Do you know any dog training tips?
Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at
9:32 am
I’m trying to train my dog Whiskey not to pee on the carpet. He is a three week old golden retriever. This problem has been non stop and my wife and i are at wits end. we have tried everything from yelling to rubbing his nose in it. My good friend Oscar across the hall tells me that he has had this problem before and the best solution is to hit him until he relents. i have tried this, but to no avail. Please help, because im afraid ill have to put him down if we cannot resolve this issue.
Filed under: Dog Training Tips
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This is a method that I use on all my pups and older dogs with great results. This takes time, your dog is a baby and just like with human babies you have to be patient. Rubbing a dogs nose in it or smacking it are VERY outdated training methods and actually harm the relatonship with your dog.
Try this
I have never bothered with training pads. Take your dog into the garden every 30-60 min.
Use a designated toilet area in your garden and let your puppy walk and sniff around the area. Keep it clean to ensure that he will not go somewhere else in the garden that is cleaner. By selecting a specific area, you are helping your puppy understand what you want from him when he is taken to that spot and it will be easier to keep clean.
Every time she goes for a pee say "good girl nice pee (or whatever words you want to use) and give her a tiny tasty treat. Same with poo. These guys obviously don’t know that we don’t want them to do their busy in the house, there for we have to teach them. Be prepared they cannot hold their pee/poo for long so will have problems during the night. Their bladders are just so small. (Just like human babies).
You should always try to take your puppy out at the following times:
•Immediately after the puppy wakes up
•First thing in the morning
•Last thing at night
•A few minutes after eating or drinking
•After playing
•After any excitement (e.g. after visitors greet your puppy).
Sometimes dogs (adult dogs too) need to run around a bit to get the "systems" going.
What signs should I look for?
If you see your puppy sniffing around the ground, crouching down about to go to the toilet or actually going to the toilet inside the house, quickly get his attention by clapping, calling him excitedly and running to the door so that he will follow you out. If he is actually going to the toilet you may need to shout something extravagant to get his attention and stop him in his tracks (e.g. something silly like ’sausages!!!’ will help as it is not personal or aggressive). Make sure the shout does not scare him as this will make him nervous and more prone to toileting in the wrong place. The purpose of the shout is to alert him. By doing so, he will shut his bowels and hold it whilst you walk him outside. It is best that he makes his own way out the door rather than carrying him out, as this will help him learn that he actually needs to make his own way to the door when he needs to go to the toilet.
What if my puppy makes mistakes?
You will need to clean the area thoroughly to get rid of smells. Note that household cleaners do not get rid of all the proteins that we cannot smell. Do not use any cleaner with ammonia or bleach, as it will smell similar to the ammonia in urine and the puppy will identify it as a toilet area.
How long should it take to housetrain my puppy?
Like all young animals, puppies do not have full control of their bodies. Depending on the individual puppy, the breed and how much effort you put in the training, it may take up to 8 months to have a completely housetrained dog. Accidents will probably happen at night since the puppy may not be able to hold it in for many hours at a time initially. However do not despair; as long as the puppy is consistently going outside during the day he will soon learn that toileting means going outside when he has better control of his body.
You can also have your puppy in his crate in your room initially so that you can listen for the signs. If your puppy cries during the night pay attention to him and take him outside immediately. Do not fuss him or play with him, just go outside with him for a few minutes until he eliminates, praise him and then calmly and quietly take him back to sleep in his crate. This way the puppy doesn’t think that three o’clock in the morning is a good time to play.
AND FINALLY…..
Remember prevention is the key to successful housetraining. Take things slowly, have consistency and keep a routine. Be fair and kind to the young life endowed into your care. You will soon be enjoying happy, mess-free days with your best friend.
Much as you would want your dog to learn fast, you have to understand that no dog is born with manners. So it really goes with proper training. And when you say training, it comes with a deal of patience. Instead, why don’t you try using treats and rewards? There’s really a long list that you can do to train your little puppy.
Check out this link for some very helpful information. Goodluck!
http://dogtime.com/training.html
Dogs pee in the house because they do not know that it is wrong. To effectively teach a dog that pee-ing in the house is undesirable, you must closely supervise him and "catch him in the act". When you catch him doing it, non-mark him, and take him outside. Do not yell, do not hit him, and do not rub his nose in it; this will only make things worse because he will get scared and he will not understand what you want. Instead, if he goes outside, you should praise him and treat him with his favorite food.
In fact, I trained my puppy to go on command by taking her outside to her favorite pee-spot and saying "go potty" right before she is about to pee. After she finishes, I praise her very well and give her lots of yummy treats. After some repetitions, she got the idea and prefers to go outside because she gets nice food for going outside.
Note that if you do not catch your puppy in the act then there is no point punishing him because he will not know what you are punishing him for. Instead just move him somewhere else while you clean-up the mess.
If you are not around to supervise, then crate your puppy or put him in a long-term enclosure with puppy pads. Puppies have small bladders and they need to go potty pretty often. I used to take mine out >5 times per day. She usually needs to go when she wakes up, and after vigorous exercise.
This site has many more useful tips on housebreaking:
http://www.inch.com/~dogs/housebreaking.html
Your puppy is very young, so you just need to keep at it, make it fun and positive, and he will learn. In the meantime, train him to go on puppy pads so that he can go on his own when no one is around to take him outside.