It can be incredibly aggravating when your puppy pees on the carpet or poops in your shoes. Even though this is aggravating behavior, it’s important to remain calm and patiently teach your puppy how to go outside. Yet, many dog owners can not remain calm. Getting angry, and correcting your puppy in the incorrect fashion is not how to potty train your dog. In fact, it can not only damage your relationship with your dog, but it can cause even more problems Dog trainer near me.
The most common mistake that we make with dogs is that we them, including our puppies, as humans. For example, when our puppy pees on the floor while we’re out of the house, we come home, see the mess, immediately become angry, grab our dog by the collar and drag it over to the pee spot, point its nose in the mess and say, “bad!” and the hilarious thing is that we actually expect them to understand what we’re angry about. The fact is, however, that your pet has no idea why you’re angry and it WILL NOT make the correlation between the pee spot, your anger and its mistake. Instead, all the dog will understand is that when you grab it by the scruff of the neck you’re angry with it, therefore it will be afraid of you and probably continue peeing in the house, except this time it won’t come when it’s called.
When your dog pees in the house or chews on one of your shoes there is only a minute or so when correction can actually be correlated to that event. This means that, unless you catch your them in the act of peeing on the floor and then say, “no!” then your dog will not understand what you are correcting it for. And, since you can’t always be around to catch them, you have to exercise other ways to potty train your pet.
The first lesson in how to potty train your dog is knowing what not to do, such as the following:
- As described above, don’t correct your dog for doing its business in the house unless you catch your dog in the act. This can lead to severe mental problems and distrust of you as the owner. The dog will not be able to understand what it did wrong, no matter what you think.
- Despite popularity, it is not wise to get a pee pad for your dog. Unless your dog is much older and can’t get around very well anymore, don’t get a pad for your dog to pee on in the house, this only discourages potty training.
- Don’t limit outings to pee and poop time. If you only take your dog for a walk or out in the yard in order for it to pee and poop, then your dog learns that the longer they take to do their business, the longer they get to stay outside. You need to exercise your dog regularly. Peeing and pooping is another thing.
- Don’t let your dog free feed. I work over at a dog daycare and I always become discouraged when owners instruct us to leave food down all day for their dogs allowing their dogs to eat whenever. This causes tons of pee and poop messes in the kennels because dogs that don’t have a regular eating schedule also don’t have a regular bathroom schedule. If you really want to potty train your dog, then you have to provide your pet with a consistent eating schedule. That way, you will know when your dog needs to go to the bathroom and when it doesn’t.
The following are examples of what you SHOULD do when potty training your dog:
- Always accompany your dog outside when it’s time to go potty. This way you can make sure your dog goes in the yard and you can praise your dog for doing so. For example, when your dog pees in the yard, you need to say “good dog!” and tell your pet how cleaver it is and give it lots of hugs and kisses. That way your dog will correlate peeing and pooping in the yard as something positive.
- Always have a set time for feeding your dog. That way, depending on your dog’s size and weight, you will know when it needs to go potty. For example, if you feed your dog dinner at 7 PM then you know, within an hour and a half or so, that your dog will need to go out.
- Do get a crate for your dog. Often times dog owners will shy away from getting a crate because they think it’s cruel to put a dog in a cage. However, your dog LOVES its crate. Your dog looks at its crate as its little den and, before you know it, your dog will WANT to go in its crate. By crating your dog while you’re at work, you will learn how to potty train your dog. Your dog will learn not to urinate or poop in its crate, because that is your dog’s domain. They will learn to understand that, when you come home, it gets to go outside and relieve itself.
- Potty training your dog requires an understanding of timing and dog psychology. Never correct your dog after it has made a mistake. Only take precautions to prevent mistakes such as crating your dog and providing it a consistent feeding schedule. Only correct your dog during the act, and the best thing you can do is vehemently praise your dog when it pees outside in the yard. These lessons, combined with consistent exercise (not just taking your dog out when it needs to be) is how to effectively potty train your pet.