Articles on Potty Training

Sharpen Your HouseTraining Skills

In this article I will be discussing about the two most effective housetraining methods.

Proper housetraining methods focus on preventing “accidents” instead of waiting for accidents to happen. The actual goal is to make it easy for the dog to do the right thing in the first place.

Training in this way is faster and more effective than punishing the dog for mistakes. YOU play the most important part in the success or failure of this method — you must be patient and determined for it to work. If you already own an adult dog with housetraining problems, you can use this method to start fresh just as you would with a puppy.

Basically there are two fundamental methods:

Crate Training

As a dog owner, you surely know the importance of crate in your dog's life. Not only is a crate essential for potty training purposes but also it is needed to make your dog feel safe and secured. In a nutshell, a crate is a modern day version of a den. Using a crate will help you prevent accidents and give housebreaking a simpler meaning.

It is advisable to put a new puppy or dog in a crate so that it learns from the very beginning that the entire house is not its playground. It may seem harsh when you see the tiny little thing trying very hard to make its way out of the crate. One mistake at this stage will make you repent for the rest of your life.

The Crate training process needs a lot of patience, persistence and pain. However, before you buy one you need to consider the following things:

And most importantly, you should get a crate in which your dog should be comfortable staying in.

The crate also makes you mobile with your dog. He can easily be taken for a trip if he stays in the crate. Moreover, it is also safe in households where there are small children or toddlers around.

Most importantly, the crate marks your dog's territory for good. Now, your will not understand on his own that the crate is his home. You need to train him that way.

The basic purpose to crate training is confining your dog in one place while you are out and teach your dog to have bladder and bowel control. Instead of going whenever he feels like, he will learn to hold himself and go at convenient scheduled times.

It is always advisable to maintain a diary during crate training so that you can keep an exact track of when your dog eliminates. Once you know what time of day your dog usually needs to eliminate, you can begin taking it out only at those times instead of every hour. After it has eliminated, your pet can have free, but supervised, run of your house.

This is the actual intention of housetraining your dog with the means of a crate. With crate training you are training your dog where not to eliminate inside the house.

Paper Training

Paper training a dog is usually practiced by dog owners who stay out of the house for long, those who live in high-rise apartment buildings or those deprived of a backyard facility.

Paper training is mainly followed when you train your puppy to eliminate on paper on your floor. The paper training method works best if you are not going to be at home for long periods of time, a puppy cannot be asked to hold her bladder for more than 3 hours. Because of this, paper training might be your best choice. Paper training takes time and patience, but it is well worth the effort.

I would suggest all dog owners to use newspapers because of two main reasons. They are:

Select a good room to use that has linoleum or wood floor. Any place where it will be easy to clean up any mess that it makes on the floor. For many dog owners, bathrooms are a good choice.

But first, begin with papering the entire room except your dog's sleeping area. Instinctively, your dog wouldn't like to eliminate where it sleeps. It will rather go to the papered area on its own.

Getting used to eliminate on paper and doing it at one particular place needs several weeks. So, do not rush your pet.

When you start with paper training, you will have to spend some time with the dog in the room. Look for signs when you will know your dog needs to eliminate. These might include, sniffing the floor or walking in a circle. When you see these signs, bring the dog to the newspaper. You should also bring the dog to the newspaper after meals and play.

When you have the dog on the newspaper, tell it to eliminate. You can use whatever wording you feel comfortable with, “go potty” or “go pee pee” are most common phrases. While at first your dog will not know what you are saying, eventually he will be able to make an association between your words and what he is doing.

After your dog eliminates, make sure to praise him. This will enforce what you are trying to get him to do. Dogs want to please you.

At the beginning, he will make mistakes. Don't scold him. Be stern and order him to do it only on the paper. Once your dog decides on its area of elimination, slowly begin to reduce the papered area in the room.

After quite some time, when you are absolutely sure that your dog will only eliminate on paper, slowly move the paper (by half an inch a day) towards the place where you would like him to eliminate in the long run. In case of mistakes, use an odor neutralizer to do away with the scent of waste. By doing this, you disassociate other parts of the room with elimination.

After the dog has succeeded using the newspaper alone, you can try and leave him alone for short periods of time. If you have to go to work, try and come home at lunch to give your dog some much needed attention.

After some regular successive sessions, you can even move the dog to another room, if you want.

Some Potty Training Insiders...

Pet owners who attempt indoor housetraining should be aware of some potential problems. Indoor training takes longer than outdoor training. Your puppy might even resist during the first few sessions and may not be able to be trained to go indoors.

This is pretty normal. You will have to keep on trying. And once your dog learns to go indoors, it can be difficult to train them to go outdoors in the future. That's why, don't try to housetrain your puppy both inside and outside - it can be too confusing for your pet.

No-leak wee pads are available in the market these days that can be used for indoor elimination. You can place them at the designated elimination site and your dog will be able to relate to it.

These pads are easy to use, comes in different sizes and are easy to dispose. In case you are opting for paper training, make sure to use more than one sheet of paper to avoid stains on the floor.

Nowadays, urban dog owners are finding doggie diapers quite convenient for their pets. Dog diapers not only provide proper sanitation but it is also the best solution for the everyday trouble of most pet owners in washing out their dog’s waste and pee.

Dog diapers works best for dogs:

With lesser bladder control
Suffering from excitement or submissive urination

And also for

Puppies who are yet to develop a control over their bladder
Senior dogs

But it is always advisable not to make your dog wear a diaper for too long.

Also, keeping around a deodorizer to do away with stench can be helpful.