Post by Admin on Mar 17, 2015 16:31:30 GMT
How to toilet train your pup or adult dog.
It is very important to us humans for our dogs not to toilet in our homes but teaching a dog not to seems to be causing a lot of problems. It doesn't matter how young or old your dog is, they can still be toilet trained but you have to be very consistent, slip up once, and it will set your dog back.
First make sure you have several days free to concentrate on toilet training your dog, you need this to get it established for yourself and your dog. Dogs learn by being repetitive, miss and your dog goes backwards.
1. Never try to teach your dog to toilet on paper or pads.
Many dogs taught this way never learn to toilet outside because they have been taught it is ok to toilet inside, dogs don't generalise and don't understand that they can't toilet inside when there is no paper or pads.
2. Keep all outside doors closed while you are toilet training no matter how hot it is.
If you have the outside doors open your dog doesn't know where the house stops and the garden begins, this really does confuse your dog so all doors must be closed.
3. Always take your dog outside, never put him out while training him.
If you put your dog outside you can't see when he goes, if you can't see him go you can't tell him that is what you want him to do by giving him lots and lots and lots and lots of praise, party, make him feel is the best thing since sliced bread. Many give dogs treats but I prefer to use praise. Puppies do a double wee, they go outside, you praise and bring them in only for your puppy to go on your lovely, white carpet, this is normal, with pups once they have gone and you have had a party, take him for a walk round the garden/yard to give him the chance to do the double wee.
4. Take him outside as soon as he wakes up
Dogs normally want to toilet when they wake up so take him outside and give him the chance to. This is for afternoon snoozes or anytime your dog sleeps.
5. Take him outside before and after he is fed.
Some dogs prefer to go before being fed, some after and some like to go before and after they have been fed.
6. Take him outside after a training or play session.
Often after a play or training session the dog relaxes and needs to toilet so give your dog the chance to do this by taking him outside as soon as these are over.
7. Take him outside ever 30/45 minutes for pups, every hour for adult dogs.
Pups like human babies are not developed enough to hold when they need to go, they have to release it, we have nappies on our babies but expect pups to know they have to go outside, they don't. We have to give them the chance to toilet where we want them to by taking them there at times that will suit their needs not ours. If you go over this time to finish a job you are doing and your dog toilets in the house, that is your fault not your dog's so roll up a newspaper and hit yourself over the head with it saying "I must take my dog out to toilet when he should go".
8. If your dog does go inside, put him in another room before you clean up.
With many dogs or pups it won't matter if you clean up in front of them but with a sensitive dog it does. No matter how much we try if a dog toilets inside our body language changes, dogs pick up on this and think they have done something wrong, they haven't, they have not yet learnt to toilet outside. By putting the dog in another room before we clean up, the dog doesn't get the same chance to think he has done wrong. Dogs that think they have done something wrong are harder to train. They will sometimes try to hide it or do it behind the furniture which you don’t want. We have to toilet train your toddlers and we have to with our new dog as well.
9. What to clean up with.
Never use normal household cleaners, most have ammonia in which encourages a dog to toilet in that spot again. Even though we can't smell the wee, our dogs can because they have a much better smell than we do. You have to take the smell away for the dog as well as us.
You can clean up with white vinegar or biological washing liquid or buy something for the job from a pet shop. They will all take the smell away for your dog which is very important when you are training your dog.
Some breeds are easier to train than others, some dogs are more excitable than others, some dogs are slow to pick things up like this, no matter how quick or slow your dog is it is very important to be consistent, only by being consistent will you succeed in teaching your dog to toilet outside and not in.
With pups remember that their bodies are not mature, they may not be capable of holding so don't expect them to. It is normal for a pup to go through the night even though they are not mature enough to hold, this is because their bodies, like ours, slows down when we are asleep. With very young pups, they will be clean and dry quicker if you get up during the night to take them outside to toilet, by stopping them from toileting in the house completely by taking them out, they don't get mixed messages.
Your new dog may never have lived in a house so hasn’t needed to learn were to toilet, they have been able to go where they want, it usually takes longer to toilet train an adult dog than a puppy so be patient.
It isn't difficult to toilet train a dog or pup but does take a lot of work but well worth the effort when they are clean, if possible set aside the first week you have your dog to letting him de-stress and learn to trust as well as learn to toilet outside.