House Training: Everything You Need To Know
Posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
There is no doubt that house training is one of the most difficult things to get right when it comes to training a new puppy. It is one of the major causes of people seeking outside help with dog obedience, and is also sadly one of the main reasons that people take young puppies and dogs to rescue centres. A failure in house training is also usually indicative of a bigger behavioural problem, so getting it right is absolutely essential.
It is important to remember that, to a dog, house training is rather bizarre. When a puppy needs to go to the toilet, they are more than happy to go wherever is convenient – the idea of it being bad or wrong to go inside a house is completely alien to them. This is the nature of an animal and, while inbuilt, it is not impossible to overcome. It should, however, be remembered; if your puppy isn’t taking to house training as quickly as you’d like, just try and keep calm and remember how strange the entire concept is to a young dog.
Ideally, the younger a dog is when you begin house training, the better. However, it can be achieved at any age, so even if you have an older dog who has problems with house training – don’t despair.
Alarmingly, many people – usually inexperienced dog owners – simply expect a puppy to understand. A recent online survey discovered that around 40% of new puppy owners expected their puppy to just, completely without indication, comprehend that outside is where the potty is. These owners simply opened the back door to their house every few hours and were then baffled when their puppy didn’t use the garden to relieve themselves.
Put simply, the most effective way of house training a dog or puppy is ‘show and tell’. The more intensive this can be, the better. A much advocated method is to take the dog outside every 60 minutes and wait there until they have relieved themselves; once this has happened, take them back inside. As soon as the job is done, reward your puppy with praise and affectionate beyond measure.
Remember, the odd slip is going to happen, and resorting to physical punishment will do nothing but upset both you and your dog. There is also no use in the oft ill advised method of rubbing a dog’s nose in their mess; they simply don’t understand. Instead, where good house training should illicit a positive and warm response, if your puppy should foul inside the house then withdraw affection from them for a period. By shouting and even physically harming your dog, all you are teaching them is that fouling gets them attention; and that is something no dog owner should encourage.
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