|
 Housetraining
your new puppy can be easy and effective if you dedicate the
necessary time and patience. A successful plan includes
supervision, confinement, and encouragement.
Step
One:
Teach your puppy where you want it to
eliminate, by accompanying it every time it goes outdoors. Choose a
specific location with easy access. The area will soon become a
familiar spot as the pup recognizes odour from previous excursions.
Mildly praise any sniffing or other pre-elimination behaviours. When
the puppy eliminates, praise it heartily.
Scheduling Mealtimes
Controlling your puppy's feeding schedule
provides some control over its elimination schedule. Most will
eliminate within the first hour after eating. Because of this, it is
best to avoid feeding a large meal just before confinement. Offer
food
two or three times each day at the same times, and make it available
for no longer than 30 minutes. The last meal should be finished
three to five hours before bedtime.
It is
also important to take it outdoors after playing, drinking, or
sleeping. By scheduling feeding times, play sessions, confinement
periods, and trips outside to the "toilet" area, you will accustom
your puppy to a relatively predictable elimination schedule.
If your puppy begins eliminating in certain areas,
deny access by closing doors to the rooms
Preventing Mistakes
The most challenging part of the
housetraining process is preventing the pup from eliminating
indoors. Until the puppy is housetrained, you will need to provide
constant supervision. When you are unable to supervise, confine the
pup to a relatively small, safe area. Always take your puppy out to
eliminate just before confinement. A wire or plastic
crate
provides an excellent area in which to keep the puppy when you
cannot observe it.
If the
puppy is home alone each day for long periods, restrict it to a
larger area such as a small room or exercise pen. The area should
provide enough space for the puppy to eliminate if necessary and
rest several feet away from a mess. Place paper at the sites where
the puppy is likely to eliminate. To associate good things with the
confinement area, spend time in the area playing with the puppy or
simply reading nearby as it rests there.
Returning to the Scene of the Crime
To discourage the puppy from returning to
previously soiled areas, remove urine and faecal odour with an
effective commercial product. If your puppy begins eliminating in
certain areas of the home, deny access by closing doors to the
rooms, utilizing baby gates, or moving furniture over the soiled
areas. Most pets prefer to avoid eliminating in areas where they eat
or play. Feeding or placing water bowls, bedding, and toys in
previously soiled areas can discourage elimination.
Keeping Your Cool
No puppy has ever been housetrained
without making a mistake or two. Be prepared for the inevitable.
Punishment is the least effective and most overused approach to
housetraining. A correction should involve nothing more than a mild,
startling distraction and should be used only if you catch the puppy
in the act of eliminating indoors. Immediately take the pup to its
elimination area outdoors to finish.
A
correction that occurs more than a few seconds after the puppy
eliminates is useless because it will not understand why it is being
corrected. If the punishment is too harsh, your puppy may learn not
to eliminate in front of you, even outdoors, and you run the risk of
ruining your bond with it. And don't even think about rubbing the
pup's nose in a mess. There is absolutely nothing it will learn from
this, except to be afraid of you. Some pets will squat and urinate
as they greet family members. Never scold them. This problem is due
typically to nervousness or excitement, and scolding will always
make the problem worse.
Source;
www.healthypet.com
Wayne Hunthausen (DVM) and Gary Landsberg (DVM) |
