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*********************** A big and often overwhelming problem for new puppy owners is how to train the puppy to be clean indoors. This problem can grow so big if not tackled correctly, that a few puppies are even returned to their breeders or new homes found each year – a great shame and so unnecessary. It is especially difficult for first time dog owners who haven’t any previous experience to fall back on and who maybe never realised just how many times they’ll need to be on their knees with a bucket of good disinfectant during the first few weeks! Even with experienced trainers, accidents can and will happen in the start! It is also important to know that one should NOT waste one’s time being angry at the little new puppy either, but constructively work to show it what you want it to do, or rather WHERE you want it to do it! I will explain here exactly what I do in the hope that I can help others or at least inspire them to greater efforts! (To my American readers, if I write garden, I mean yard! Our garden is entirely enclosed and it is a joy to be able to open the door at any time of the day or night, should a dog wish to go outside. How one manages is a flat or apartment is beyond me, and must be much harder, but you can no doubt adapt my advice so it also will work for you.) |
| A) Understand the problem Puppies and young dogs urinate and, shall we call it "poop", much more often than an adult dog. The younger the pup, the more often the "accident rate". They can need to "go" as much as about once an hour when very young and being active! All puppies are born with an innate instinct to do these things away from the "nest", that is they will seek from the earliest age to move a little away from where they lie with their mother. The more mobile they are (as they grow) the further away they are able to crawl, but home with their new owner, conflicts arise because behind Dad’s favourite armchair, under the writing table or the middle of the mat in the hall, is NOT what we owners think is far enough away from the "nest"! So this is where we have the problem! And if you react angry, perhaps shouting, (I’ve heard of people rubbing the pup’s nose in what it has done – how terribly cruel - and it won't in any way get the pup to understand), you will achieve nothing as far as improving the situation, (for the pup will be even more secretive and seek to find places where you’ll not notice), but you will also get a nervous puppy who is a little frightened of you. He doesn’t understand what he has done wrong, only that he appears to have an owner given to inexplicable outbursts of rage! To him he is already doing his very best doing something that is perfectly natural - and very necessary. It’s a bad chain of events. Many people even say that they can see when the puppy has "a bad conscience" about what it has done. When the puppy seems scared and depressed. This is absolutely not true. It is merely afraid of your sudden flare-ups over something it cannot understand and after all, it only wants to please. If the puppy is unclean, it is because you haven’t yet taught where is the proper place to go – and so you’d better get started! Here's what I do: B) Recognise the "symptoms" A puppy or young dog needs to go outside and relieve itself immediately after a sleep, a game romping about, a meal or a drink of water or milk. Apart from this, when it needs to "go" it will walk around as if it’s seeking something, nose down and "following a trail on the floor" – it may be looking for where it "messed" last time (a reason why cleaning up WELL with good disinfectents after accidents is important, as the smell of an old accident sets off the desire to use the spot again.) The entire family should learn to observe this "walking around as if following a trail" signal – so that instant action can be taken! But how do you get the puppy outside in time? Because this has to be done real fast or – whoops, too late! Pups cannot hold themselves for very long, once they get the feeling that they need to "go". Puppies must NOT be carried outside! Do not make the mistake of lifting it up and carring it even though this is by far the quickest solution, it will not learn the way to get outside by being carried each time. This is a common mistake and will delay the pup learning correctly. It is important that its little brain learns the way outside or to the door. (Leading to later on how to ask you when it needs to go out.) Here’s how you train: 1) Step one: From day one, teach the pup its name. This won’t take 5 minutes if you permanently carry on you all day for months, a bag of treats in your pocket. These treats need not be anything unhealthy like chocolate or anything fancy or smelly – I use a brand of dog food, which I reserved especially for treats and never feed otherwise. The brand I use is made of soft damp rings which I can break up to raisin sized pieces – this is enough! No need for the pup to have a whole meal when being good and doing all that you ask! To teach the name, call the pup occasionally (in cooing, loving tones that it can’t resist!) and give a treat and praise showing your pleasure (and love) at it coming to you when called, and let it wander off again. Beware of calling TOO OFTEN. It is best if any children in the family are told not to shout and call from east and west in their enthusiasm – or the pup will just shut the sounds out and not come to anyone! In the start, let the caller be mainly the person who is to become the "number one" person in the pup’s life. Also: refrain for calling if you can see that the pup is engrossed in something interesting for a moment. Remember it does have about a million new smells, sounds, sights and experiences to take in all at once from the moment you "kidnap" it from its mother and brothers and sisters! It can only concentrate on one thing at a time. 2) Step two: I assume now that you have got the puppy coming to you more or less every time you call and it gets a treat each time too. (These treats in a bag in your pocket can with great advantage remain there for several years! You will have a totally responsive and obedient dog as a result – that comes immediately even if you only whisper its name! When you think the pup needs to go outside and relieve itself, call it as usual but keep moving, holding the treat just out of reach you can guide it through doors and along passages etc and outside to the place where you want it to "go". Once there, then you can give the treat. (Note: it is easier to rush outside in all kinds of weather if you have a coat or umbrella hanging ready just by the door!) Once outside where you want the pup to "go", you now say the command you will always use for what you want it to do. It could be anything you decide on but the whole family must know what it is. Barbara Woodhouse the famous Great Dane owner and who obedience trained hundreds of dogs, always used to say "hurry up!" as she felt it was more refined and discreet if someone else was listening! It doesn’t matter what your command is, just remember to always use the same phrase. I also wave my hand to indicate that they should go forward. It is always good with some body language to back up your commands with. (It is also an advantage to have a dog who will "go" on command, as many will hold themselves if they are out at a strange place, at a dog show, on holiday or somewhere they are unfamiliar with. It also speeds things up when you are standing waiting!) But back to the training: It is very important in the start that you accompany the pup outside. It’s not enough to stand behind the door in the warm or peering through a window! If you do this, your command will be wasted and the puppy will probably cheat especially in wet weather and it will just stand at the door and whimper, unhappy at being separated from you. No, there’s nothing for it, you must go outside together with the pup and constantly urge it on by repeating the command. You are also there to immediately praise it when it has done what you said, and you can clear up after it and see the state of its stomach too. Pups often can get diarrhoea – either from eating something unsuitable, a virus from another dog, or from the food you are giving, if it is not right for it. It is good to be able to monitor its health in this way. And being on the spot, you are then able to immediately praise and reward the pup with a treat and the pup is happy to come back inside the house with you afterwards. You should really make it fun and rewarding to dash outside with you and "go" as mistress or master says! It is important that the puppy learns that it does not come in again until you have seen results! You might need a lot of patience the first few times – but it will soon understand and it’s a rare pup who can’t just produce a little drop to please its owner, who may have sometimes have been mistaken and it didn’t really need to go outside after all! After a short while you have a pup who not only runs obediently to you when you call, but who will run willingly together with you outside when it needs to "go" and who understands the whole procedure. You can also just throw the treat outside and it will scamper after. This way, you will have no more accidents on the way to getting outside. The pup will have learnt the whole routine and be more than willing to co-operate. 3) The last stage. Very soon, this arrangement between you and the pup, both working together on rushing outside will lead to that the puppy, as soon as it feels the urge to go, will start the routine by itself and run to the door. It has now connected the body sensation of the "call of nature" with rushing outside to a particular spot in the garden. Now it is up to you and the rest of the family to be extra observant of the puppy asking at the door. If you are too slow, then it will be too late! This stage is very critical. You must at all times notice when the pup is asking and run to do as it asks. Any accidents at this stage are not only a little set back, but are mainly due to your not noticing in time when it asks. The more successes in it asking and you helping it outside, the more deeply the sequence is "engraved " in the pup’s brain. And when the pup asks by itself, you no longer need to run outside with it and supervise, it can manage by itself! Only unless you are monitoring it’s health and like to clear up after it, (good things, if you are a caring owner) are you needed as an escort! All you have to do now is always open the door when asked – and you have a clean and happy puppy! This is NOT easy – but it pays to be vigilant and work at this, as it’s just for a very short period in the pup’s life. The few accidents that will invariably happen occasionally will now be due to other things like "bad stomach", not going outside fast enough etc – it will never be the dog’s fault – it is YOUR responsibility to get it out at the right time and IN TIME! |
| My e-mail is: janetfm@sighthound.net |
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