Humane Housetraining
The only really effective way to toilet train your new puppy is to be humane. Try and be calm and relaxed about the whole process and puppy will respond positively. Housetraining is actually quite easy; here’s how:
Most puppies will need to empty both bladder and bowels within 30 minutes of eating, and generally a lot sooner than that. So, after puppy has finished eating, take him outside to the garden. Let him sniff about, and sooner or later, he’ll be squatting down. Just as you see him do this, repeat a keyword over and over again.
You can use whatever word you want, but it’s best not to use one you use very often, and definitely not good boy or good girl. Commonly used phrases are “hurry up”, “busy busy”, “be quick”. Then, when puppy has finished, give lots and lots of praise. This is the best thing you have ever seen! Praise and encouragement are all it requires.
Before very long, you will not only have puppy housetrained, but also trained to perform on command, at a time and place to suit you. The key to this is timing. In the early stages, don’t say your command until after puppy has started. Only after puppy knows what the commands mean will he be able to respond to them.
But what to do when you see puppy starting to mess in the house? First, remain calm. If you get upset or agitated, puppy will pick up on this and start hiding before doing it. Second, go over to puppy, pick him up gently, take him straight outside and wait for him to continue. Very often, especially early on, he’ll look at you as though you’re from another planet and want to go back indoors. Wait as long as you can before going back in, but remember, he will need to go, and is likely to as soon as he feels comfortable, so keep a close eye on him, and get ready to take him straight outside again. When he does eventually start to do the toilet outside, start repeating your command, and follow it up with lots of praise again.
Some Tips for Successful Housetraining
- Accidents will happen. If you aren’t there when they do, just clean the mess up. Whatever you do, don’t scold puppy, even if he has a “guilty expression.” You just create tension for him, making it more likely that he’ll do it again when you are out.
- Avoid training puppy to use newspaper in the house first. By doing this you are giving your new puppy the message that it is OK to do this in the house. You can put newspaper down everywhere to protect the carpet, but encouraging him to go on a specified area is best avoided.
- Never rub puppy’s nose in it.
