| Housetraining Your Puppy |
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| Housetraining Your Puppy Housetraining problems are one of the number one reasons why dogs get turned into shelter and rescue organizations. But housetraining does not have to be a difficult and arduous task! We must first remember that puppies do not come to us knowing the rules of the house. It is our job to teach them in a manner that is fair and consistent. Most puppies are born with an instinctual urge to potty away from where they eat and sleep. Unfortunately, puppies that are raised in an unclean environment eventually become used to living this way and can be very hard to housetrain. Puppies that come from pet stores, puppy mills, and poor quality breeders are often kept in very unclean and unsanitary conditions. Please note that housetraining can be harder for those puppies that have been raised in an unclean environment. It is not impossible to housetrain these dogs, but it will take longer and you must remember that it is not their fault. It was simply how they were raised. The number one key to successful housetraining is to set the puppy up for success. We are going to do everything we can to keep the puppy from having accidents in the house. The use of crates, leashes, and yummy rewards will help tremendously. Just as we would not spank a baby for messing in his diaper, we are not going to punish the puppy for messing in the house. We are simply going to teach the puppy the rules of the house in a fair and consistent manner. CRATES The first step to housetraining is the use of a crate. Crates are not punishment for a dog. Dogs are den creatures. If used in a positive manner, crates become a safe and comfortable place for the puppy. Puppies do not like to soil the place where they eat or sleep. Using a crate helps your puppy to learn how to “hold it”. ANYTIME THAT YOUR PUPPY IS NOT DIRECTLY SUPERVISED, HE MUST BE IN HIS CRATE. Not only will this help with housetraining, but it will also keep him safe from other dangers such as chewing electric cords or your furniture while he is unattended. Your crate needs to be only large enough for your puppy to be able to lie down and stretch his legs. If the crate is too big, your puppy will simply learn to potty in one end and sleep in the other. You can easily teach your puppy that crates are fun. Leave the crate open while the puppy is supervised. Toss a few treats inside. Your puppy will eventually be curious and check out the crate. At dinner time, place your puppy’s food in the crate and shut the door leaving your puppy outside. Once your puppy is actively trying to get into the crate to get to the food, open the door for your pup. Your puppy will run inside and be rewarded with her dinner. You can use KONG toys stuffed with peanut butter or canned dog food to keep your dog content while in her crate. The KONG should be a special crate reward, so do not let your puppy have it when she is not in her crate. Soon your dog will run to the crate to get her special treat! You can also help your puppy adjust to the crate by placing her in it with a tasty treat and then letting her out as soon as she finishes. Often dogs learn that if they go in the crate, they will be confined for hours. Teach your dog that sometimes they get to come out after just a few moments. Use a command such as “kennel” or “crate” each time you put your puppy in the crate. SUPERVISION The most important part of housetraining is supervision! If you cannot be actively watching your puppy, she must be in her crate. Each time your puppy is left unsupervised and has an accident; it teaches the puppy that it is ok to potty in the house. Baby gates and other barriers are wonderful tools to help you supervise a puppy. If you are in a room, barricade the doors so that the puppy must be in that room as well. If you leave the room, take the puppy with you. But remember, just because she is in the same room with you, doesn’t mean that you can relax and not watch her. It is your job to get her outside before she has the chance to have an accident. The best way to make sure that you supervise your puppy is to use a leash. Tie a leash around your waist or to a belt-loop and keep the puppy right with you at all times. This is also a wonderful way to leash-train your dog. Your dog learns to stay with you and pay attention to what you are doing. SCHEDULE Now that we have the crate and the supervision, we need to set up a schedule. Puppies adapt very well to a set schedule. You will also benefit by learning when your dog typically needs to relieve herself. First thing when you wake up in the morning, take your puppy out. Your puppy will pee and poop. If your puppy does not do both, place your puppy back in her crate. Feed your puppy and take her out again. If she still does not potty, place her back in her crate. Take her out again every 15-30 minutes until she has both urinated and defecated. Eating and drinking stimulate puppies to potty, so be sure to take her outside after eating even if she had a bowl movement when you took her out first thing in the morning. Young puppies need to be fed 2-3 times a day depending on their age and size. Allow your puppy no more than 20 minutes to eat. After 20 minutes, remove the food. Remember that eating stimulates the need to potty, so if you allow your pup to free-feed (leave food out all day), your puppy will have to poop all day. If your puppy has been sleeping and wakes up, take her out. Anytime you let your puppy out of her crate, take her out. If your puppy has been playing, take her out. Exercise increases the need to potty, so remember to take your puppy out more frequently if she has been playing. Last thing before you go to bed, take her out. Take your puppy out at least once an hour during the day. The idea is to take your puppy out before she has an accident. If you take your puppy out and you know that it is time for her to go but she doesn’t, place her in her crate and take her out again in 10-20 minutes. Continue until she potties. Do not allow her to be loose in the house until she potties outside. WALKING How you walk your dog is also very important. Often people will have a fenced back yard and will open the door to the yard and let the puppy go out on her own to potty. While this is convenient for the owner, it will only cause problems in the long run. The best way to housetrain your dog is to walk her on a leash. Walking your puppy on a leash is good for many reasons. 1) You can take your puppy to a desired spot. When you take your puppy to the same spot every time, she can smell the area and know that that is the right place to go potty. This also helps to teach your puppy to potty away from the house. If you take your puppy constantly to an area at a far corner of the yard, your puppy will be more likely to continue to use that area as an adult. 2) You can see her go. Oftentimes, people will let their puppy out the back door to potty and the puppy comes back inside and potties on the floor. More than likely, the puppy ran outside, started playing or sniffing around, and simply forgot to potty. When your leash-walk your pup, you can assure that she potties. 3) You can make sure your puppy potties before play. Walk your puppy out to the desired spot. Stand still and act boring. Once your puppy potties, he can be let off the leash to play. He will soon learn that the reward for pottying is getting to play. He will be much quicker to potty because he knows that playtime will follow. It is a really good idea to let your puppy play for a few minutes after pottying. Some puppies learn that if they potty, the fun ends and they have to go back inside. So take your puppy for a walk after she potties or throw a ball for a few minutes. 4) You are right there to reward your puppy. If your leash-walk your puppy, you can reward your puppy as soon as he potties. Make a huge deal about it. Give a treat. If you are using clicker training with your puppy, click just as your puppy finishes and then reward. Let your puppy know that it did a good job! Remember, each time you reinforce a good behavior, the likelihood that that behavior will happen again increases. 5) Use a command. Each time you take your puppy outside, use a command while she is looking for a spot. Be careful in choosing your command, as you may want to use it in public later. If you say the command each time you take your puppy out, she will quickly learn to associate the command with the action and learn to potty as soon as you give the command. This is very handy on rainy days or when you want to go on a road trip. ACCIDENTS If your puppy does have an accident in the house, it is important to clean the area thoroughly. Vet clinics and pet stores have products that will neutralize the odors of pet waste in the carpet. Some household cleaning products will actually enhance the smell of urine and feces. If your puppy can smell an accident in the carpet, she will think it is ok to go there since she has gone there before. You can use a black-light to find areas in the carpet that need to be treated with the neutralizer. "What if I am working all day and can’t let my puppy out?" Unfortunately, most dog owners have to work and are not home to regularly let their puppy out. Puppies still need to go potty, though, and it is not fair to ask them to hold it. In this case, using a crate that is just big enough for your puppy is unfair. You puppy will eventually have to potty and will end up laying in it. You will be frustrated when you have to wash your dog every day and your puppy will only learn that it is ok to be dirty. The best thing to do in this instance is find an area where your puppy can be placed while you are gone. A laundry room, bathroom, or an X pen (sold at most pet stores) in area on a tiled surface can be set up for your puppy. In this area you should place the puppy’s crate with the door open, some chew toys and a stuffed KONG or two, and a piece of sod on a cookie sheet or other container or use training pads. The sod is the best choice. It will provide your puppy a place that it can eliminate away from her play area. It will also help with housetraining as your puppy will learn that grass is the best place to potty. Puppies learn to prefer certain substrates to potty on between 8 and 12 weeks of age. It is best to teach your puppy to potty on grass rather than pads, paper, or just the tile. Do not rely on your puppy to tell you she needs to go out. Don’t expect your puppy to go to the door and bark or whine unless you have specifically taught your puppy to do so. It does not come naturally to most dogs to “tell” you when they need to go out. That is far too much to ask of a puppy. It is even harder for small lap breeds when the owner carries the dog outside. The dog has a very hard time associating the door with potty time if they are always carried through the door. SLEIGH BELLS It is easy to train a puppy to tell you when it is time to go out. Find a sleigh bell and some string so you can hang it on the door at nose level for the puppy. If you are not using a clicker to train your puppy, simply touch the bell and make it jingle each time you take the puppy outside. Eventually, your puppy will learn that the sound of the bell opens the door. If you ever hear the bell jingle, immediately let the puppy out. If you are using a clicker to train your puppy, use the following steps. Hold the bell in your hand and show it to the puppy. As soon as your pup starts to sniff the bell, click and reward. Repeat this several times. Once your pup is repeatedly going to the bell and sniffing, begin clicking for touching it with her nose. Once she is touching the bell repeatedly, dangle the bell on a string from your hand. Continue to click and reward for touching the bell. After several clicks, begin to click only if she hits the bell with her nose and makes it jingle. Repeat several times. Once your puppy understands that ringing the bell will produce a reward, tie the bell to the doorknob at nose level. Stay close to the door and click/reward for touching the bell. Begin to move yourself away from the door so that the pup learns to go to the door to ring the bell. Now we are going to stop using the clicker and treats. As soon as your pup rings the bell, open the door and go outside with the dog. Praise her and bring her back inside. If she rings the bell again, take her out immediately and praise her. Now, each time you take her outside to potty, give her a moment to ring the bell on her own. If she doesn’t, ring it yourself and immediately open the door. She will soon learn that ringing the bell opens the door. PUNISHMENT Please remember that if your puppy does have an accident, it is just that, an accident. Your puppy is never going to potty on the floor to spite you. That is not how dog minds work. Many people feel that if their dog has pooped on the floor while they were gone for a while that the dog did it because they were mad at the owner for leaving. You must understand that dogs don’t put things like that together. They don’t think, “I’m going to poop right here on the floor because mom left and I am mad about it.” If you think about it, dogs LIKE poop. They roll in it, they eat it… so why would they leave it there to punish you? It just doesn’t work that way. The worse thing you can do when you come home to an accident on the floor is to punish the dog. First of all, the dog has long since forgotten that it has pooped. What you are really punishing the dog for is for greeting you happily at the door with her tail wagging. If you punish your dog, she will learn to fear you when you come home. This may in turn cause her to be anxious and because she is anxious, she may poop on the floor. It becomes a vicious cycle. People often say that they know the dog knows she did wrong because she acted guilty when you got home. They then feel this is a justifiable reason to punish. Dogs don’t know what guilt is. That is not a doggie kind of trait. They just don’t understand. What we see as guilt is actually the dog reading our body language when we walk in the door. The owner comes home, sees or smells poop, and instantly their body language changes. The dog sees this and has been conditioned by past punishments to learn that when she sees that body language, she gets yelled at, spanked, her nose rubbed in it, and thrown outside. That is enough to make anyone cower and drop their ears. “If I bring her back to it and rub her nose in it, will it remind her of what she has done?” Wrong. Once a dog potties, they move on to other things and forget they had an accident. If you take your dog back to it, they will not remember the action that produced the accident. They will simply learn that poop smells bad and that people are mean and unpredictable. She will learn to avoid you and run from you when you walk towards her. If your puppy has an accident, it means that you have to pay more attention to your puppy and get her outside before she has another. “But what if I catch her in the act? Can I punish her then?” Nope. Punishing your puppy for messing in front of you will only teach her to not potty in front of you. You will soon have a puppy that goes to other rooms or behind the couch to potty. The pup is not trying to be sneaky about it. She simply thinks that because she did not get punished for messing behind the couch, it must be ok to go there. Punishment just does not work to teach a dog to be housetrained. It is much easier to set your dog up to succeed and reward her for going in the right place. Remember that even with a schedule, a crate, supervision, and the best intentions, accidents do happen. We must remember that these are only puppies trying to learn the rules of our house. MEDICAL PROBLEMS If you have done everything you can to set your dog up to succeed and your dog is continuing to have potty problems, your dog may have a medical problem that needs to be addressed by your vet. Urinary tract infections, bladder/kidney stones, diabetes, diarrhea, and intestinal parasites are just a few of the problems that could be making housetraining hard for your pup. Some signs of a medical problem may include but are not limited to: • Excessive thirst • Straining to urinate or defecate • Loose stool/diarrhea • Frequent licking of genitals • Blood in urine or stool • Frequent urination • Urinating multiple times in a short amount of time • Loss of appetite • Vomiting Please take your pup to the vet if you witness any of these symptoms. |