{"id":3678,"date":"2008-08-25T05:15:57","date_gmt":"2008-08-25T10:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/25\/how-to-potty-train-a-puppy\/"},"modified":"2008-08-25T05:15:57","modified_gmt":"2008-08-25T10:15:57","slug":"how-to-potty-train-a-puppy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/?p=3678","title":{"rendered":"How To Potty Train A Puppy"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Shelby Wright<\/div>\n

Have you just bought a cuddly and cute young puppy? If you are like most families you are probably very worried how to house train your new puppy<\/a>. The first thing you should know is that dogs<\/a> do not naturally soil where they live. In their natural environment they will do their business outside and away from their den. Your puppy’s mother will have taught these good housekeeping habits to your puppy during its first few months with her.<\/p>\n

Some dog owners<\/a> interfere with this natural habit. A dog that is chained up for lengthy periods may not have the option to leave its kennel, which is why a dog should be allowed to run free several times a day to help keep its living quarters clean. To house train a pup kept indoors, the first step is to limit its sleeping quarters to a small area that is the equivalent of its “den”. It will naturally wish to keep that area clean. Some people use a crate for this purpose.<\/p>\n

There are two ways to do your potty training from there. You can train your puppy to go outside to do its business, or you can train it to use a dirt box inside. Whichever suits your situation, your objective is to have the puppy relieve itself in the place you designate, and not to treat your home as if it is the park down the street. If you have a larger dog and a secure yard, you will probably want to train it to go outdoors. This may not be practical if you have a small dog, or you live in an apartment with no outdoors kennel. Also if you are very busy or often absent you may need to train your dog to use a dirt box inside.<\/p>\n

If you have a yard, take your puppy outside onto grass as soon as it wakes and 15-20 minutes after it eats. This may happen several times throughout the day. Every 3-4 hours, much as with a baby, is a practical guideline for a young puppy. Leave it much longer and the risk of an accident increases. Reward your puppy with praise when it performs as you want. Your aim is for this to become a routine, and eventually your puppy will let you know when it needs to go outside, even outside the routine times.<\/p>\n

Expect that reaching this stage will take several weeks. Accidents will happen, and should not be punished. Rewarding positive behavior is a more effective training method. You would be well advised to have the puppy live initially in an area with a hard floor that is easily cleaned, such as in your garage or laundry.<\/p>\n

Keeping the puppy in a yard outdoors during the day, so that it will be asleep for most of its time indoors through the night, will reduce the demands on your time as its temporary “nanny” during this process. If you have a dog door giving the puppy access to the outside, train the puppy to use it when required. This is much less labor intensive for you, and speeds up the learning process.<\/p>\n

It’s best if the “den” area where your puppy sleeps can be adjacent to this dog door. Obviously, free access outside should not mean freedom to roam beyond a safe yard.<\/p>\n

Giving access to a secure run outside may not be possible for you. A dirt tray inside the house is the usual solution. Absorbent substances to use in your dirt box are readily available at pet<\/a> shops to eliminate most of your odor concerns. You should place the dirt tray close to where the puppy sleeps but it must be clearly separate from its “den”.<\/p>\n

Your job is to take the puppy to the dirt tray whenever it wakes and soon after it has been fed. You must reinforce the successful use of the dirt box with praise and affection, until the puppy catches on to how to use it. You need to show some patience. You can paper train your puppy as a lead in to using the dirt tray. For this you use a newspaper laid out on the floor as a first alternative to a dirt tray. Some scent on the paper from last time he went helps the pup to understand what he is expected to do.<\/p>\n

Newspaper gives the puppy a bigger area to go on – some suggest laying out several sheets for a start. Newspaper is preferred because it is low cost and easily cleaned away. You gradually reduce the amount of paper over a couple of weeks and move it to the position you want for the dirt tray. You then phase out the paper in favor of the dirt tray. Over 3-4 weeks the puppy will develop the habit of using the dirt tray. You can then move it step-by-step further away from the den or sleeping area, perhaps to a utility room or attached garage, where the family spends less time. Alternatively you can move the puppy’s bed further into your own living areas if you wish, a longer distance from the dirt tray.<\/p>\n

Your aim is to give your puppy more access to your home in stages, to get your puppy to treat your whole home as its “den”, which it naturally wants to keep clean. It is smart to delay giving access to any dark or secluded corners too soon in case they prove a temptation before the habit to always use the dirt box is firmly imprinted. Your patience during this time will be rewarded by your puppy respecting your home as you want.<\/p>\n

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About the Author:<\/div>\n
Shelby Wright learned how to train dogs<\/a> working with sheep farm dogs, and later bred gun dogs. Get quick solutions on how to train a dog<\/a>, including helpful advice and resources on dog care and ways you can simply correct your dog’s behavior issues. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you just bought a cuddly and cute young puppy? If you are like most families you are probably very worried how to house train your new puppy. The first thing you should know is that dogs do not naturally soil where they live. In their natural environment they will do their business outside and away from their den. Your puppy’s mother will have taught these good housekeeping habits to your puppy during its first few months with her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":700,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[96],"class_list":["post-3678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-training","tag-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/700"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}