Oscar, now nine days into living with us, is (fingers crossed!) more or less house trained. He cottoned on to what we wanted of him very early and even after two days was very good save the odd accident. Our previous dog, Alf, was house trained within his first fortnight with us and I never thought I would again own a dog who was so quickly trained but Oscar has now beaten his record.
One of the most important things about house training a puppy is supervision of the puppy. With every dog we have owned I took a "puppernity leave" for their arrival. This fortnight is very important as you can supervise the puppy at all times and know when s/he needs to "go" and can take him to where you want him to "go" be it in your garden, your yard, or even on a puppy pad (used by apartment owners and others with no access to a suitable outdoors area).
Obviously it is not always possible for new owners to take time off work to be with their new puppy but everyone should try to factor in this vital period prior to getting their pup. It will pay dividends in the long term, believe me.
For this (and many more reasons which I will cover in other posts) crate (or cage) training plays a vital role. You can purchase a crate from your local pet store and they are one of the best things you will ever own in relation to raising a well behaved dog.
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| Oscar having a snooze in his crate |
If you haven't access to a crate to begin with, though I would strongly advise prospective owners to invest in one prior to getting a new puppy, an old playpen or travel cot will suffice (beware though that a puppy will probably attempt to chew through the fabric on a travel cot ~ supervision once again). You can even fashion a sectioned off area of your kitchen or wherever you spend most of the day using chairs turned on their side. The main thing is that the puppy is restricted in where he can wander until he is house trained. This and supervision will make house training so much easier for both you and your puppy.
If you have easy access to an outdoors area where your pup can do his business then I would suggest putting a garden chair there as you may have to spend some time initially waiting for your pup to do his business and congratulate him afterwards. On the subject of congratulating him after performing, never do this mid-business. Let him finish what he is doing and only then tell him he's a good boy and give him lots of pets.
If an accident occurs in the house simply lift the pup and put him where he is meant to go and clean it up immediately. You might want to purchase some of these sprays that are for use to spray on an area where a pup has had an accident although I have found them not much good and just wipe the floor with a clean cloth dipped in steriliser. The main thing though is never punish your puppy for an accident ~ he will simply relate it to the act of actually doing his business and you will confuse him and make bother for yourself. Much, much easier to congratulate him and make him feel good when he goes where you want him to. Puppies want to please their owners and so he will quickly learn that doing his business in the aloted area is a good thing and brings cuddles and maybe even a tasty treat.
TIMING
Puppies generally want to do their business on waking up and definitely after eating. This makes it so much easier for us as owners if we learn this quickly. In the mornings now I take Oscar out of his crate and put him into the enclosed yard beside the kitchen while I prepare his food. Once ready I take the food to the yard. Sometimes he will have already have had a pee other times not but the important thing here is that he has easy access to the approved area once he has eaten his food and had a drink of fresh water.
Puppies are creatures of habit and in the early days you will be feeding him four times a day so simply repeat the feed/water/toiled process throughout the day and house training will become a doddle. Oscar eats and drinks and then "goes" and I tell him what a clever dog he is saying the words we have chosen to communicate to him when we want him to do his business when he completes it.
You can chose any word or words you want. We say "go pee pee" (for both actions) others say "go potty", it matters not but what does matter is that you don't use a word you use in day to day life where the puppy might hear it and perform what you will call an accident buy he thinks is an instruction.
OBSERVATION
Another tool you can use in your house training is observation. A puppy will start to sniff the ground intensely and maybe do a turn or two prior to doing his business. If you see your pup doing this pick him up quickly and take him to the appointed area and wait, congratulating him after he performs.
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| "Who's a clever boy then!" |
As with earlier dogs, Oscar will be trained to do his business before he goes walkies. The great outdoors is for him to explore and enjoy and not a massive toilet and from previous experience, if you train your pup to do his business in an appointed area before his walk it makes life so much easier for you and protects our pavements and parks. I love dogs but I hate to see owners letting their dogs do their business in public so you can imagine how appalling it is for non-dog owners not to mention that those who do not pick up after their dog leave a possible hazard to any child who touches it.
Oscar, being a male, will probably make attempts to raise his leg on walks once he gets to a certain age but with him as with previous males we have owned, he will not be allowed do this. A simple soft tug on the lead when attempts are made will result in a dog you can take for a walk without him having to "mark territory" numerous times during the walk.
So that is how we are getting along with house training using previous experience and the very smart puppy who is Oscar.
Visit Oscar's blog: Oscar The Bullmastiff
