Potty Training is the most important parts of training your dog to be a valued member of the family. The best way to potty train a dog is to use the dog’s own instincts for your benefit. Dogs are instinctively clean. So, house training is much easier than you think.
Basically, dogs do not want to soil the areas where they sleep and eat. Additionally, dogs are able to develop habits regarding where they would like to urinate and defecate. For example, dogs that do there business on concrete or gravel will prefer to do their deeds on concrete and gravel and not grass or dirt. You can use these instincts to help train your dog.
The first thing you need to do to begin house training your dog is to set up the training area. A small space that is confined is best for this purpose. For example, a bathroom or a part of the kitchen or garage will work best. Please do not confuse this with crate training. Crate training is great for both puppies and small dogs. However, many larger dogs will find a crate to confining.
The owner must spend as much time in the training area as possible. The owner should play with the dog in his training area and let the dog eat and sleep in that area. You need to provide the dog with a special bed in the training area. A large towel or large box will suffice. At first the dog may eliminate in this area, but once the dog uses his own area they will be reluctant to soil the area.
When the dog is used to sleeping in the bed the owner can move it around the house and relocate the bed from room to room. When you are not with your dog; the dog should be confined to the training area.
The second part of house training is to set up the toilet area for the dog. It is important for the dog to have access to this place every time he or she needs to eliminate. It is also important for the owner to accompany the dog each time until he or she gets into the habit of eliminating in the toilet area. This will ensure that the dog uses only the established toilet area.
A set feeding schedule will make potty training easier. Feeding your dog on a regular basis will create a regular schedule for the dog’s potty training habits. Once you know when your dog is going to eliminate it will be easy to take your dog to the correct potty training area.
When your dog has established a toilet area, and he uses that toilet area on a regular basis, it is very important that your dog has access to his area. If he is unable to get to his potty area he may have an accident and this will make house training much more difficult.
You can expand the dog’s training area when he consistently used his training area. This process needs to be done slowly. First you need to start with one room and then expand to the rest of the house. You should only expand this area when you are sure that that the dog is able to control his own bladder.
You must first expand the dogs training area to a single room. You need to let the dog eat, play and sleep in that room. But, you need to supervise your dog. When it is not possible to supervise the dog you should place the dog back to the original training area. Then when the dog has accepted the area as an extension of the original training area you can then extend this area if needed.
If the house training process is too long you may attempt to speed it up. But, you need to be cautious as it is hard to retrain a dog that has learned bad habits. You can speed up house training of your dog by rewarding the dog every time it goes where it was supposed to go. Also, you should never punish the dog when he makes a mistake. Punishment will only confuse your pet and will result in slowing down the potty training process.
