up to you. There are no hard and fast rules. The choices are yours.
For instance, if you’re comfortable raising your hand, palm out, to signify that your dog should stay, then work on that hand signal just as you would work on the verbal command, “stay.” If you find that extending your index finger and pointing to the ground is easy to remember for the command, “down,” then use it. Just keep in mind that dog training hand signals should be used the same as verbal commands. Be consistent. Be repetitive. Be patient. And lavish plenty of love and goodies on your dog throughout the training process.
More Dog Training Tips
Is Your Dog Special?
There’s a relatively new dog training course out that was developed by a woman to train her dogs to perform in TV commercials and movies: Dove Cresswell’s Dog Training
Quite unlike the techniques usually taught in dog training courses offered to the general public, this course uses online videos that you can access immediately and watch as many times as you’d like. You’ll train your dog the Cresswell way. Hear her voice and watch the correct training postures and voice commands so you can teach your dog like a pro. In minutes you can get started and quickly master: Puppy House Training / Potty Training; Dog Obedience Training; Crate Training; Walking Politely on a Leash: The Informal Heel; The Recall; Good Puppy & Dog Manners; Special Dog Tricks. Dove Cresswell Dog Training
