COLUMN: House-training your pup
Housetraining is solved by following a few simple rules.
• Nadine Whittal, dog trainer writes:
Alright, let’s set the scene. It’s the middle of the night, you’re tired and you have a bladder full to bursting. So you crawl out of bed and slowly stumble to the bathroom … squish, there’s something soft, warm and gooey between your toes.
With a screech, you hop on one foot to the light switch, turn it on, look down and see … yup, dog poop!
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Part of the fun and games of getting a new puppy is house-training. Teaching the dog to do its business outside rather than inside is imperative to keeping a clean house, and to your own mental health. Unfortunately, a lot of people struggle during the initial stage of house-training and are pulled in by weird and wonderful methods that just do not work.
It is important to note that dogs are ruled by nature and a major biological function of living organisms is excretion. Also, puppies are very much like babies, they need to learn how to control their bladders and when a good time to ‘use the bathroom’ would be. We teach them that.
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Just like you wouldn’t smack a toddler when they have an accident or rub their noses in it, you shouldn’t do it with a puppy. Rather, house-training is solved by following a few simple rules:
• Take your puppy outside every hour so that he can do his business.
• Take your puppy outside to do his business between 15 and 20 minutes after feeding them.
• When you first get your puppy you should take it outside before you go to bed and at least once during the night.
• The moment you wake up, take your puppy outside.
• Crate train your puppy so that it can sleep in the crate at night.
• If you see your puppy about to do their business inside, calmly pick the puppy up and take him outside.
• Praise your puppy with a ‘good boy/girl’ every time it successfully goes outside.
People often condemn keeping a dog in a crate as a cruel and petty thing to do. However, crate training creates a safe space for the dog. Most dogs learn to love their crates. Further, puppies are unlikely to have an accident within the small confines of their crate. So allowing them to sleep in a crate at night will definitely minimise your chances of stepping into a midnight present.
