Posts Tagged ‘House Training’
House Training Blaze
March 7th, 2010
Blaze is 10.5 weeks old, and is doing well with his house training. Our big problem is that he goes to the door and sits to let us know he needs to potty. If we aren’t watching, we dont know that he needs to go out! Enter the poochie bells, potty training system.
Poochie Bells are potty training bells you hang from your door knob and teach your dog to ring them as a cue to let you know its time to go out. You can make your own but in my experience they aren’t loud enough. I like these bells because they are well made, have several snaps so you can lengthen or shorten your bells. They are very reasonably priced too.
Click here to purchase a poochie bell
In order to train this behavior, I pulled out the bells, showed them to Blaze and said “yes” and gave him a piece of kibble every time he nudged the bells making noise. From here on out I am hanging the bells and when its time to go potty, I am asking him to do the same behavior by holding the bells up slightly and rewarding him for nudging them with a piece of food and letting him out to potty. As he starts to do it more on his own, the treat will no longer be needed as most dogs love to go outside and that is reward enough.
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House Training Schedule
February 22nd, 2010
Check out the House Training App
We brought home our new puppy Blaze this weekend. He is an 8 week old labrador retriever. Every puppy is so different and teaches you new things. Little Blaze loves to drink water, and will drink non stop. Here is how today is going, and what type of house training schedule I am going to keep.
Morning 1 – I got up, filled up a bowl of water and went about my morning making breakfast and lunches for the kids. He went out and pottied, lots of praise. He came in and went #2 on the floor (I saw him sniffing and was trying to locate my jacket because of the rain). That was my fault I didn’t move fast enough. We went out anyway and he went potty again, came in and had 3 accidents back to back. No sniffing this time, just peeing on the floor. Luckily we keep a swiffer wet jet in the kitchen to clean up the mess quickly.
I decided this wasn’t a good pattern. Now I am limiting how much water I put down. Here is our new schedule
Puppy Crate Time
Comes out of the crate – potty
If he pees he gets to play in the kitchen with 1 cup of water available in the bowl. (this is more than he needs but its always better too offer more than less!)
He can play for 20 minutes, we go back out to potty.
If he pees, he gets to stay out, if not, he goes in the crate.
We’ll see how this goes. A few tips on a house training schedule, see how long between potty trips you can go – some puppies can do an hour, and some only 15 minutes. The goal the first week home is to get more peeing outside than inside. Expect them to do a poop sometime after eating (1-3 hours).
House Train a Dog
December 14th, 2009
House Train a Dog – Common Methods
By Renee Premaza, Dip.,C.B.,C.C.B.T.
Dog Obedience Trainer and Behavioral Consultant
(609) 280-9338
If you’re having problems housetraining your puppies or older dogs, are you:
Leaving your dog’s food bowl full all day long? “Free feeding” prevents your dog’s digestive system from having a specific schedule of elimination. Your dog is NOT a cat! Feed your dog a good quality dog food and feed him twice/day. Keep his food bowl down for no longer than 20 minutes. Whatever he doesn’t finish within that time period, put the rest away and add it to his next meal.
You need to take your dog outside onleash for elimination everytime you think he has to go. This way, you’ll be able to monitor what he’s doing and what he’s NOT doing. If you just let him out and don’t watch him, how will you know if he’s done his business?
Take your dog out:
First thing in the morning Within 5-10 minutes AFTER EVERY MEAL Immediately AFTER EVERY NAP Take your dog out after being played with for awhile. This is very stimulating to many dogs and they will need to eliminate soon after something exciting happens. Take the puppy out on an average of every 45 minutes to an hour. You might want to keep a log on this to determine just how often he needs to go from how many times you can get him to eliminate when you take him outside. If you have an older dog, you can lengthen this to every hour to hour and a half. Before taking the dog outside, say to him, “wanna go potty?” and bring him outside ONLEASH to your designated spot. KEEP TREATS ON so you can reward the dog immediately after he does his business. Within a second after your dog begins to pee or poop in the right spot, offer a treat and praise him to the skies. You can reward good house training behaviors by then letting him run around outside with you. Throw him a puppy party ANYTIME he eliminates in his spot. If you’re out with your puppy for awhile and he’s been running around and playing, make sure you bring him back to his “toilet” area before going inside. He might have to go again. When you’ve established a fair amount of success in getting the dog to go in this spot, begin putting a command word on the behavior. For example, when you bring the dog to his spot, as he starts to eliminate, say your phrase, like “go potty.” Then reward him with a treat. If you cannot keep your eye on him ALL THE TIME, (1) put him in his crate, or (2) tether him to your waist with his leash or long-line. Watch him for certain signals that he may have to go: (1) sniffing the floor, (2) looking a bit anxious or worried, (3) coming to you and just staring at you, (4) preparing to squat or lift leg, acting excited and a bit obnoxious.
Take the dog outside to potty before bedtime.
IF YOU TAKE HIM OUT AND HE DOESN’T GO, FOLLOW THESE PROCEDURES:
Do not allow him to play outside.
Bring him inside and put him in his crate for 15 minutes to 1/2 hour.
Take him out again, and repeat all procedures
you’ve been instituting. (generally, the dog will go after having been crated for an additional 1/2 hour.)
Please be aware that it is more difficult to train a toy or miniature dog. These tiny dogs have VERY small bladders and need to be taken out much more freqently.
DO NOT PUNISH HOUSE TRAINING ACCIDENTS!
The success of teaching a dog to go potty outside depends on YOUR MANAGEMENT OF THE SITUATION.
By punishing the dog, he will NOT LEARN that going outside is what you want him to do. Punishment will only teach him that you are DANGEROUS. This can result in a dog that will (1) refuse to potty outside in the presence of his owner; (2) come inside and eliminate where nobody can see what he’s doing. Dogs that are not completely housetrained and still have accidents in the house are NOT spiteful dogs! They are merely looking for an absorbent surface to eliminate on without suffering the consequences of being threatened. Management is key in house training any dog. If you don’t have the time to watch your dog or take him out very often, you’re going to have a much harder time of housetraining him!
REWARD ALL GOOD BEHAVIOR – IGNORE ALL BAD BEHAVIOR
Renee Premaza
Dog Obedience Trainer
Berlin, New Jersey
Dip., C.B., C.C.B.T.
Professional Member APDT #63137
Clinical Member IADBC
Puppy Training Basics
December 14th, 2009
Puppy Training Basics
1. Teach the puppy his name.
Use it a lot, and say "Yes" whenever he responds by looking at you. Give the puppy a big hug and lots of smiles as his "treat" following the "Yes." We want to establish several primary reinforcers as early as possible, so that he doesn’t become dependent on food. We’ll save food treats for more formal training. Make sure that your "Yes" sounds different from your everyday, conversational "Yes." Make it a bright-sounding utterance.
2. Build really strong eye contact.
Make eye contact his permission-seeking behavior for anything he wants: getting out of the crate, going out the door (you can wait for the puppy to sit and give you eye contact at the door), eating a meal, etc. No verbal cues. Just put yourself in a position where he can easily make eye contact (like kneeling in front of the puppy), and then reinforce the eye contact with a "Yes") – and then give the puppy the primary reinforcer which is whatever he wants at that moment (e.g., getting out of the crate, going out the door, eating, etc.)
3. Condition the meaning of the clicker by doing a few very short sessions of freebies every day: click, treat, click, treat, and so on. All you’re teaching the puppy at this point is that the click predicts the treat (the primary reinforcer). Later, he’ll learn that his own behavior can make you click, and that’s when the operant conditioning begins. After a few days of conditioning the clicker, you can start to alternate the click with the "Yes" to work on name and eye contact.
4. Work on housetraining.
If you are absolutely religious about this, you can get the bulk (so to speak!) of it done within just a couple of weeks. After that, expect occasional "accidents" until his bladder and sphincter control improve (i.e., till he’s about 6 months old). Figure out the most likely times when he’ll need to eliminate – basically, after anything he does (eat, wake up, play, etc.). The rule of thumb is that an 8 week old puppy can hold for 1 hour (while he’s awake). After that, add 1 hour for each month of age. So, at 12 weeks/3 months, he can hold for 2 hours while awake.
I don’t use clicker training for housetraining. I do try to teach a cue, and here’s how to do that. Just as he’s starting to squat, say your cue quietly (so as not to startle the puppy). You are classically conditioning the cue. Before he’s finished eliminating, give the puppy a few quiet praise words.
He should be able to get through a 6-7 hour night within a week or so, especially if you’re careful to make clear to the puppy when we go to sleep at night. And, of course, make sure he’s empty at that time (withhold water after about 7 p.m. to help the puppy).
When you’re not watching the puppy, he should be confined to a crate or x-pen, so that he can’t make a mistake. You might also feed the puppy in his crate – partly to establish the crate as a wonderful place, and partly to protect your other dogs (and their food, which the puppy might think he can eat!) and to give them a little peace and quiet occasionally. I would also have the puppy ride crated in the car – mostly for safety and also to prevent carsickness.
5. Teach the puppy to play.
My preference is that all play is interactive with humans. I do not leave a million toys lying around but just one chew toy (like a Nylabone). The chew toy is not an interactive toy but just something to teach the puppy to chew on something approved (rather than the furniture). It will also be helpful when he starts teething, at about 4 months. Play can be with interactive toys (tug, fetch games – as long as you get the toy back – and so on) and also gentle body games ("Gotcha!", push-pull games, etc.)
6. Teach the puppy to relinquish a toy by doing exchanges, like this:
Give the puppy a toy (holding on to it if necessary to prevent his running off with it). Then show the puppy a wonderful treat in your other hand (close to his face, so that he can’t miss it!). The instant he opens his mouth to give up the toy, say "Yes" and give the puppy the treat (hiding the toy behind your back). Do a few of these exchanges each time. After a few days, you’ll be able to add a cue like "Give" (which will also be his Retrieve cue to relinquish the dumbbell). Say "Give" as he’s opening his mouth, then say "Yes," and then give the treat. Pretty soon, you won’t need to present the treat, once he knows the verbal cue. At that point, continue the "Yes" and treat (from behind your back), and then start building distance. This whole process will take about a week or so, though it won’t be absolute – especially when the thing in his mouth is just toooooo reinforcing in itself!
7. Socialize the puppy like crazy!
He’ll need exposure to all kinds of things, people, and places. You can carry the puppy in places that are not yet safe for the puppy to touch the ground in (where other dogs have been). He also needs time with you alone, without your other dogs present, so that he bonds more strongly with you than with them.
8. What To Do About Unwanted Behavior
Remember that your puppy is just doing what comes naturally – even if it’s not what you want! There are three important principles to follow with these unwanted behaviors: prevention, distraction, and interruption.
Prevention: Do everything possible to make unwanted behavior impossible!
For example, make sure there are no tempting electric cords in full view.
Distraction : When the puppy is doing something you don’t want,
divert his attention away from it to something more interesting.
For example, when the puppy starts to move towards your shoes, wiggle
a toy in front of his nose and playfully draw the puppy away.
Interruption: When your puppy is doing something you don’t like
and you can’t distract the puppy easily or quickly enough, interrupt the
behavior with a loud sound (hand clap, or slap on hard surface).
When he responds to the sound by startling, immediately ask the puppy
to do something you like that he knows how to do, and, when he does
it, c/t.
Dani Weinberg
Albuquerque, New Mexico
daniw@earthlink.net
Posted in New Puppy, Puppy Mouthing | 
Tags: dog training, House Training, puppy, puppy training | 
1 Comment »
Puppy Training Advice
December 10th, 2009
Puppy Training
Puppy training can be a trying time. The key to this time is to really remember that all puppy behavior is normal. They like to mouth, jump, bark, dig and piddle wherever they are. They aren’t doing it to annoy you, they are just doing what they have learned so far. It is our job to train them not to do these things.
Think of it as teaching your child to read. You wouldn’t punish your child for not knowing the alphabet if they have never seen it before right? So we don’t need to punish our puppies for things we haven’t taught them. Here, we will talk about normal puppy behavior and ways to encourage them to try something new. Remember – Behavior that is followed by something the dog likes will increase! Puppy training should be a lot of fun!
Puppy behavior
Jumping: There are two ways to solve this – first, stand on their leash. Second, teach them to sit. By teaching sit we are removing the desire to jump.
Mouthing: See this full article on puppy mouthing.
Pulling: This one is easy. Just stop walking! If you never go anywhere when the dog pulls, he will quickly learn. Offer a small treat when he is by your side and talk in a happy voice to encourage him.
The key to training any behavior is to be 100% consistent in your efforts. Often times it will get worse before it gets better but it will go away if you are consistent.
Puppy dog training
Try enrolling in a puppy kindergarten near you. This will really help with socialization and early puppy dog training. Find a dog trainer near you.
Housebreaking puppies
Puppies need to go to the bathroom after they play, chew, drink, eat or sleep. Start by putting them on a leash and tethering them to you. That way you can be aware of them when they start sniffing the ground (usually a cue the puppy needs to go potty). Pick them up and carry them outside. When they go potty, tell them “good potty” and give a cookie as a reward. Do not let your puppy off leash until they have finished going so they get into the habit of going potty, then playing. Many puppies will want to go outside just to play if you let them off leash first.
What if my puppy has an accident?
He will. Do not punish your puppy though. If you catch your puppy in the act then clap your hands or pick them up – this will make your puppy stop going. Get him outside FAST and let him finish up out there. Reward him for going outside. Clean up the mess with natures miracle (or read our article on dog urine removal) which will remove the odor completely.
Do NOT rub their nose in it, swat them with a newspaper, or isolate your puppy. It will only teach them to not go in front of you.
If your puppy is going frequently in the house you are probably not supervising them enough. Watch and learn their cues. If you feel you are watching and your puppy isn’t getting it you can always have them checked for a Urinary tract infection.
If your puppy piddles when you greet them, this could be submissive urination. This would be a problem that is usually cured by ignoring the behavior and letting your puppy calm down before touching them when you first see them.
This article not only applies to puppies, but it is how you should train a dog of any age. If you can’t supervise your dog, please put them in a crate to help curb accidents. Remember, dogs go where they go most!
This can be a trying time, so have patience and you will get through it.