House training a puppy is one of the first, and most important things, that any new dog owner must do. It is easy to get frustrated if you do not understand the basics of this important process, so we have put together a few tips to make the process of house training your puppy a little easier.
It is vital to establish good toilet and hygiene habits in the puppy when he is young, since the patterns that are established in those first few months can last a lifetime. When you consider that house training issues are the number one reason why dogs are surrendered to animal shelters, it is easy to see why house training is so extremely important.
In most cases, a puppy will not be completely house trained until he or she is six months of age. That is because puppies younger than six months often lack the bowel and bladder control that they need in order to be reliably left alone in the home all day.
Puppy training at home
Puppies younger than six months should be confined to a single, small puppy proofed room any time the owner is not available to supervise the animal. The entire floor of the room should be covered in newspaper or other similarly absorbent and cheap material.
At first the puppy will go everywhere and anywhere in the room. As the puppy gets older and begins to display better bladder and bowel control, the amount of paper used is slowly reduced, until the puppy goes only on the established “toilet” papers. This toilet area will form the basis of later house training.
House training the puppy – what to do:
- Provide the puppy with constant, unrestricted access to the toilet area that has been established.
- Take the puppy to the toilet area every 45 minutes when you are at home.
- When you are away from home, or when you cannot supervise the puppy, it is important to confine the puppy to a small area that has been puppy proofed and covered with newspaper.
- It is important to be sure that the toilet area does not resemble anything in the home, such as carpet or hardwood floor. Once the puppy is used to eliminating on a particular surface, such as grass or blacktop, he will want to eliminate on that time of surface.
- Always provide lots of praise when the puppy does its business in the established toilet area. The puppy needs to learn to associate eliminating in the established area with positive things like treats, toys and praise from you.
- It is important to keep a set schedule when feeding the puppy, and to provide ready access to fresh, clean drinking water at all times. Providing a consistent schedule for feeding will help you learn to anticipate your puppy’s toilet needs.
- Using a crate can help the puppy to develop much needed self control. Dogs are naturally very clean animals, and they will try their best not to soil their bed area.
- And finally, it is vital to employ patience during the house training process. House training can take as long as several months, but it is much easier to house train right the first time than to retrain a problem dog.
House training the puppy – what to avoid
- Do not punish or reprimand the puppy if it makes a mistake. The puppy will not understand the reason for the punishment, and he may become nervous and agitated. This could set the training back even further.
- Do not give the puppy constant access to food. Keep the puppy to a set feeding schedule instead of leaving food out all the time.
- The puppy should not be given the run of the house until he has been thoroughly house trained.
House training a new puppy is not always easy, but it is important to persevere. By exercising patience, and rewarding your dog with lavish praise every time he does the right thing, you will have your puppy house trained in no time at all.
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Learning to walk on a collar and leash is the basis of all further training for every puppy. Until the puppy has learned to accept the collar and leash, it will be impossible to perform any additional training.
The first step toward getting the puppy to accept the collar and leash is to find a collar that fits the dog properly.
Dog collar blues
It is important that the collar be neither too light or too heavy, neither too thin nor too thick. A collar that is too light for the dog can be easily broken, while a collar that is too heavy may be uncomfortable for the puppy to wear. It is also important that the width of the color be appropriate for the size of the dog.
Determining the proper length of the collar is relatively easy. Simply wrap a tape measure or a string lightly around the dog’s neck to get an accurate measurement. It is important that the tape measure not be tight, just slightly snug.
Most collars are sized in two inch increments, so you may have to round up to get a properly sized collar. For instance, if the dog has a 13” neck, you would buy a 14” collar, and so on.
After you purchase the perfect collar, the next step is to put it on the dog and allow him to wear it around the house. Do not be dismayed if the dog whines, paws at the collar or otherwise tries to remove it. This is normal, and the dog should not be punished for it. It is best to simply ignore the dog and allow him to work out his own issues with the collar.
The dog should be allowed to wear the collar 24 hours a day for a number of days to get used to the feel of the collar on his neck. After the dog is accepting the collar well, it is time to start introducing the leash.
A lightweight leash works best for this process. Simply attach the leash to the dog’s collar and allow him to walk around the house with it. The dog should of course be supervised during this process in order to make sure he does not get the leash caught on anything. Getting the leash caught or snagged could frighten the dog and create a leash phobia that will be hard to overcome.
In the beginning, the leash should only be attached for a few minutes at a time. It is important to attach the leash at happy times, such as playtime, meal time, etc. It is important for the dog to associate the leash with happy things. When the leash is not attached to the dog, it is a good idea to keep it near the dog’s food and water bowls. The dog should be encouraged to investigate the leash, and to discover that it is not something to fear.
After the dog is used to walking around with the leash attached, take the end of the leash in your hand and just hold it. Allow the dog to walk around. If the dog bumps into the end of the leash, just allow the dog to react and move as he desires. The goal of this exercise is to simply allow the dog to get used to the feel of the collar and the leash.
It is important to allow the puppy plenty of time to get used to wearing the collar and leash before ever attempting to lead the puppy. It is best to perform this exercise in the home or other environment where the puppy feels safe and secure.
After the puppy is comfortable and content walking on the leash in the home, it can slowly be taken outside. It is best to make these outside trips very short at the beginning, and to lengthen them slowly over time. Some puppies take to the collar and leash immediately, while others may require some additional time.
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The basis of training any animal is winning its trust, confidence and respect. True training cannot begin until the animal has accepted you as its leader, respects you and entrusted you with his or her confidence.
The mistake many puppy owners make is mistaking love and affection for respect and confidence. While it is certainly important to love your new puppy, it is also very important that the puppy respect you and see you as his leader. Dogs are naturally pack animals, and every dog looks to the lead dog for advice and direction. Making yourself the pack leader is vital to the success of training any dog.
Failure to gain the respect of the dog can create a dog who is disobedient, out of control and even dangerous. Problem dogs are dangerous, whether they are created through bad breeding, owner ignorance or improper training. It is important to train the dog right from the start, since retraining a problem dog is much more difficult than training a puppy right the first time.
It is important for any new dog owner, whether working with a 12 week old puppy or a twelve year old dog, to immediately get the respect of the animal. That does not mean using rough or dangerous handling methods, but it does mean letting the dog know that you are in control of the situation. Dogs need structure in their lives, and they will not resent the owner taking control. As a matter of fact, the dog will appreciate your taking the role of trainer and coach as you begin your training session.
When working with the dog, it is important to keep the training sessions short at first. This is particularly important when working with a young puppy, since puppies tend to have much shorter attention spans than older dogs. Keeping the training sessions short, and fun, is essential for proper training.
Beginning training sessions should focus on the most basic commands. The heel command is one of the most basic, and one of the easiest to teach. Start by putting the dog or puppy in a properly fitted training collar. Be sure to follow the instructions for fitting and sizing the color to ensure that it works as intended.
Begin to walk and allow your dog to walk beside you. If the dog begins to pull, gently pull on the leash. This in turn will tighten the training collar and correct the dog. If the gentle pressure is ineffective, it may be necessary to slowly increase the pressure. Always be careful to not over-correct the dog. Using too much pressure could frighten the dog and cause it to strain more. I the opposite problem occurs and the dog lags behind, the owner should gently encourage it until it is walking beside the owner.
Most dogs figure out the heeling concept fairly rapidly, and quickly figure out that they should walk beside their owners, neither lagging behind nor pulling ahead. Once the dog has mastered heeling at a moderate pace, the owner should slow his or her pace and allow the dog to adjust along with it. The owner should also speed up the pace and allow the dog to speed up as well. Finally, walking along and changing pace often will reinforce the lesson that the dog should always walk at the heel of the handler.
From heeling, the next step should be to halt on command. This halt command works well as an adjunct to heel. As you are walking, stop and watch you dog. Many dogs immediately realize that they are expected to stop when their handler does. Others may need the reminder of the leash and the training collar.
After the halt on command has been mastered, the handler should encourage the dog to sit on command as well. Once the dog has stopped, the handler gently pushes on the dog’s hindquarters to encourage the sit. Usually, after this walk, halt, sit procedure has been done a few times, the dog will begin to sit on his own each time he stops. Of course, it is important to provide great praise, and perhaps even a treat, every time the dog does as he is expected.
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Teaching a puppy or a dog proper socialization skills is vital to the safety of both your dog and other dogs and people with whom he comes into contact. A properly socialized dog is a happy dog, and a joy to be around for both humans and animals. A poorly socialized dog, or one with no socialization at all, is a danger to other animals, other people and even his own family.
Socialization is best done when the puppy is as young as possible The socialization lessons a young puppy learns are difficult to undo, and it is important to remember that the socialization skills the puppy learns will affect his behavior for the rest of his life.
A dog that is properly socialized will be neither frightened of nor aggressive towards either animals or humans. A properly socialized dog will take each new experience and stimulus in stride, and not become fearful or aggressive. Dogs that are not properly socialized often bite because of fear, and such a dog can become a hazard and a liability to the family who owns it. Improperly socialized dogs are also unable to adapt to new situations. A routine matter like a trip to the vets or to a friends house can quickly stress the dog out and lead to all sorts of problems.
Socialization is best done when the puppy is very young, perhaps around 12 weeks of age. Even after 12 weeks, however, it is important that the puppy continues its socialization in order to refine the all important social skills. It is possible to socialize an older puppy, but it is very difficult to achieve after the all important 12 week period has passed.
There are so definite do’s and don’t when it comes to properly socializing any puppy. Let’s start with what to do. Later in this article we will explore what to avoid.
Socialization do’s
- Make each of the socialization events as pleasant and non-threatening for the puppy as possible. If a puppy’s first experience with any new experience is an unpleasant one, it will be very difficult to undo that in the puppy’s mind. In some cases, an early trauma can morph into a phobia that can last for a lifetime. It is better to take things slow and avoid having the puppy become frightened or injured.
- Try inviting your friends over to meet the new puppy. It is important to included as many different people as possible in the puppy’s circle of acquaintances, including men, women, children, adults, as well as people of many diverse ethnic backgrounds and ages.
- Also invite friendly and healthy dogs and puppies over to meet your puppy. It is important for the puppy to meet a wide variety of other animals, including cats, hamsters, rabbits and other animals he is likely to meet. It is of course important to make sure that all animals the puppy comes into contact with have received all necessary vaccinations.
- Take the puppy to many different places, including shopping centers, pet stores, parks, school playgrounds and on walks around the neighborhood. Try to expose the puppy to places where they will be crowds of people and lots of diverse activity going on.
- Take the puppy for frequent short rides in the car. During these rides, be sure to stop the car once in a while and let the puppy look out the window at the world outside.
- Introduce your puppy to a variety of items that may be unfamiliar. The puppy should be exposed to common items like bags, boxes, vacuum cleaners, umbrellas, hats, etc. that may be frightening to him. Allow and encourage the puppy to explore these items and see that he has nothing to fear from them.
- Get the puppy used to a variety of objects by rearranging familiar ones. Simply placing a chair upside down, or placing a table on its side, creates an object that your puppy will perceive as totally new.
- Get the puppy used to common procedures like being brushed, bathed, having the nails clipped, teeth cleaned, ears cleaned, etc. Your groomer and your veterinarian with thank you for this.
- Introduce the puppy to common things around the house, such as stairs. Also introduce the puppy to the collar and leash, so he will be comfortable with these items.
There are of course some things to avoid when socializing a puppy. These socialization don’ts include:
- Do not place the puppy on the ground when strange animals are present. An attack, or even a surprise inspection, by an unknown animal could traumatize the puppy and hurt his socialization.
- Do not inadvertently reward fear based behavior. When the puppy shows fear, it is normal to try to sooth it, but this could reinforce the fear based behavior and make it worse. Since biting is often a fear based behavior, reinforcing fear can create problems with biting.
- Do not force or rush the socialization process. It is important to allow the puppy to socialize at his own pace.
- Do not try to do too much too soon. Young puppies have short attention spans, and continuing lessons after that attention span has passed will be a waste of your time and your puppy’s.
- Do not wait too long to begin. There is a short window in which to begin the socialization process. A young puppy is a blank slate, and it is important to fill that slate with positive socialization skills as early as possible.
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Puppy training is very important, whether you are training your first puppy or your 20th. Properly training and socializing a puppy is vital to making it a valued member of your family and your community.
In some ways training a puppy is easier than training an adult or adolescent dog. One reason is that the puppy is essentially a “blank slate”, untroubled by past training techniques and other issues. In other ways, however, the puppy can be more difficult to train than an older dog.
One challenge to training a new puppy is that puppies are more easily distractible than adolescent and adult dogs. Everything is new to a puppy, and every new experience provides a new chance for distraction. For this reason, it is best to keep training sessions short when working with a puppy, and to end each training sessions on a positive note.
It is also important to allow the puppy plenty of time to play, and to interact with other puppies and dogs. Socialization training is vital to making your new puppy a good canine citizen, as dog aggression is a growing problem in many areas. A properly socialized dog learns how to play properly with other dogs, and overly aggressive play is punished by the other dogs in the play group.
This type of play learning is something that happens among siblings in litters of puppies. As the puppies play with each other, they learn what is appropriate and what is not. Inappropriate behavior, such as hard biting or scratching, is punished by the other puppies, by the mother dog, or both.
Unfortunately, many puppies are removed from their mothers and sold or adopted before this socialization has fully occurred. Therefore, puppy play sessions are a very important part of any puppy training session. Most good puppy preschool training programs provide time in each session for this type of dog interaction.
Introducing your puppy to new experiences and new locations is also an important part of puppy training. Teaching your dog to be obedient and responsive, even in the face of many distractions, is very important when training dogs and puppies.
One great way to socialize your puppy both to new people and new dogs is to take it on a trip to your local pet store. Many major pet store chains, and some independent ones as well, allow pet parents to bring their furry children, and these stores can be great places for puppies to get used to new sights, sounds and smells. Of course you will want to make sure the store allows pets before heading over.
It is important for puppy owners to structure their pet’s environment so that the puppy is rewarded for good behaviors and not rewarded for others. One good example of this is jumping on people. Many people inadvertently reward this behavior because it can be cute. While it is true that jumping can be cute for a 10 pound puppy, it will not be so cute when that puppy has grown into a 100 pound dog.
Instead of rewarding the puppy for jumping, try rewarding it for sitting instead. This type of positive reinforcement will result in a well behaved adult dog that is a valued member of both the family and the community at large.
This type of reinforcement can also be used in potty training the new puppy. For instance, teaching a puppy to use a unique surface such as gravel or asphalt is a good technique. The theory is that the puppy will associate this surface with going potty, and therefore be reluctant to use other surfaces (like your kitchen carpet for instance) as a potty.
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