HOUSE TRAINING

The key to successful house training is consistency.

• Watch for sniffing, circling or looking uncomfortable.
• As soon as your pup displays any of theses behaviours take him outside and stand and wait.
• Don’t talk to your pup while he is eliminating as this distracts him.
• Don’t carry your pup – rather let him walk there himself if possible.
• If your pup makes a mess inside, do not clean up while your pup is watching.
• As soon as he has eliminated, reward with a food treat and praise your dog.
• House training should be accomplished by the age of 6-8 months (overnight included)
• Most pups can only reliably hold their bladders by the time they are 6 months old due to the system’s production of vasopressin.
• If you catch your pup in the act of eliminating, clap your hands lightly and take him outside. Don’t clap too loudly or you will scare your pup.
• Never use cleaning products that contain ammonia as this actually smells like urine to the dog.
• Rather use diluted sunlight liquid or surgical spirits.
• Take him out after every nap, meal, and playtime and first thing in the morning.

At night:

• Put newspaper down in the whole area where your pup is going to sleep.
• He will eliminate somewhere  during the night.
• The next morning pick up all the newspaper that’s been used. Put this outside to dry, and the next night put the “scented” paper on top of the new paper. Put the scented paper in the same place every time. The pup will soon start targeting the scented area and once this happens, you can start lessening the amount of paper until the pup is using just one patch.
• Then later slowly move the paper towards the door and eventually outside.
• To cut down on housetraining time by a half you can wake up every 3 hours at night and take your pup out.

For older shelter dogs:

 All the above apply except you need only take your dog out every hour and a half. Keep an eye on your dog though as this time may vary.

Punishment:

Never punish or shout at your dog or pup for mistakes. It will just make for an anxious experience. Modern behaviourists have moved away from verbal and physical punishment as a way of getting the desired behaviour. We now consider positive reinforcement a much more reliable and humane way of training.