Posts Tagged housebreaking

A Guide on Housebreaking Your Canine

Posted by admin on Monday, 20 April, 2009

When you bring home a new puppy or new dog, the first thing that will be a worry for you, naturally, is how you will potty train the dog or puppy.  Although some folks will get lucky and get dogs from breeders who took the energy and time to train them, this won’t always be the case.  Indeed, much of the time, the new owners will be the ones responsible for any dog training.  This might be a daunting idea for many of us, but training dogs is actually much easier than it might appear to be.

Two traits that an individual must have when they potty train a dog are patience and consistency.  If you are inconsistant with your approach, it will take a while for your dog to learn the preferred behavior.  If you have the proper mindset and dedication, training a dog can be very enjoyable.  The first choice you must make in regards to training a dog is if it will use the bathroom indoors (pee pad/litter box) or your backyard.

If you decide that you would like to train your dog to use a pee pad, you will need to find a consistent location for the pad.  If the dog is unable to find the pad, they will become unsure of what to do.  You must create an environment where the dog knows exactly what is expecting of them.  When the dog knows what the expected behavior is, there will be fewer accidents.  If your dog has chosen another location for its restroom, you will have more work to train the dog.  You must be willing to work with your dogs current behavior to properly train them.

Decide where you want your puppy potty train indoors.  Put the pee pad down and show him where it is.  Most dogs will try to please you by using the pad.  If they decide that there is somewhere else in the house, like under the table, then you have found your training start place.  Put the pad down, show him where it is, and then gradually move it to where you want him to use it on a regular basis.

Learn more about how to Potty Train Dog here.

Training your dog to do its business outdoors is a different story altogether.  No matter whether you train it to go indoors or out, you must be sure to restrict water and food to the dog’s meal times only.  This helps to prevent any extra accidents.  Roughly 15-20 minutes after a dog eats or drinks, you must put it on the leash and take it out into a yard.  Don’t let the dog go just anywhere, though; you ought to lead it to the place in the yard that you have approved for this procedure.  Once the dog has gone, praise it and then give it a nice treat.

Unlike the dogs being trained for the pee pads, your dog will not have a means to properly relieve itself. How to potty train a dog for going to the bathroom outside also means teaching it how to hold its bladder.

Learn more about how to Potty Train Dog here.

Puppy Training: Ways to Train My Puppy

Posted by admin on Saturday, 18 April, 2009

About 90% of American pet puppies live indoors with their owners. Dogs kept inside with your family and you need to be housebroken. Potty training a puppy is one of the situations many owners find themselves overwhelmed by. It is not that difficult, it doesn’t have to be messy and housebreaking can be accomplished without a struggle. Training needs to receive a significant amount of time devoted to it in order for it to be successful. You will need time, a little more involvement, as well as some training tools such as puppy training pads.

The New Doggie is the Boss

For dogs and puppy owners, there are two major rules that you should stick to with puppy training. Remember to never punish your puppy for something you didn’t see him do. And second, praise your puppy for the things he did do right. Don’t let training lead to situations where your only action is saying ‘no’ when you catch your pet doing something wrong. Praise them or offer them a reward when they do the right thing.

House Training/Breaking Puppies

There are different ways to housebreak puppies. When starting indoors, encourage your pup to use puppy training pads or papers to go to the bathroom on. These pads are treated with chemicals that make puppies want to use them to do their business. The moment you observe them beginning the pre-elimination routine of pacing and sniffing at the floor, lift up the puppy and quietly relocate them to the paper or puppy training pads, and then offer them a reward for appropriately going to the bathroom.

After things are progressing well and the puppy is using the puppy training pads or newspapers regularly, you can then locate them a little closer to the door and eventually outside. The change is made from concentrating on bathroom habits at a location inside the house to a location outside the house. In the very near future you will have no need for papers or training pads indoors.

The only major problem or setback with this puppy potty training method is that it takes a longer period of time to encourage the puppy to do his bathroom rituals indoors. When house training puppies, other widely used techniques might work; you could, for example, use puppy crate training or cages, always accompanied by the owner’s close supervision.

The maximum amount of time that dogs can hold their bladders and bowels is between seven and eight hours, so you should keep that in mind when using a crate or a cage, trying to housebreak your dog. This method usually works as most dogs treat cages and crates as their sleeping places and they do no want to soil their beds because they will be forced to lie in the mess. It is not a good idea to crate a puppy for long periods of time.

This is not to say, though, that continual supervision involves crates or cages, and paper or puppy pads. It is here that dog owners opt to spend whatever time is necessary with their pups. This works good for those who are retired, work from home, or any owner that can spend lots of time with the puppy. With this method, pet owners usually hustle their puppy outside as soon as they notice the pre-potty signs. A constant watch must be kept on puppies to make sure that there are no accidents or slip-ups.

To sum up, puppy housebreaking and training should be treated as part of the ‘come’ and ‘stay’ command trainings. However, toilet training and housebreaking your puppy will be the messiest types of training, and generally have more headaches than other sorts of dog training. Don’t give up!

Productive Puppy House Training

Posted by admin on Monday, 13 April, 2009

With a new puppy in the home, puppy house training guidelines must be worked out to prevent little “surprises” from appearing around your house. Every owner must go through house training with their new puppy. All puppies are different, some pick up things rather fast and some don’t. It can take a while to see a difference once you start your puppy training, so don’t get frustrated. If you manage to stay patient and calming your puppy will soon be well on its way to being housebroken.

Looking Into the Mind of Your Puppy

Looking into how your puppy thinks will certainly assist you in producing good puppy house training results. You must realize that the meaning of being clean doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing to you and to your puppy. You think it is important for your puppy to go to a chosen spot in the garden and “go”, but to your pup, what’s important is to relieve himself where the notion takes him. Your puppy’s only concern is to go away from his food and bed which is also the health and safety rule of nature. From their perspective, anywhere away from their food and bed is the perfect place. You must teach your dog that places that may be acceptable to him are not necessarily acceptable to you, you must lead him to the spot that you have chosen for him.

Anticipation of the Signs

During the first couple of weeks of a puppy, the early warning signals aren’t always easy to read, so you need to find a way to understand this as soon as possible. Choose a location soon that is close to the puppy’s food, bed, or play area. It is very rewarding to be able to anticipate when your puppy needs to go outside. Puppies need to relieve themselves frequently particularly after they eat, drink, play or get excited.

As you get to know your puppy, you will get to learn the various signs that he needs to go out to the bathroom. When a puppy is persistently sniffing, circling a single spot or has his tail held high, those are common signals. All you should do if this happens is get your dog and go to the area that you have designated as their toilet area.  You will be on your way to successfully completing puppy house training in doing so.

Even dogs that have gone through dog training classes will occasionally have small accidents when they are very excited or when greeting friends and family members. This is a natural response called submissive urinations and should not be treated apart from the normal house training. Although there may be additional accidents, your dog must not be chastised. Punishing a house training pup will only lead to confusion and more make the puppy feel the need to hide when it relieves itself.

Do not yell at your dog, instead work things out until this habit is broken this when accidents like this happen during periods of high excitement. It is best to try to greet new people while you are both still outside and the setting is low key. Build up your dog’s confidence and greet them gently. If your puppy has an accident, it’s best to just clean it up without making a big deal of it. Your dog will soon stop having accidents, and you can congratulate yourself on successfully concluding another round of puppy house training.

Puppy Barking is a Puppy’s Way of Communicating

Posted by admin on Wednesday, 25 March, 2009

Canines bark, so a puppy barking is a completely normal phenomenon. As natural as birds sing, puppies bark, whine, and sometimes howl. If you have a dog that you love, you know that you are going to hear plenty of barking, whining, and howling at almost any time. Don’t even think to train your puppy not to bark as it will never work. However, it is really ideal for you, your neighbors, as well as your dog, if barking fits can be placed under control.

Why Dogs Start Barking

Socially isolated or confined dogs who have not had supervised exercise for long periods will need some kind of outlet for their pent up energy. If there is no one around to tell a dog to stop, he will tend to start barking as a hobby. That is why it is not a good idea to leave your dog alone all day. Pretty soon, barking will become an enjoyable habit for him or her. Many dogs, once they start barking, do it because they think it’s fun and enjoyable.  

Unintentionally, you may have trained your dog to bark excessively. You obey your dog when he speaks. When the dog barks, you let him out.  When he barks again, you let him back in. If he barks, he gets his tummy rubbed; therefore, barking is a behavior that is rewarded. A puppy gets attention from you by barking.  For this reason, it is easy for barking to become a habit.  After all, the puppy wants your attention, and if he barks, he gets your attention. And sometimes, it is very easy to forget to provide positive reinforcement such as praises and treats for your dog when they are not barking.

Puppy Barking and Exercises

If you want to reduce the amount your puppy barks and give yourself, your household, and your neighbors a little peace, it is important that you understand why your puppy barks.  Usually a puppy will bark because it is afraid, bored, lonely, or frustrated. Things will greatly improve when you spend time with your puppy. While you are away, a puppy will generally spend most of the day sleeping as long as it is content and well-exercised. Be sure to give your dog some of your time.  He needs your attention and the benefit of training, exercise, and play.

Puppy obedience training is just as boring mentally for dogs as it is for their owners. “Come here”, “sit”, “heel”, and “stay” all make enjoyable games for your dog.  Why not make it even more fun by rewarding good performance with treats, hugs and praise.  Remember that dogs and puppies like a quick pace and high energy! Try to think of new training ideas for your puppy so it won’t get bored.

If a dog stays in a fenced yard almost all of the time, he is likely to need some socializing. Puppy barking will lessen if you walk them around your neighborhood. On a daily walk they get to explore the outside things they see and smell while they are at home. Running around the yard like a crazy dog is a normal thing for a dog or puppy to do, but it does not count as puppy exercise. Just like humans, they pace, fidget, and have other nervous tendencies. Some fun things to entertain your puppies with are chew toys for puppy biting and digging pits.

Dogs are very sociable. They are just like us.  They need companions and friends. Take your dog to a dog park daily or weekly and let them mingle with the other dogs. If they engage in dog training, playing, and romping all day, they will be exhausted. Then they will have no trouble sleeping well and rejuvenating after a good day of play and exercise.

The Importance of Dog Training

Posted by admin on Wednesday, 25 March, 2009

Dog training can without a doubt be something that can test a person’s patience. The key though is to remember that the hard part will only last for a little while. Once you have trained your dog to obey your commands you will be less likely to have to worry about him taking off on you and meeting with an accident. After getting past the initial hurdle of dog obedience training, you will be able to relax and really enjoy the time you have with your dog. But getting through the initial dog training can be somewhat stressful. This is the main reason that it is critical to ensure that you have all of the necessary assistance.

Even though it may be frustrating and seem like a never ending process, housebreaking a dog and training it in commands is just one of those things you have to do. The results of failing to train a house-pet are well known: property damage, biting and generally aggressive behavior, and of course the unwelcome “gifts” that are the result of failed house-breaking.

To avoid these and other consequences, and to make sure you are giving your dog the best ability to have a happy, well-behaved life then it is important to maintain a strict parental relationship with your pet. Dog training is the process of teaching a dog right from wrong. Sadly there are people who assume that dogs automatically know the difference between right and wrong but this is simply not true. This reasoning is flawed, because dogs only know instinct without the proper dog training. The human rules and the dogs insticts are not the same concerning being the furniture.

We, as the owners and the teachers of the pets, have to slowly and patiently walk our pets through dog training in order to teach them the way we live. Your dog is eager to please, but won’t know what to do until you teach it. Dog training will condition your dog to do what you want it to do and teach him not to do what you do not want. It will also show the dog how to receive your affection and little extra treats every once in a while.

Some sources for dog and puppy training advice include classes, DVDs, magazines, and books. Although there are many great dog training classes available that teach about dog biting and housebreaking, it is crucial to realize that these classes are for information. These classes will not transform your puppy’s behavior overnight. The real work will take place once you are at home with your dog. Anything you learn at the dog training sessions must be repeated at home to be effective.

You can always look into books, magazines, DVDs or videos to help you with your dog training plan. Ensure that you pay attention to all the advice you receive and apply it wisely. Some breeds of dogs are easier to train than others so it is difficult to put a universal time frame for successful completion of dog training. Stick with it and never slack off and the dog training will pay off in no time at all.