How to train a puppy and what are the basic steps for beginners.
It’s our responsibility as people to show our dogs where they can and can’t go and housetraining puppies is a month-long process but it’s a good opportunity for you to become consistent and that is a telltale sign of a good teacher.
Dogs aren’t born knowing where they should and shouldn’t relieve themselves. Housetraining puppies success is fastest achieved when you get really good at controlling your dog’s environment and supervising them really well.
Our overall goal is to teach our dogs that our house is their house. Instinctively, dogs don’t do their “business” where they live. But it would take a while for them to generalize an entire house as their primary residence. With that, tips on how to train a puppy really come into place.
If you live in a house with several rooms, you might want to begin by slowly giving your dogs access to their doggy pads in a small area of a room with heavy supervision over time. A crate with dog pads, for example, is a nice way to give your dogs a cozy place to hang out. Now, since the crate is small, it would be easier for your pups to accept it as their primary living space.
Since they don’t want to relieve themselves in their home, over time, they will tell you when they need to do their “business”. Note that you don’t want the crate too big for your pup at first since the time it takes your dog to familiarize will increase in a larger living space.
When your puppies understand that this is the place you guys will hang out a lot, you should slowly let them explore the entire room.
If you live in a high-rise apartment where it’s impractical to get your dog outside very often, you might need to keep in mind that dogs have their “favorite place” to do their “business”. The point is such a place can be created with the same principle.
You can place puppies pads (or pee pad) in your bathroom (or any room at your disposal) and let them do their “business” more often there. Some accidents might occur sometime if you don’t supervise well. If that happens, just grab him and put him into the pee pad, and clean up the mess. And then just start over again. It’s a part of your own training process to become a better owner.
The final thing, and the most important one, is don’t forget to reward your puppies with a small treat whenever they do something good along the way. House training for puppies can be a fun and enjoyable process. And after successfully trained your pups, you will have a loyal companion and a much, much cleaner house.
Tips on how to potty train a puppy like professionals
Surprisingly, peeing is the most common problem among dog owners. Some of them choose an irresponsible way to solve, kick the poor soul out of the house, or chain the dog in a corner for the rest of his life. That is the sign of an inexperienced dog trainer and a lousy owner.
Here are some tips on how to potty train a puppy like a professional.
Tip 1: The bathroom.
It’s our responsibility as people to show our dogs where they can and can’t go. But dogs aren’t born knowing where they should and shouldn’t relieve themselves. So our task is to show them “where the bathroom is” slowly. The principle is simple.
Dogs generally develop a preference for whatever texture they experience most often while relieving themselves. So if you want your dog to go on grass full-time, just introduce them to lots of grass and give lots of praise when they do their “business” in the right place.
The “bathroom” could be anywhere, a small crate with puppies pads (or pee pads) or your small garden on the back of your house.
Tip 2: Your house, their house.
This principle is quite easy to understand but unbelievable hard to pull off since it requires your patience day in day out. Our overall goal is to teach our dogs that our house is their house. Instinctively, dogs don’t do their “business” where they live. But it would take a while for them to generalize an entire house as their primary residence.
Not many people know this principle but it’s incredibly beneficial and it can help you understand your dog better. The key to effective housetraining puppies is patience with your loyal friends since they will definitely do the same to you.
Tip 3: The schedule is crucial.
Believe it or not, dogs have a “doing business” schedule. If you train your dog well, technically speaking, the dogs can go along with you in your morning run or your outdoor exercises in the late evening. Just train your dog like the 2 principles above and you will have an amazing companion. just don’t forget to clean their “business” after they finished with some cleaning products.
Tip 4: Reward pattern.
Housetraining puppies is a month-long process, it’s not like you can buy a “book” and let them “read” how to do the trick themselves. (duh) All dog training processes or tricks basically based on a simple reward pattern. Do 1 good thing and you can have a treat. The treat can be anything, from dog products you can find online to tiny real chicken pieces, make sure the pup loves it and you are good to go.
For example, this is how you should do to get your pups to familiarize themselves with a new crate. Throw a small treat in front of the crate, give them a treat, then throw another one a little farther inside the crate and repeat the process several times until you can play with them while they stay inside the crate.
Now, the most important thing is repetitive. Make sure you repeat the pattern over and over and over again until the dog gets the idea that we will hang out in the crate a lot, and they will make the crate their home! From that point, the dog will automatically go to the crate when you call their name and point to the crate! Pretty amazing huh!
Tip 5: How long does it take to train a puppy and when to start potty training a puppy.
Housetraining puppies is not an easy task which can be achieved in only 1 or 2 days. It will take months just to train a puppy to relieve himself in the right place or a week to teach him how to do some simple trick like using bells on doors for dogs. So you better get it started the first time they get home or the minute they stop using puppy diaper and start to wander all over your house, the sooner the better.
How long does it take to potty train puppies?
The whole process could take months and this could be interrupted if you don’t pay enough attention to your pup daily. Additional help from a friend or a dog trainer to keep up with the training plan will be incredibly beneficial anytime you are busy. Make sure to stick to your plan and things will go fine. If it’s all good, it would not take more than 3 months.
When to start potty training a puppy?
You need to get it started the first time they get home or the minute they stop using puppy diaper (about 3-4 months old) and start to wander all over and make a complete mess of your house. Remember, the sooner the better.
How to tell I have a housetraining puppies success?
Don’t celebrate housetraining success a little bit too prematurely. You still need to keep your dog in check 1-2 months after the training. After that period with absolutely no accident and your pup can go several hours between potty break, you’re probably out of the woods.
What should I do when my pup has an accident during the training process?
Don’t punish your pup, it only makes the situation worse. Simply rush him out of the house and clean up the mess. It’s much easier if you have pee pads in your dog’s crate, this will save you from a ton of work. just remember to change the pee pads from time to time.
What about submissive or excitement urination?
This is when your dog pees when they get a little nervous or extra excited. This is not because you are not training the pup well enough. There is a period of a newborn pup when they can’t have complete control. They will outgrow this period by the time they get 12-18 months old. During this process, there is not much you can do besides using dog diapers to minimize the mess. The good news is that the period can be shortened if your pup can socialize with other dogs. So don’t lock your dog in a crate, but let him go out and hang out with others to have more fun, for them and for you too.
Tricks must try with your puppy. Potty training puppies
Housetraining puppies can be quite bizarre to a newbie’s eyes. But when you get a hang of it, it becomes weirdly addicted. A part of the fun is to reward your pup and see their tails wag all over and the look on their faces, eager for more.
The basic pattern is to reward your dogs whenever they do something right with small dog products. The dogs will remember that good thing they do each time they receive an award. From this, you can train your dog a ton of fun tricks. keep in mind that only a small step can be taught at a time. The process can take days or months, depending on how much time you spend with your pup or how complicated the trick is. Make sure to find some awesome products to play with your puppy.
Trick 1: bells on doors for dogs
Training bells for your dog can be incredibly beneficial in the long run. Basically, you try to teach your dog to use the bell on the front door whenever they need to do their “business” outside.
However, this trick is rather difficult to pull off since it’s rather complex. So it needs to be broken down into small, easy to achieve, segments.
- Step 1: Have your dog touch your hand with nose then reward with a treat.
- Do this a few times a day until it sticks.
- Step 2: Put bells on the floor, let the dog touch the bell with the nose
- Repeat the reward pattern. Toss the treat to help them reset.
- Step 3: Repeat holding the bells up off the floor.
- Step 4: Repeat with bells close to the door.
- Step 5: Hang the bells on the doorknob and repeat.
- Step 6: Repeat, but this time toss the treat outside.
Your dog will start associating ring the bell to being let outside!
#note: each step may take a few days. Be patient!!
Trick 2: Giving paws (shake)
An easy trick to have fun with your dog at home.
- Step 1: Give the treat to have your dog’s attention, repeat a few times.
- Step 2: Hold the treat inside your palm right on the dog’s nose, if the dog can’t get something with their mouth, they use their feet. So hold the treat in your palm until you see a movement in the dog’s feet. Repeat a few times. (you should see the feet moving faster as you progress).
- Step 3: keep your other hand to catch the feet, every time the dog puts the feet on your hand, say “Good” and then reward. Repeat a few times.
- Step 4: Say “paw” and wait to catch the feet and reward. Repeat a few times. You can increase the duration of the “paw” by giving the treat slower.
Trick 3: high-five (using a clicker)
High-five is an improved version of giving paws so the technique is the same with little variation. Using a clicker could have a faster reaction than normal verbal commands.
- Step 1: Click once and reward. Repeat a few times.
- Step 2: Click once and wait for the movements in their feet. If not, click again, otherwise reward.
- Step 3: Click once and have your other hand catch the feet then reward. Repeat a few times.
- Step 4: Click once and present your other hand flat towards the dog in a stop motion.
- Step 5: add a verbal cue, like saying “good” as a confirmation to slowly increase the duration of the high-five.
How to train an older dog to use potty pads
The easiest dogs to potty train
Potty training a new pet can be intimidating for even experienced owners. But adopting a dog wisely can save you a ton of time and effort while training for him or her. Let’s find out how to choose a perfect dog to train:
First, let us discuss their gender and see how their personalities differ. They say male and female characteristics differ like day and night and that can imply for dogs. The male dogs have all the typical figures of an Alpha leader so they are quite independent.
They tend to focus on marking their territories and can be quite aggressive. Besides, they are also playful and active, which can make your day better just by hanging out with them. However, they can be easily distracted by other female dogs and can be challenging whilst training them.
On another hand, female dogs represent the total opposite of those personalities. They have a less active way to react to the world and stuffs around them. Thus, this makes them the easiest dog to housebreak for inexperienced owners. Furthermore, they can easily connect with the owner, thus, they can make your day a little brighter by only their appearance around the house.
Easiest dog breeds to housebreak
The dog’s characteristics mostly come from their own gene and if you choose the right one, the training process can be shortened. Let’s name a few dog breeds that are easy to housebreak.
- Bichon Frise
These pretty smart cookies are natural learner and can learn any trick with ease. Furthermore, you can even take these cuties to restaurants with you and they can control themselves very well.
They will sit still beside you for the rest of the dinner and won’t bark randomly like other dogs. But all of this still requires a bit of training every day. Fortunately, once your Bichon Frise feels safe and comfortable with you and the environment, they can learn very quickly and tend to remember the training for years. Crate training should the most effective for this breed.
- Border Collie
Next up on the intelligent ladder is Border Collie, they are also considered one of the easiest dogs breeds to housebreak. They are cute and quite playful, but the training for this breed is shorter than other breeds due to their own will.
They naturally want to please their owners. So, they can see when you are not happy with what they are doing, they will remember and try their best to not do the same mistake again. This breed, however, should be trained with your kindness and praise for the best outcome.
- Boston Terrier
This breed is described as a “challenge” by “Boston Terrier Secrets” due to their common figures with other dogs. They are quite playful and cute but they are not naturally clean dogs and have a tendency of being incredibly noisy.
It’s true when it comes to training a dog, you need to put more patience into their housebreaking process in order to have the best outcome – A “challenge” as it is. If you want to challenge your ability as a dog owner and want to rub those cute ears every day, this breed is perfect for you.
Can an older dog still be potty trained?
Potty training a dog that is older is possible, and we have provided a step-by-step guide to help train an older.
How to potty train an old dog?
The answer is yes. The old dogs have bigger bowels and bladders, and better control over when they need to do their “business”. Meanwhile, puppies have not developed enough to make their own routine and it is physically impossible for them to hold their pee in for very long.
However, things can get messy with old dogs if they have the habits of marking their territories wherever and whenever they want. It is harder for them to adopt a new routine while the old one has worked perfectly for them for a long time.
Step 1: Take note their routine
One trick to slowly change this behavior is to mark their routine for a day first, where they do it more often in the house and when, and with some luck, you and your dog might have the same bathroom schedule by accident! But let’s be real, their schedule can be all over the places, and we still need a way to teach them to potty properly. After taking notes about their routine, you should have enough information about what time in the day that they most likely need to do their “business”.
Step 2: Create a schedule for you and your dog.
The truth is that you can not take them out at 3 in the morning to pee or 10 am while you are at work. Their schedule needs to be adjusted but you need to create a schedule of your own. For example: At what time you have your morning or evening exercises, when you take your lunch breaks and when you come back from work. With a little adjustment like taking your dog with you when you have exercises outdoor, your training can take off from here.
Step 3: Take them out in time and praise
The last thing to do is you need to tell them that doing “business” in a right place at the right time is a good thing to do. This can be achieved with treats and praises after they do something good. And the most important thing is repetitive, none of those things that you have taught your dog can be effective if you do not repeat it multiple times a day. So, make sure to lead them outside or let them stay in their “bathroom” crate in time.
Repeat this the next day at the same spot and the same time. And do not forget to praise and give them a small treat when they go in the right spot. After 1 or 2 months, the dog should have a general idea about where and when they should go and you can march their routine with your own easily.
For the indoor training process, the same schedule also needs to be maintained. Instead of a morning workout outdoor, 5-10 minutes in the morning before going to work can do wonder.
Moreover, the same principle can be used with a dog that has not been house-trained for a year or more or when you move to a new place and need to set up a new “bathroom” for your dog.
The key here is the dog’s routine, find it, change it through praising and treats, and find a way to fit it into your own daily schedule. Remember to repeat the process and your training will succeed beautifully. Finally, have patience with your dogs, they will do the same to you regardless of their gender or their age.
Easiest small dog to house train
How to potty train an older dog, adult dog in an apartment?
One trick to slowly change this behavior is to mark their routine first, where they do it more often in the house and when, and with some luck, you and your dog might have the same bathroom schedule by accident!
But let’s be real, their schedule can be all over the places, and we still need a way to teach them to potty properly. After taking notes about their routine, you should have enough information about which time in the day that they most likely need to do their “business”.
You can lead them outside or let them stay in their “bathroom” crate in time. Repeat this the next day and do not forget to praise and give them a small treat when they go in the right spot. After 1 or 2 months, the dog should have a general idea about where and when they should go and you can march their routine with your own!
The same principle can be used with a dog which have not housetrained for a year or more or when you move to a new place and need to set up a new “bathroom” for your dog.
The key here is the dog’s routine, find it, change it through praising and treats. Remember to repeat the process and your training will succeed beautifully. Finally, have patience with your dogs, they will do the same to you regardless of their gender or their age.
