Toilet training

20 Mar | Posted by Holly Keeling | no comments | children, puppies, toilet, training

At around three weeks of age a puppy has an inbuilt instinct to move away from their nest to go to the toilet. They will not be aware that your larger house is still part of the nest so it is up to you to teach them the boundaries. Here’s my top tips for toilet training puppies and dogs:

• Clean any soiled areas with dog specific deodoriser as it contains chemicals that help to break down the enzymes in the puppy’s urine and feaces which will help to remove the smell for your puppy. Often normal household stain removers can’t do this and your puppy is more likely to repeat soil in the same area again.
• Never punish a puppy for accidents. Dogs do not understand english and are unlikely to know why you are punishing them. The most you will achieve from punishing a puppy for toileting is a nervous puppy and one that will not toilet in front of you (which will make them harder to train to for outside).
• Reward them with praise and treats each time for going in the correct area
• Take them outside every hour to start with, then every two, then three, then four. Most adult dogs will need to be given the opportunity to toilet every four hours.
• Take them outside after exciting events like visitors, a meal, a game with a toy as well as first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
• If your puppy follows you back in the house each time you take them out to toilet, stay out with them but largely ignore them so that they keep focused on the task. If they sit by your side waiting for you, slowly walk around to keep them moving.
• If your dog is on lead out and about, try to keep the lead loose as constant interruption whilst they are sniffing will delay them toileting.
• Learn your puppies behaviours that they do just before they toilet such as; circling, sniffing, being distracted and squating so that you can get them outside asap when these occur. Let your puppy walk outside by themselves so that they can learn how to get there, call them or use a lead to guide them if necessary.
• Use a crate. Puppies don’t like to toilet near to where they sleep or eat so confining them to a smaller space can encourage them to hold on a little longer. Place the newspaper at the back of the crate so that they are less likely to walk through it. Have their bed at the front. Introduce the crate to your puppy gradually and in a rewarding manner such as feeding them in there, playing with a toy, grooming them etc.

• With a dog that has already gotten into the habit of toileting in the house, especially when you are not in the same room, attach them to you with a lead and take them out every hour until they start to toilet outside.
• If your puppy goes to the toilet as soon as you get home from a walk, take them straight back out for a walk as soon as you get home as they will be likely to go. Dogs naturally start to go the toilet on walks more, the longer their walks get.

 

As with other blogs i like to draw upon the similarities between raising dogs and raising children as I find it fascinating. I am by no means an expert with children but nonetheless I enjoy reading about others recommendations.

 

Our oldest son was toilet trained at 3.5 years, which by some accounts is late. We had been trying on and off for the year before that and it seemed like a long journey. There’s so much conflicting advice out there. We tried tried many of the methods I recommend for puppy training like asking him often if he need the toilet, never telling him off for accidents, staying with him whilst he was on the potty, giving him a chocolate for each successful attempt and so on. We even decorated his potty, tried putting shorts on without a nappy (what a mess!) and got him cool dinosaur pants. But the best advice we found in the end was ‘when they’re ready they’re ready’. It was as simple as that.

 

At Christmas just gone i decided that the two weeks we had off and largely at home would be an ideal time to get rid of the nappies and risk any accidents. So, in the lead up to Christmas I suggested to our toddler that we send Father Christmas his nappies and he got so excited that we wrote a letter. At Christmas we sent the card and nappies off to  Father Christmas and the next day our son woke up to a letter, ‘big boy’ pants and a ‘good luck’ present. He was so thrilled and since that day he has been clean through the day and night apart from a couple of minor accidents. And that was that. Everything we had done before hadn’t mattered because he wasn’t ready. His desire to stay clean and perhaps his ability to control it weren’t there.

 

So my experience of training puppies and toddlers were quite different. However, there is some similarity in what I found with my son. After all, you can’t force tiny puppies to hold on for longer than they can. I have been told be a couple of vets that generally puppies bladders aren’t strong enough to hold wee for a long period of time until 20 weeks and even then some breeds are predisposed to weaknesses.

In summary, when toilet training try hard to provide your puppy with the opportunity to go to the toilet in the right place and do not punish them when they have accidents or take longer than expected.

 

Pro Dog School. Reward the good, prevent the bad.

About the Author: Holly Keeling. Dog Trainer in Sussex, England. Mother to furrbaby Leskie 5yrs and little humans Teddy 3yrs and Louie 1yr. Outdoor lover. A blog about raising kids and dogs and my life as a dog trainer. View more blogs here.