The first thing you need to know about house training a dog is that nothing that is about to happen in the way of “accidents” is the end of the world! You got your dog because you love dogs. Your carpet and other furnishings will never give you love the way your dog will for years and years to come.
Remember that, especially when they go for the expensive, but washable, Oriental rug!
House training your new puppy is really easy as pie when you set good habits right from the start. If you are reading this specifically because you didn’t start house training off right and things seem “desperate” around your house today, take heart. We can still help!
Use the following tips to start off right and quickly and easily house train your dog.
Easy House Training Tips for Dog Owners
1) First off, lay out the battlefield properly. Puppies go when they have to go, no matter when or where they are at the moment. This means, unless you plan on watching them 24 hours a day until they are house trained, you need a puppy “proof” area. This is your temporary “sacrifice zone” where accidents can and will happen.
2) Lay down papers in the sacrifice zone. Paper training is extremely effective. When they try to go off the paper, gently pick them up and move them onto the paper each time and speak words of encouragement and praise when they have done the deed. This is all you want to do for awhile until they are absolutely conditioned not to go unless they can go on news print! Don’t rush this process!
3) During this time, take your dog out frequently and praise – praise – praise them when they go outside rather than inside! Positive feedback is a must when they do it right. Dogs LOVE people and absolutely live for praise and attention. Nothing is more powerful than positive feedback.
4) Get a can (a soda can will do) and put about 10 pennies in it. This is a loud noise maker that is guaranteed, along with a strong “No!” from you, to get their attention when you notice them looking for a place outside the sacrifice zone to go. Take them immediately outside or to their papers and praise them for finishing there and not on grandma’s family heirloom Victorian rug.
5) Puppies cannot hold it! You have to understand they are like human puppies. They go when they notice they have to go and cannot yet plan or hold it. Until they can do this, expect only to be able to do the conditioning work above.
What you are working up to is getting the dog to ask to go outside when they have to go. Eventually you will just have a schedule where they don’t even have to ask – you will just know. Until then, remember that a puppy will not have the ability to hold anything for any period of time when they are brand new.
Deal with it. It doesn’t last long, and if you follow the plan above diligently, you will soon enough be able to take all but one paper out of the sacrifice zone and start to work on getting them outside when they run to the paper.
Small steps at a time, and you will have your dog house trained, or “toilet trained”, in less time than you first imagine. For more information about house training your dog have a look at this wonderful book called the Potty Professor.