Article Advise

submitted: Aug 25th 2008 | by: ShelbyWright | Total views: 1 | Word Count: 959 | |

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.

Dog owners sometimes interfere with their pet's good natural habits. If you chain up your dog for lengthy periods it will not have the freedom to leave its kennel and may soil it. This is why a dog should be given a run several times a day to help keep its home clean. To potty train a puppy kept inside, your first step is to restrict its home to a small area. It will see this area as its "den". Your pup will naturally wish to keep its living quarters clean. You can buy or make a crate, or set up a bed in a room you can close off, like a laundry or garage.

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.

If you can, take your puppy outside onto grass as soon as it wakes or soon after it is fed, and several times through the day. Every 3 to 4 hours is a practical guideline, beyond which the risk of an accident rises. Success should be praised. As this becomes a routine, the pup will eventually begin reminding you when it is time for it to go outside. Once it gets the idea it will be able to let you know when it needs to go outside at other than the routine times.

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.

If you can, keep your puppy in a kennel or secure run outdoors during the day, with access to relieve itself away from its sleeping quarters. This way it will be asleep for most of its time indoors with you through the night. This will reduce the time you have to dedicate as a temporary "nanny" while it learns what to do. If you install a dog door that allows the puppy access to the yard, train the puppy to use it when required. This easier for you, and greatly speeds up the house training.

Ideally the "den" or crate where your puppy sleeps should be adjacent to this dog door for the for the first few weeks. It should go without saying that free access to the outside does not mean freedom to roam beyond a safe and secure back yard.

Access to the outdoors may not be practical for you, and the second more difficult approach is needed. Your alternative is a dirt box somewhere inside your house. You can buy absorbent materials to use in your dirt tray, which reduce any worries you may have about the smell. For a start the dirt tray should positioned close to where the puppy sleeps so that it is accessible but far enough away to be clearly separate from its "den".

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.

The advantage of using newspaper is that it gives a bigger area, and paper is cheap and easy to clean up. You steadily narrow down the size of the paper and gradually introduce the dirt tray, over a few weeks. Once the habit of using the dirt tray has been achieved, you can move it in stages further away from the puppy's den or sleeping area, to somewhere more out of the way. Or you can move the pup's bed further into your own living areas.

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.

About the Author

Shelby Wright learned how to train dogs working with sheep farm dogs, and later bred gun dogs. Get answers on how to train a dog, including tips and resources on dog care and ways you can simply correct your dog's behavior issues. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.

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