There are several tips on house training your dog, which do you know? As a natural progression of your love for dogs, allowing them to share living space with you makes sense.
What does not make sense, however, is having your feet sink into a mound of poo or stepping into a pee puddle as you walk across the carpet. That is why house training your dog is a must.
5 Tips On House Training Your Dog
Regardless of how much you know about dogs, house training is not what you’d call “easy”. To help you, we have put together a few tried-and-tested tips that will make house training your new pup a walk in the park.
1. Get A Crate
The thought of putting their new puppy in a crate is enough to make many dog-newbies cringe. However, after a few days of coexisting with a pet, most people overcome the initial hesitation to do this.
Dogs are den animals. If you do not provide them a place to hide, they will find one on their own anyways. So teaching your dog to spend time inside a crate should not be too difficult. Besides, dogs are extremely clean animals and do not like having a rug covered in pee in their living space.
This is another underlying reason behind utilizing a crate for house training. Do not worry about cleaning your dog’s poop from the crate; reaching out to a well-reputed Dog Poop Company will get the job done.
Considering your dog’s size is essential while shopping for a crate. If it is too large, they can use one end to defecate and the other for sleeping. Likewise, if you choose a small crate, they will experience discomfort.
Buy a crate that provides adequate space for your pup to stand up, lie down, and turn around. After nailing the size part, make sure the crate is also inviting. One way to do that is to warm it up by adding blankets.
2. Restrict Your Dog’s Access To The House
New puppies and dogs tend to constantly hover near their owners or follow them around the house. This is a problematic behavior that should be addressed right away.
Setting up a designated area for your dog is the best way of doing it. Create a restricted section of your home where your dog can stay. This often means installing a baby gate.
If you have a medium or large dog, we recommend choosing the tallest baby gate. That way, you can rest assured that Fido cannot get over it. There should be no carpeting in your dog’s designated area, only hard floors.
3. Establish A Schedule
If you can anticipate your puppy’s bathroom needs, you will have a much easier time house-training it. Also, you will keep up with fewer accidents at home.
To get your puppy used to going to the bathroom at the right time, it is ideal to establish a routine and stick to it as much as possible. Lay down a schedule that follows a pattern and fits in with your dog’s daily activities.
A dog will have to go to the bathroom more frequently during the day than at night. Your puppy is more likely to have accidents after eating and playing because of the increased activity that stimulates their bladders and bowels.
It can be helpful to keep track of your puppy’s bathroom breaks on a house training chart or in a notebook. You may use this data to determine when your puppy needs to go to the bathroom, when it is most likely to have accidents, and when it can hold its bladder until its next scheduled trip.
Although every puppy is different, you should consider age when estimating the maximum time it can hold feces.
A two-month-old puppy, for example, can typically retain the bladder for nearly three hours, and a three-month-old puppy can usually hold it for about four hours.
4. Praise Your Dog
Praising a puppy when it does something properly is the most effective method for laying the groundwork for a happy and healthy relationship. Applaud heartily and treat your furry friend as you express your delight.
When house training a dog, providing positive reinforcement is much more successful. Negative reinforcement only works if you catch them doing the act; scolding them for their mess afterward will have no effect.
They will not get why you are so upset with them! If you reprimand them, they may begin to hide their messes from you, leading to a series of unwelcome discoveries around the house.
5. Use Verbal Cues
Use a command, such as “do your business” or “go potty,” to train your puppy to go to the right area for potty. Choose a term or phrase you are unlikely to use in any other context while communicating with your dog.
You cannot expect them to understand the meaning of a word if you keep repeating it to them over and over again while they are not moving.
Once you understand their indications that they are about to urinate or defecate, that is the right time to use these commands.
Ensure your dog knows they did a good job by rewarding them with a tasty treat after they relieve themselves. Do not give the treat more than once.
Conclusion
Usually, it takes as long as five months to fully house-train a dog. However, the duration could also vary depending on the dog’s age, temperament, and specific experiences.
But as long as you stay persistent while walking the tight line of the steps covered in this article, you will achieve the desired results sooner rather than later.
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