Puppy toilet training is easy. When you first get your puppy at home, simply take them out to the garden, point to where you want them to potty and tell them so. Yeah right! The theory sounds good, but why does it not happen like that in practice. Very simply put, your puppy does not understand what you are saying. When looking at the relationship between owners and dogs, especially the well trained ones, one could be excused for thinking that dogs understand the human language. I have had visitors to my house, that after I give my dogs a command and they obey, say in utter amazement ‘these are very clever dogs, the understand Dutch’. Yes, dogs are intelligent and, at the end of the day it does not matter which language you use to communicate to them, they will ultimately understand.
Think about it – babies are not born understanding their parent’s language. They have to be taught how to speak and what each word in the specific language means. Puppy training is the same. No, we don’t teach them to talk, but we do tech them very specific words in our language and what it means. The first word we teach babies and puppies alike is No. In both cases, this is said in a tone of voice that is understood even if the word is not initially. This could be accompanied by a firm shake by the scruff of the puppy’s neck (something their mother uses to say no) or a slight tap on the node with a finger. So, how do we say yes, or ‘good dog’? The specific words are not important, but the way in which they are said clearly conveys the message. After a while the puppy recognizes the word and its meaning, and the tone becomes less important and does not have to be emphasized as strongly.
When toilet training a puppy, we use No immediately when we see the puppy doing his toilet where he is not supposed to. Then we take the puppy to where he is allowed to do his business and wait patiently until the finish. The ‘good dog’ follows after that. Like any other puppy training, dog potty training does not happen overnight, but the same sequence has to repeated a number of times before the puppy will fully make the association that the No relates to doing his business indoors, and that the approval happens when he does it outdoors. Once the association is made, house training your puppy should shortly be over.
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A comparison of different methods of puppy potty training would really be helpful.
When I saw puppy toilet training I thought you had trained your puppy to use your toilet – would like to see a video of that on youTube!