Ultimate Guide to Dog Training Part 1 - House Training

It is impossible to keep a dog and especially a puppy without there being some accidents and you have to be prepared for this. Dogs work best under a routine, and the quicker you establish this, the better. In many ways it is the same for puppies as it is for babies in that life is much easier when there is a specific time for everything.

A reasonably accurate guide for bladder control is that puppies can hold their bladder for one hour of every month of age they are at. If your puppy is three months old, then he or she will want to go within three hours and this has to be taken into consideration when thinking about purchasing a puppy. Are you or someone else going to be about enough to cover those needs? Can you get somebody else to be there? If not, there will be accidents - but it won't be the dogs fault. It is so important that the puppy gets to go outside after playing, eating and drinking.

Another useful thing to do, is to use the same area all the time when letting him relieve himself. This quickly becomes part of the routine and should be done even when a longer walk is planned. Always praise the puppy after it has done its business, but do make sure they are finished first, as they are easily distracted and may end up producing a puddle back indoors.

When training a young dog, it's all about schedules and if they have their meals at certain times then they will slowly get into the routine of having their toilet breaks at the same times, too. Continuity is key and any praise or reward must always be immediate or the dog will forget and not understand what it is being rewarded for.

It can make sense to remove the water bowl a couple of hours before sleep time. This reduces the chances of the puppy wanting to go to toilet in the middle of the night. If you do this, make sure that fresh water is available first thing in the morning. If the young dog does wake up in the middle of the night, don't make a fuss - this will get the dog excited and it will quickly assume that this is an OK thing to do. Instead just calmly and quietly allow the dog to go to its toilet area outside and then return to its sleeping area.

The obvious signs

A young puppy will constantly need to be monitored and there are some obvious signs that he or she needs the toilet. Some of these would be scratching and circling one area or squatting. It sounds obvious but it's important to understand the dog’s actions. If you see this behaviour or notice the dog barking to go out, then reward it and show him you are pleased after he has been.

If you can’t be with your pet for a few hours, then it pays to confine the puppy to a smaller area, as this at least contains the problem if it needs to relieve itself while you’re not there. The space that you allocate should be an area that is safe and with enough room for the puppy to be able to lay down, stand up and turn around when it needs to: you certainly don't want the animal to feel trapped. It must also have big enough space for you to be able to put down the litter tray, away from the sleeping area. Also when you return, take it straight outside to the designated toilet area and praise it if it goes. This routine will install confidence in the animal and help it understand that it is safe and doing the right thing.

Don't punish your young dog if it has an accident, especially if it happens when you're not looking. They'll become very confused if you start shouting at them, forgetting or not understanding the reason you’re doing this. Dogs quickly become attracted to an area that already smells of urine, so keep any area where there has been an accident clean and smelling fresh. Remember: a dog’s nose is far more sensitive than ours.

When you install as a trigger into your puppy’s mind it can be lifelong, and so it is wise to think about this when house training your dog. An example would be allowing the puppy to go to the toilet on newspaper. This may seem practical when it’s a young puppy, but this could cause problems in years to come.

House training older dogs

So far we've just talked about puppies, but is also important to talk about an older dog that may have come into your life. If you don't know the background of the dog, then you don’t know exactly how it was treated in its very early days and therefore you do not know its habits or triggers.

Dogs in general are actually very clean animals and do not want to soil themselves or eliminate in areas that they sleep or eat in. So you can use this to your advantage by allocating an area to the dog which it then becomes used to. You can do this by encouraging the dog to sleep in a certain space; this simple to do - just place a blanket or large box down in the chosen area. Even an older dog will soon get used to the idea that they sleep in one area and go and eat in another.

Again it's important for you to recognise your dog’s body language and pick up on its habits, because you can read a lot about its past and better understand why it behaves in a certain way now. A dog that's been used to toileting on grass or dirt would generally avoid using concrete or tarmac, as they just get used to doing things in a pattern. Noticing these things, even if you don’t know the dog's background, can help you when you’re training it inside the home. Here, instead of setting the triggers as you would do with the puppy, you're identifying the dog's already natural habits and needs and, of course, using them to your own advantage.

You still have to be just as reassuring with an older dog as you do with the puppy. With the puppy you're introducing the rules gradually into his world, but with an older dog you’re having to cope with the traumas that it may have had in the past, and of course any confusion it has by entering a new home. It is unreasonable to think that you can change any bad habits overnight and you have to remember that the dog may have had a history which might have made it nervous in certain circumstances. In many ways you have to be more understanding with older dogs than you do with a puppy. However, with love and patience, you can gradually reassure the animal that it is safe and wanted and this will slowly transfer itself across to the dog understanding where it belongs in the family role.