TOILET TRAINING YOUR PUPPY
Toilet training your new puppy should be a simple, clear and a good
relationship building process. You need time and patience to develop a
good routine that makes sense to your puppy. Most importantly the
routine must be specific to your puppy’s needs. When they are very
young puppies are quite predictable if you take the time to observe.
Puppies need to urinate as soon as they wake up, so they need to go
straight into the garden without delay. Eating will stimulate their
digestive system. Usually a puppy will need to urinate about 10 minutes
after food and defecate within about half an hour. This will vary slightly
depending on the individual puppy.
Puppies have little bladder control so will need to be took out to the
garden every 1 to 2 hours. Keeping a simple diary will help you develop
a pattern of your puppy’s toilet habits.
When your puppy toilets in the garden introduce a cue word, such as
‘clean boy/girl’ or ‘wee wee’. ALWAYS go into the garden with your
puppy to support them, don’t just put them outside on their own or leave
the door open and expect them to know what to do. They need to be
taught in a kind and patient way, praise and reward with a little tip bit
immediately after toileting so they understand the association. NEVER
scold a puppy for toileting in the house, remember he doesn’t
understand until taught and this takes time. Remember if you stick to a
routine that makes sense to the puppy he/she will not need to toilet in
the house. Puppies are creatures of habit so successful introduction of
the garden is important.
Sometimes things may not be going to plan, some of the reasons may
be; unsuitable diet, irregular feeding, feeding at the wrong times and
overfeeding can cause puppy to toilet at different times and defecate
overnight. Also salty food or treats can cause excess drinking, leading
to excess urination.
Crate training puppy can help with night time toilet training. But
remember a very young puppy can’t be expected to go all night without
toileting. So initially you need to be up early and do a late evening toilet.
If puppy toilets indoors, don’t clean up with ammonia based cleaning
products as these smell to the puppy like urine and will only encourage
toileting in the same spot again.
To introduce puppy to toilet on a walk, take them out first thing in the
morning on a slow short walk. Allow them to sniff and take their time,
say you cue word, ‘clean boy’, etc. If puppy isn’t comfortable to toilet, go
back home and straight into the garden so they can relieve themselves.
This step will be easier for some puppies than others, so again patience
and kindness is the key.
Remember dogs don’t speak our language, but they do understand
routine. Keep words short and gentle, always allow time to sniff and
explore. Don’t go out with a set time in your head e.g. 5 minutes, this
will put pressure on you and consequently be felt by the puppy, causing
a bad relationship with toileting.
Done with patience and kindness, it will be an enjoyable experience for
you and your puppy and a great way to start building a mutual
relationship of trust and understanding. It will also happen naturally
quicker than you expect.
Happy toilet training!!!