Wednesday’s Blog with Pierre’s Dog Emporium, Week 1 - Potty Training Your Little Pup
Potty training your little friend takes time and commitment. The training can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months. Expect your dog to regress from time to time. He or she is just learning their environment.
Please note that the tips that I’m providing are my opinion and what has worked for my wife and I. I suggest that you take a dog training class from experts in the field of dog training.
My wife and I are really happy with the dog training classes provided by Petsmart. It has worked for us so far.
Patience
Be patient with your dog. Dogs can sense when their dog parent is upset with them and this can cause problems with their potty training development.
Never punish your dog. Dogs have short memories and probably won’t associate your corporal punishment with their accident.
What my wife and I do when we catch Pierre having an accident is to gently pick him up (while he’s in the act) and say "AH UH" (in a patient and calm tone).
Your dog will stop doing his business when he’s interrupted and will continue outside.
They will also learn that this behavior is unwanted.
We believe that being patient with your little friend will go a long way with their development and it will help to develop that close bond that every pet owner wants with their dog.
Routine/consistency
I have to admit that when we first got our dog Pierre we didn’t start him on a routine right away.
After a couple of weeks we decided to put him in a routine that consisted of leaving him in his pen overnight.
We suggest that you crate or pen your dog overnight or when you’re not home. Dogs are den animals and will not mind being crated.
Our nightly activities were confined to a specific area of our house where we could keep an eye on him at all times.
We took Pierre out to go potty every hour on the hour and we looked for cues that he might give us that he had to go potty.
This is important. Every dog will give their own cues. It’s important for you as their dog parent to learn their cues.
When we take Pierre out to make, we always take him out through the same door and say “outside” (you can say what ever works for you).
We were and are consistent with all his training. Pierre picked up on our teaching tools and is now about 85 % potty trained after 4 weeks of being on his new routine.
We are still learning his cues and making sure to pick up on them as they occur. Pierre now goes to our front door and waits for us to take him out.
One suggestion that a friend mentioned to us is to put a bell on a rope by the door where you take your pup out to make. Every time that you take them out to make, ring the bell with their paw. Hopefully they will learn to ring the bell when it’s time for them to go.
These are a few of the things that my wife and I have learned so far. Every day is a new learning experience for us as dog parents but it’s been very rewarding for us and we have created a great bond with our little guy.
Next week’s topic will be about feeding your dog. In a couple of weeks I will return to some more dog training tips for you. For now it’s important to work on your pup's routine and potty training.
If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know by posting your comments here or emailing them to us at support@itstherightway.com
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