No training is more basic for pet owners than that first important lesson: Do it outside!
Teaching your new dog to eliminate outside the home, not in it, usually starts 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.
Like any dog training regimen, trainer patience is just as important as the dog’s temperament. ‘Sit’, ‘stay’ and other behaviors can often be learned in a few days. House breaking usually takes weeks – sometimes as short as two, often a month or more.
As with other learned behaviors, it helps to observant for signs of the desired 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. The trick is to get them to do it when and where you want!
Watch for circling or squatting, then pick up the pup, say ‘outside’ and run outside. The puppy may circle some more, but will often squat immediately. As it starts, say ‘Go potty’ ( or some other unique phrase) in a clear, firm (but not angry) voice. Wait until it’s finished and praise lavishly.
You won’t always be able to observe the puppy about to begin, but don’t become angry or impatient when the dog eliminates indoors. It takes some time for the dog to learn to tell you it’s time to ‘go outside’. It also takes time for the muscles needed to control the bladder and bowels to develop.
Puppies need to potty every 2-3 hours, on average. 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 watch for the desired behavior then issue the proper command. That helps the dog associate the command with the behavior. If the dog hasn’t gone after a few minutes and a few ‘Go potty’ commands, take it back inside for an hour. Of course, if you notice the pre-elimination behavior in less time, go outside again immediately.
Puppies have an astounding ability 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 puppy’s nose in the accident.
Paper and/or crate training is preferred by some. A puppy can be trained to go on a newspaper, or on one of the chemically treated pads designed for the purpose. Some small breeds that live all day in apartments may not need to go outside at all.
The technique has a couple of downsides however. Unlike cats, dogs will rarely go in a perfumed litter box. Newspapers (even with the top layer removed after the dog goes) will eventually create an unpleasant smell in the house.
Also, long before the odor becomes perceptible to humans, dogs can smell their own distinctive odor. Dogs don’t find the smell unattractive – quite the opposite. So that spot continues to be the problem.
Dogs that are paper trained sometimes will prefer to potty indoors. Sometimes they’ll miss the paper by only an inch, creating a nasty mess to clean up.
Once the smell is in the carpet, the dog will often seek that area 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 test to be tackled for you and your dog.
Get more tips and advice on housetraining or dog training at Luvurdog.com/dogtraining
