Your New Puppy & Potty Training
We average 1 to 2 calls per week from people who struggle with potty training their
new puppy or are having behavioral problems. We hope
these tips help and give you some insite to your new companion.
Ok, so you have just got this beautiful new puppy. It is a blank slate. What ever it learns, good or bad will depend on you. Now is when the work and fun begins.
One of the first things I ask people when they call and say they can not get their puppy
potty trained is .. "Do you have a dog crate?". Most reply "No". Often if they do have a crate,
they tell me they think it is crule to confine the dog in it, or it hates being in the crate.
The longer this goes on the harder it will be to break. That is why this is one of the first things I am going to talk about
in potty training your puppy, and why it is so important.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1.) Purchase a crate if you don't already have one. (Be sure to get the right size-see below).
2.) Pick a designated potty area in your yard.
3.) Figure out what command you want your dog to learn to "Go potty". It is important that everyone
involved in the training use the same command. The words you use are
really not important. What is important is that you say the same words
every time, so that they develop a meaning. You could say "fiddle sticks" instead
of "go potty", it doesn't matter as long as you are consistent with the
same words.
4.) Set up a schedule for feeding, play, training & potty breaks (see below).
5.) Puppy proof your house!
CRATE TRAINING
We suggest that you purchase a dog crate that is large enough for your dog to
lie down and move around in. Your other option would be a puppy play pen, but
these don't always work well as there is really too much room in them and they are more
expensive. The dog should be able to lie down, turn, and stand up, but not enough
room for them to play around in. They generally won't potty where they have to
sleep. If the crate is too large, then they could relieve themselves and stay out of
it, which will not encourage them to control their bowl and bladder.
Always make the crate a positive experience for your puppy. Keep some toys in there,
and or give him a SMALL treat when you put him in the crate. Some puppies will cry and
scream (very much like a baby being put to bed when it doesn't want to go). If you
leave them alone they will usually give up after a while and lie down.
We do not recommend that the puppy be left there for hours on end. Young puppies
have to be let out to potty every 1-3 hours. The younger they are the shorter
the period of time they can be left there.
The main purpose of the crate is that it is a "SAFE and SECURE" place that
you can put your puppy when you can not be watching or playing with it. Just
like a small child, you can not just turn them loose in your house
and expect that you don't have to monitor them. After a while your puppy may go to its crate automatically at bed time, feeding time,
or when it feels insecure.
FEEDING & WATER
Within 10-15 minutes of feeding or your puppy drinking water you should take it
outside. To make the crate a more positive experience, you can even feed your puppy
in its crate.
If you want your puppy to potty in the same area of the yard, be sure
to keep it on a leash and keep it in that area until it does potty. Don't walk around.
Stand in one spot. Don't stare at the dog, or say anything more to it. The more you move around the more the puppy will want to move around
and get distracted from the business at hand. Once he/she has sniffed the area it is limited
to it will pick a spot and do its business. Once it does
potty, then praise it. Now don't get overly excited here, just say, "Good dog" or
"Good potty" in a cheerful voice. If you want your dog to pretty much learn to
potty on command (which can be very nice, especially if traveling with your dog or
on cold winter days, then tell your dog "go potty" when it does start to potty. Do
this repeatedly every time you take your dog out to potty. Walk over to your
designated area, calmly say "Go potty". After your puppy does its business, tell
them "good dog!".
** One of the biggest mistakes that people make is putting their puppy out in the
yard and leaving it there, then bringing it back in thinking it has done its business.
Puppies have a very short attention span, and their mind will jump from the flower in
the grass to the bee buzzing by to the bird that just flew over. The owner can not
figure out why the puppy just went potty in the house when it had just been outside for 15 or 20
minutes. This is why it is so important to go out with the puppy EACH TIME, WATCH IT, and MAKE SURE it does
its business before coming back in.
Do NOT overfeed your puppy or give it a large amount of food right before
you have to crate it, or you could came back to a VERY messy crate to clean and puppy to
wash. Think about yourself. Would you like to eat a large meal or drink a lot of water,
and then be put in a position where you could not go to the bathroom for several hours?
Please, don't ask your puppy to do this either.
Set up a feeding schedule for your puppy. If the puppy isn't done eating after 20-30
minutes, take the food away. By controlling its feeding schedule you can gain faster
control and your puppy will quickly learn a reliable potty schedule.
NERVOUS or EXCITED WETTING
Some puppies will squat and urinate when it greets you. Often at times when it is
really nervous or excited. DO NOT scold your puppy for this. Most
young puppies will grow out of this. Punishment will only make this problem
worse.
ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN
Accidents may happen. Do not go overboard scolding your puppy. If you catch it
in the act, calmly go get the puppy, tell it "NO" firmly and take it outside
to the designated area. DO NOT try to rub it's nose in it. If you find the
accident area after the fact it is too late to do anything about it other than
clean it up and you have only yourself to blame.
PUPPY PROOF YOUR HOUSE
Your puppy will chew up shoes and socks. It will pull toilet paper off the bathroom roller. It will
grab the newspaper or your mail, and shred it into tiny tiny pieces. Electrical cords
can be a favorite for some puppys, which can also hurt them very badly. So be sure that
anything you don't want your new puppy to destroy, to put up out of its reach!
Once it learns a bad habit like chewing things up, your training time and repair
expense has just doubled. So the logic is, don't let it get a hold of what you
don't want it to have. By doing nothing, you have just reinforced to the puppy
that this is an OK thing to do. If you still think that you have puppy proofed
your house and you don't need a crate, I can give you the names of people who
have called and told how their dog chewed the wall paper off the wall, ate a
hole in the door, or shredded their new carpet, rug, bed spread, chair legs,
coat, etc., because they didn't crate their young dog when they ran to the store. "I was only gone for
a few minutes!", they say. Once it has gotten away with this once, the next time could
be even worse. This same logic holds true if you have just adopted
an older dog. Until you KNOW what the dog is really like, and what good or bad
habits it has, don't chance it. You can not leave a toddle alone in the house running
around if you leave, so don't leave your puppy either. They are curious, and
possible bored and just looking for things to get into.
OTHER THINGS TO DO
* You could keep your new puppy on a leash in the house. Just let it drag it
around. When you need to get control of the puppy it is a simple matter of
going over, steping on the leash so the puppy can't run off and then picking up
the end of the leash. If your puppy tries to chew on it, you could spray it with
a product called "Bitter Apple", or when the puppy has the leash in its mouth, just
give the leash a quick jerk. This makes it an uncomfortable thing to put in its
mouth.
* When you do praise your puppy, do not get overly excited about praising it. If you act
really excited, the puppy is so focused on you that it has no idea whats happening
other than it must be time to play, jump and bark!.
* Always remember, your dog is not human. It can not speak english, and it is not
a mind reader. Try to look at things from the dogs perspective when problem solving.
* If your dog is doing something wrong, a firm "NO" is usually all
that is needed to stop the behavior. Do not be so loud that your pet cowers from
you as it may then start to avoid you. If the dog returns to the problem item,
remove the item or move the dog away from the item or to its crate for a short time.
OTHER THINGS NOT TO DO
* Never excitedly yell at your puppy. Your puppy will only learn to run away. Patience is the key to success.
* Never play "Catch me if you can". If you make a game out of this you may
never catch your dog when you really need to.
* Never let you puppy growl at you, over food or anything. It may be cute when
it is young, but it won't be so cute later when you reach down for it food bowl and
it bites you or someone else.
* Give your puppy it's OWN toys to play with, rotate them so it does not become
bored with the same toy all the time.
* Never let your puppy have personal items
like an old shoe. It does not know the difference between an old shoe and your
new shoes!
* Always be patient and positive.
NOTE Some puppies learn very fast, and some take more time. Once you have
developed good habits with your puppy they are much more enjoyable. A puppy is
never to young to start learning right from wrong. It is up to the owner to
endow the commands with meaning. Be patient but firm and consistent. Just like
people, animals can be creatures of habit. You goal is create positive habits.
We hope this page was helpful and we are always interested in your feedback.
Thank You.