Dog Training and Doggy Daycare

  

 

POTTY TRAINING AND CRATE TRAINING TECHNIQUES BY PUP SCOUTS

There are three parts to potty training: Teaching the puppy a potty command, developing bladder control and finally, teaching the puppy where not to potty.


1. Teaching the puppy a potty command:

 

Take the puppy to the potty spot on leash where you’d like the puppy to go and just stop. Tell the puppy to go potty and wait three minutes. If the puppy potties, immediately give the puppy a soft, chewy treat. If your puppy doesn’t go, take the puppy inside and put him in the crate and take him out again in 15 minutes.


If your puppy potties he can have 15 minutes supervised playtime inside. If your puppy looks like he might want to potty during playtime, don’t wait and see if you’re right- just scoop him up and take them back out and start all over again the process all over again (meaning, if he doesn’t go, back in the crate even if it hasn’t been 15 minutes).

 

Once your puppy seems to understand the command and potties when you first go outside, you can start increasing the times between potty breaks by 5 minutes. You can also increase the supervised playtime by a few minutes.


Whenever you are unable to supervise your puppy (watching a movie, showering, etc) the puppy must be in the crate. Pottying is a self-rewarding behavior so it’s important that you are proactive about keeping him from pottying in the house.


2. Developing bladder control:


Twice a day you are going to give your puppy some crate time. You can start at 1 hour and increase the time by 15 minutes or so as your puppy is able to handle it. Your goal is to get 3-4 hours in the crate without a break.

 

At night, you want to wake the puppy at regular intervals. Most puppies need two breaks a night to begin with. Set your alarm and when it goes off, quietly get up and get the puppy out. There should be no interaction except for the pottying. Take the puppy to the potty spot and give the command. After 3 minutes, go back in and put the puppy in the crate. Ignore any whining or crying.

 

If the puppy is awake when you get up or wakes you up, set your alarm a little earlier. It’s important that you wake your puppy up.

 

After a few days, set the first alarm for 15 minutes later.  When the puppy gets used to the new time, set the alarm later again.  Do this until the first time meets the second time then start setting the second alarm later until it’s at the same time as your regular wake up time.


3. Teaching the puppy to stay clean in the house:

 

First, until you are absolutely certain that your puppy is potty trained, he should never be unsupervised in the house. Once your puppy knows the potty command and can stay in the crate for several hours without an accident, you are going to start teaching him that he can’t go in the house.

 

After your puppy has successfully pottied outside, you are going to let him play in the house for as long as you can supervise him. Watch him closely and if he even looks like he might want to potty (walking away, sniffing, circling) take him out immediately. Do not wait to see if he is going to potty. Give him three minutes to potty. If he doesn’t potty, put him back in the crate and start regular potty breaks until he does. If he does potty, he gets playtime again with you supervising. When you can no longer supervise, it’s crate time with regular breaks until you can supervise again.

If your puppy does start to go in the house, correct by walking quickly towards him, clapping your hands and saying uh-uh to distract him. Take him out immediately even if he’s already gone. If he goes, he can have more playtime. If he doesn’t, he goes back in the crate until his next potty break.


A few things to remember-

1. Never wait for your puppy to tell you he needs to go. That’s putting the cart before the horse. The puppy has to understand first that he can only potty outside before he will start to signal. This process teaches that. Even when he does know, dogs are creatures of habit and routine and your puppy will appreciate having a schedule.


2. Toy dogs can be potty trained. Their bladders may be small but the amount of urine they produce is small also.


3. Any time your puppy digresses you go back to the beginning and work your way through over a couple of days.


 

Pup Scouts Crate Training


There are three simple rules to crate training:

 

1. The dog goes into the crate dispassionately.

Your dog naturally wants to be with you so he may be reluctant to go into the crate at first. Just put him in (giving a command like “Crate” or “Kennel up”), shut the door and walk away.
 

2. The dog doesn’t exist while it’s in the crate.

Any attention is still attention and will reinforce behaviors. Even telling your dog to quiet will reinforce the barking and whining. They may stop for a short time at the sound of your voice but the overall effect is to reinforce the behavior. Your dog is fine and will eventually calm down unless you reinforce the behaviors.


3. The dog is only let out when he is completely calm.

Once your dog is calm, mark the behavior with a “good dog!” and release your puppy. No need for a treat- you’re the best treat there is.


If you want to do potty pads, it's the exact same process leash and all.