What are your tips/methods on potty training a dog?
What has worked best for you, and do you think these would work for a dog that is already one years old? Thanks ahead for your input.
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Tagged with: Ahead • Potty Training • Training A Dog • Training Dog
Filed under: Potty Training Dogs
How you do anything is how you do everything. How you potty train a puppy, is how you potty train a dog. Take them to the potty spot, use the commands, praise them when they do good, limit the space in the house until they can be good in that space. I use a crate* to potty train with, but only for potty training and then I break it down and store it. I put blankets and a small food and water dish in the crate. Dogs don’t potty where they eat and sleep. When they are first little, I only expect them to hold their potty for 4 hours, and then 6 hours, then 8 hours and so on. So when they are first little, I set a timer or alarm clock to wake myself up at night to take them *out. I only allow my puppy in the bedroom* or the living room, only one room at a time. They have to graduate to more space. If I allow them to have full run of the house, it will overwhelm them. I take them out the same door each time. I tie a dinner bell to the door handle. Do not use a jingle bell as they could get their toe caught in it. So when they are little, I ring the bell for them, and then open the door to go *outside to potty. When they get bigger, I take their paw and whack the bell and open the door to go potty. Eventually getting to the place where the puppy will ring the bell and let me know when they need to go potty. Dogs want to please you, so it is your job to let them know what behaviors please you and what doesn’t. So when my puppy goes potty, I give her a treat*, and clap, and make a fuss and praise her. So she learns that going potty outside makes me happy. If she has an accident, make a disgust sound like “tsst” and take her out right away. I never yell* or spank* my puppies. Take them out when they first wake up, after they eat or drink, before nap, finish romping, when their activities change, or when they are sniffing around. Some puppies go pee right away, but may not go poop until 10 minutes later, so wait for the poop. I have a little play time here, because sometimes I think they are done, and they are not. Puppies train at their own pace. While I may have a puppy that hasn’t had an accident in several weeks, I don’t let my guard down. I don’t expect my puppies to be "fully potty trained" until one-year-old. If they have a setback, shake it off, and start over. I only have my puppies in the crate when I am not watching them. When I am sleeping, cooking, ironing, doing chores, basically when I am not watching her. All other times, she is out of the crate practicing being a "big girl." This is the time I train her how to behave in the house. So we are practicing "no barking", ‘no biting", "no jumping", and "don’t eat the furniture." I also have to practice "playing inside" so she doesn’t knock over things. You must keep the puppy in sight when they are little because they don’t know the difference between newspaper and carpet, and you don’t want them sneaking off and getting into trouble. Some puppies can sleep through the night around 3-months-old, but their bladder is grown around 6-months-old.
REVISIONS:
*I use a CRATE to train with. It is the method I prefer, compared to other methods I have tried. I noticed that if they are in the crate, while I am doing chores, they are o.k., because the crate allows them to see me and be re-assured. The crate can also be a comfort when stored in the basement for dogs who live in areas where thunderstorms and tornados are an issue. . However, use the method that works best for you…..a laundry basket, a cardboard box, a woof-woof house, x-pen, child gates, whatever works for you.
*OUTSIDE, pee pad, litter box, whichever method you are using. When the puppy is first little, keep the pee pad, litter box near the food and water dish, so the puppy can eat and drink, and then go potty. You can move it away as they get older. The pee pad has a scent that smells and initiates potty. Sometimes a pee pad makes a sound that scares some puppies, so you might want to use a litter box if that happens. The pee pad allows a puppy to walk around, but a litter box keeps the puppy in one place.
*BEDROOMS, I use the bedroom and living room for training, because it works for me. Choose rooms that work for you, but watch for rooms that are damp, or drafty. While my puppies sleep in the bedroom during training, once they are trained, I let them sleep where they want to. They don’t have to sleep in the bedroom forever.
*TREATS. While I use treats for training, you don’t have to. I like Charlee Bears for training (a little cracker for a little mouth,) I use them for training, but once they are trained, I cut back on them.
*SOME PUPPIES will go potty in the same spot each time. Some puppies have to be told to go potty. A command like "go out" for pee, or "go finish" for poop, might work for you, keep saying “go finish” until the puppy poops. This is a good thing to train if you travel with your dogs. By using commands, the puppy won’t get confused when you are visiting someone, on vacation with you, or when you get to a new home. The command will tell them what you want them to do in an unfamiliar place. You might also want to use a leash method, so the puppy doesn’t sneak off, or for strange places.
*YELLING. It is not a good idea to "yell" or "spank" your puppy and then take them outside when they have an accident. They may get confused and think that going outside is punishment. While you want to correct them, if you are extreme, they may not want to go outside again. Shake it off, and resume your schedule. You have to keep it real. Puppies train at their own pace, but a puppy can only hold their potty for a few hours. A guide would be 1 hour for each month of age, plus 1 hour, so a three-month-old puppy should only be expected to hold their potty for 4 hours at most.
SOURCE: These tips, tricks, and ideas were contributed from many brilliant minds. Thanks for your help!
Holy hell @ the answer above me.
Anyways, just take your dog outside and when it goes to the toilet, reward them (:
First I was told you need to take your dog out, not let them out on their own. Also when they do go outside you have a 30 second window to praise so they know they’ve done good. Use the same door each time so they can know where to go when they want to tell you they need to go out. Usually they need to go 20 min. or so after meals, and after playing. White vinegar is great! When your dog has an accident in the house clean up with a vinegar and water mix and the smell detours them from that spot! Hope these help…I just got a new puppy and haven’t needed to do this for 7 years now, but these things have been working. And you’ll learn the signs from your dog! Good Luck
Oh and the same area each time is good!
The best tips I can give you are to be patient and consistent. Make sure the dog is confined to a small room or crate when you are not directly watching him. If he starts to go inside say ‘NO’ and take him outside immediately. Tell him to ‘Go Potty’. Praise him like crazy and give him a treat when he goes in the correct location. The key to potty training is to make keep them from ever going in the wrong location (ie: inside).
Here is a great article to help: http://www.test.purebredpups.org/Dog_Articles/18/Potty_Training_Your_Puppy.aspx
Good Luck!
Frequent trips outside. Not just for two minutes either. Take 10 minutes and walk around. When the dog does number one or number two, praise him and maybe give him a doggie treat. Dogs love to please their owners.
Also, be mindful of the puppy and if he is acting uncomfortable. Take him out at the first sign of need to go out. If he/she squats be ready to rush him out the door with the leash. It is better to have a few false alarms than have an accident.
Unfortunately there will be accidents early on. The dog must be taught this is unacceptable. A loosely rolled news paper makes a frightening noise to a puppy but will not hurt him. Application of the news paper and a firmly stated "NO!" helps the dog to learn. Point their nose toward the offending area when reprimanding the dog.
Be firm but not abusive, anger has no place in training any animal. If some time has passed between the bad behavior and you finding it, you should moderate your reprimand, the dog will not remember what he did and won’t understand why you are being mean.
We dog-sat for a year and a half old puppy once. We used this technique. He was not house broken when we got him but two weeks later when his owners came back for him, he was. His owners were dumbfounded to learn the dog was house broken!
jcm
i have a dachshund/boston terrier mix and was housebroke in i think 2 weeks. what i did is i would put him out right when he wakes up(even if it’s from a nap, no matter how short of nap) then about 10 minutes after he ate, i would put him out again, and leave him there until he goes, i would stay out with him though since he was only 2 months old. sometimes it took longer than other times, but after he went, i would praise him A LOT and give him a little treat, i would sometimes use a little piece of cheese, since dogs LOVE cheese. then about every couple hours or so i would take him out and again, stay with him until he goes, making him run around or play or something, that made him have to go more. while he is going potty, i’d tell him go potty, then say GOOD BOY! that way, if i say lets go potty, he’ll go runnin outside and go potty. i would just do that every day until eventually he got the hang of it and started to sit at the door and stare at me until i let him out, then i would give him a treat for sitting at the door, letting me know he needed out. if my dog had an accident, i would say no, then put him out for about 10-15 minutes(by himself cause he’s in trouble, just keep an eye on him if the yard isn’t fenced in). even if he was done goin potty, i’d still put him out. well, hope my info helped! just be sure to give LOADS of praise when he relieves himself outside
When we potty-trained our boxer, we used specific methods, and it only took 2 months.
If he did his business in the house, we said "no" firmly and smacked him a little on the rump, then took him in the yard for him to finish his business, then sent him straight to his cage every time. We first started taking him outside to potty about every 2 hours, because at first that was about how long little Cody could hold it.
I’m not sure whether it would work for a dog that’s already one year old. I would guess that it would depend on how the dog was treated, or other methods of training it had had before.
I have the perfect system for you. It’s the tinkle bell method. Go to hobby lobby and buy a Tinkle Bell or Jingle bell whatever you want to call it. Hang it on the door with plastic string (so your dong wont want to chew it).
Then ring the bell 25-35 times and every time you do it give them their favorite treat.
Then they will ring the bell themselves receiving a treat everytime.
After your dog rings the bell start taking them out side and praising them with more treats when they go poo poo or potty.
When they use the restroom inside hold them down in a dominating state and let them know this is bad(spanking is not necessary) Then after you pick it up in a paper towel have them ring the bell and take them and the paper towel outside and give them a treat.
This gets tedious but the pay off is great. I trained our 2 year old lab/boxer mix as well as our new 8 week old chiuahuah/pommeranian mix. They use the bell eveytime they want to go outside and it took 3 days to learn and about 2 weeks to perfect.