Tips and Guide to Potty Training
Your Puppy Fast and Easily – Part 2
All puppies make mistakes when they are going through house and potty training. It is in fact part and parcel of the training. If you leave your puppy to himself, he’s bound to make mistakes. He needs to be supervised, so try to have someone to be with him as far as possible. Until he goes through four weeks of not eliminating in the house, don’t consider him housetrained. If he’s older, this should be a longer period.
Until then, you should keep a constant vigil over him, set up baby gates to control his movements in the house and confine him to his crate when unsupervised. Take note that if your puppy squats and urinates when he greets you, he may probably suffer from submissive urination. Such dogs are hypersensitive and should not be scolded for this behavior, since punishment only worsens the problem. However, as he grows older, he will no longer do this if you are calm and quiet. Or you could ask him to sit down for a tasty treat till someone greets him.
To prevent your puppy from committing the same mistake, you should remove all urine and fecal odor so that your puppy does not return to the same spot in your house where he made a mess. Dogs tend to return to the same spot they have targeted earlier.
To completely remove the odor, use a good deodorizer for doggy odors. If he urinated on a carpet, saturate it with a cleaning agent. Shut off all those rooms in your house where your puppy has made frequent mistakes. Let him enter here only when accompanied by a family member.
An extra tip to remove urine from carpet is to use black lights to find the exact urine spot to make cleaning more efficient. You can use commercial or create a homemade deodorizer by mixing 50% water and 50% white vinegar. Take note that you should never use ammonia on a urine spot. It will encourage your dog to return to the same spot.
As mention earlier, it is quite natural for a dog to make a mess during the potty training period. This is why you need to be ready to handle these problems.
a. Don’t punish him when he makes a mistake already as this only delays training.
b. Be patient. Like any training endeavor, potty training requires a lot of patience. Don’t rub his nose into his mess. This will not teach him not to repeat it and will only end up making him frightened of you.
c. If you catch him while he is in the midst of doing, stop him with a quick grab of his collar and pull him up while making a startling sound, a sharp noise or say "No" using your deep, stern tone loudly. Do this only when you catch him red-handed, but be sure not to be too loud or he will eliminate in front of you or perhaps even outdoors.
d. Then, take him outside and let him finish what he is doing. Lastly, pat him on his head while saying "Good boy!” or praising him. It is important to show your dog praises whenever he does something correct. Giving him food as a reward when he does his business in the appropriate spot can help too.
During potty training, the use of common sense will aid you big time in dealing with your puppy's housebreaking endeavor. Logical thinking should inform you not to give your dog too much water before bedtime if his tendency is to pee often at night. Catering to his schedule first will prove to be very helpful in making it gradually change and adapt to yours.
Aside from patience and common sense, consistency is also one of the important factors of this dog training activity. If you suddenly forget about the routines yourself, don't blame if your dog if he starts committing accidents more often.
Remember that the stakes are high – a dirty and malodorous house. If you would like to succeed in this potty training feat or just about in any other training drills, don't treat it as a game. Allot enough time and commitment on your part.
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