It is amazing the number of dog owners who are clueless about how do I potty train my dog? The first thing you need to realize is that dogs are very much like young children. You will need to have patience and be persistent if you want to potty train your dog properly.
Start a Dog Obedience Plan: Before you start training your dog you need to establish a solid foundation. Dog obedience is a learned behavior, so it is important to get your puppy trained as soon as possible. Train Your Dog With Games: Games are an excellent way to potty train a puppy because puppies love to play.
Every time your dog goes to the elimination area praise him. Do not scold your puppy. This will teach him that he must go to the elimination area when he needs to relieve himself. When he goes to the elimination area praise him again. Once your puppy gets the concept that he must go to the elimination area to relieve himself, then you can start to establish the pattern.
Every day start by taking your puppy outside to the designated elimination area. Once he has relieved himself praise him. Continue this pattern every day until your puppy gets the idea that he should relieve himself in the designated area to relieve himself. Eventually your puppy will know exactly where he needs to relieve himself. As soon as this happens your puppy needs to be taken to the designated spot to relieve him from his accident and avoid accidents in the house.
The best way to housebreak puppies is crate training. Many people think crate training is cruel. It’s not. If you look back in history crate training was used by dogs to housebreak. By putting a dog in a small confined space it learns not to relieve itself in the house.
It’s important to introduce your dog to his crate at least once before he is housebroken. If you don’t, your dog will end up relieving himself where ever he can find himself because it will be a safe place to relieve itself. Also if you have a dog that has been sprayed by other dogs during play or training, make sure you take them out of the training area right away before they spray other dogs.
After every training session, take your puppy out to the designated area to use as his potty. Make sure you take him out right after the last potty break. If you wait until your puppy has relieved itself in one area before taking them out another accident will happen. When you take them out, it will confuse your puppy which makes him want to urinate somewhere else.
Every time your puppy goes to the elimination area and has an accident wipe the dog off with a towel. This will help your puppy to remember the elimination area. If you wipe them off, he will soon learn that the elimination area only goes on when they need to relieve themselves. The accidents will become less frequent as he gets familiar with going to his designated spot every time. Be patient and keep up the training.
Some other tips are for the puppy to go outside to do his business at a certain time in the day. A good time is at a random time like ten o’clock in the evening. Your dog will be more likely to go outside if the schedule is consistent. When he gets older, he may have accidents at random times as well. You can’t stop your puppy from having accidents but you can make sure that he has a designated place to go potty when he needs to do his business.
Some people say that puppies can’t potty train on their own. So they use crates. Although crates are a good way to housebreak puppies, they shouldn’t be used forever because puppies grow into them. If you want to housebreak your dog use positive reinforcement and praise.
Praise your dog whenever he goes inside and even after he is done. This will motivate your pup to go freely outside when he wants to relieve himself. If you don’t want to take chances, then get a crate. Just make sure that it is kept clean so that your dog doesn’t smell of urine and feces all the time and becomes an anxiety-ridden dog.
