We all love our dogs. Indeed, dogs are reportedly to be the world’s most popular choice for a pet. No wonder dogs are widely considered to be man’s best friend. Of course, when give a choice between having a puppy and having an adult dog, most owners will choose to have a puppy than the adult dog. Reasons given varies a lot, while the most common answer most dog owners give is that puppies are cuter and have a longer lifespan than the adult dogs.
But while having puppies can be good, one of the main caveats is that we will need to train the puppy as most adult dogs would been trained prior. One of the main trainings that puppy owners should conduct is actually to potty train the puppy. I mean, you wouldn’t want the puppy to wee all over the house, right?
Now… how to toilet train your puppy
We all know that training dogs is the foremost activity that you should conduct, but while all of the commands are important for the dog to understand so that you can have a better control over the dog’s behaviour, one of the most critical training that you should conduct with your puppy is for them to do its peeing or pooping in a designated area.
Now, you might wonder why is there a need for the puppy to know where the designated toilet area is as opposed to knowing a series of designated places. While it is ok for the puppy to have a few designated pooping areas, the main idea here is to train the puppy to know which one area that it can poop in. This is to develop consistency as well as to train the puppy for the first time. Granted, if after the puppy understands the first designated toilet, you are free to train the puppy to defecate at various places.
Of course, designating specific areas for the puppy to defecate allows the dog to develop consistency as well as allowing you to have an easier time when it comes to picking after the puppy. This will help to ensure that the house is kept clean, which will be important for a cleaner and hygienic living environment.
If you are looking at toilet training your puppy, read on and find out the main steps that you can adopt!
- Find patterns
First of all, you should identify patterns in your puppy so that you can accurately determine when your little pup is about to pee or poop. The dog can typically pee or poop after eating, playing, or even after waking up from its deep slumber. For instance, my dog loves to poop just right after dinner, and that allowed me to plan the training schedule. You wouldn’t want to potty train the dog when it has nothing in its body to defecate of! - Redirecting
Once you are able to identify the patterns, you will need to be equally prepared so that you can put things into motion once the signs are there. For this, you will need to prepare the dog’s leash so that you can bring the dog to the designated spot once there is indication that the dog is about to poop or pee. If you think that the dog is about to pee or poop, you should immediately carry the dog, whenever possible, to the designated spot immediately. - Allow the dog to defecate
When the dog is at the designated potty place, allow the dog to defecate without interruptions. Eventually, the dog will get into position to be ready to pee or poop. Once it is about to be done, you should say the words “Potty time” or any other word that you will want to associate pooping or peeing with. You can also use clickers to help you in this! Of course, once this portion is done, reward your dog with a delicious treat! - Repeat process
The training process is not done yet! You will need to repeat step number 3 for about a week or so before you can be confident that the training process has been successful. Note that while training your dog to pee or poop at a fixed spot, you should not make the mistake of bringing your dog back home immediately. Instead, you should spend some time around the area, no matter how smelly it can be. This will help the dog to remember and associate the place with pooping or peeing.
As a clear indication that the training process has been successful, once the dog is able to hold on to its poop or pee and wait till you bring it out to the spot, you can consider that the training has been successful!
What to avoid when toilet training the puppy
There are a few pitfalls that you should totally avoid when toilet training the puppy
- Losing your temper
Since puppies are new to the whole dog training thing, it is inevitable that they do not follow your instructions at times. This is to be expected, so always frame your mindset before you go about toilet training the puppy. It helps! - Using negative reinforcement methods
Even if you are not losing your temper, you should avoid using negative reinforcement methods. For example, you should not scold your dog excessively even if they do not follow your lead. Instead, you should use words of encouragement on them. The sceptics might say that the dogs cannot understand the words of encouragement. While this is true, what we are looking for is actually the tonality when you use the words of encouragement. Try this for yourself and you will know what I mean! - Not recognizing the correct signs
It is completely necessary that you recognize the correct signs. If there are too many false positives, you will only serve to confuse the puppy!
Wrapping things up
As you can see, training the puppy to poop and defecate at the correct places is important in keeping the house clean as well as keeping you sane! Always remember to use positive training methods so that the training sessions can be productive!