Potty Animal
Toilet training your dog.
Toilet training is perhaps the very first training that a pet dog receives. Nobody likes getting out of bed only to step in a pool of warm pee or worse, poop.
Even your dog doesn’t like it! From a very young age, dogs move away from their puppy pile or sleeping area to relieve themselves — it’s instinct! Toilet training uses that instinct to train your dog. Toilet training can be Housetraining — teaching your pet to go on a pee pad or mat inside the house, or Housebreaking — teaching your pet to go outside the house.
You can start toilet training your puppy from day 1 at home. If you’re buying a puppy, the breeder shouldn’t give you one that’s less than 2 months old. If you’re adopting, chances are you might bring an even older dog home. If you’re fostering or adopting a younger puppy, you can still try and establish a place for pee and poop.
Most vets suggest that your puppy shouldn’t be taken outside for walks before all the initial vaccinations and deworming are done. In India, that comes up to 3 to 3.5 months of age. So what should you do in the month between day 1 of having your pup home and day 1 of walkies? Begin with housetraining and move on to housebreaking later, if you want to.
Toilet training of either kind can be broken down into two parts — Routine and Reward.
Routine:
A huge chunk of training your dog involves training yourself, and for your dog to have a routine, you will need a routine first. Puppies are poop and pee machines! They are also great learners, though, and having a routine makes it simple for them to learn where to do their business.
Start by ensuring that your puppy has a regular routine, especially for meals. Establishing a routine will also help your puppy sleep better through the night, though initially, you will have to get up in the middle of the night and take her to pee. Establish an area where the puppy can pee and poop. This may be a balcony or any outdoor space in your house, or a bathroom (easy to clean). Make sure your dog has limited access to the rest of the house during the initial days of toilet training.
We’re training a dog to understand that the house is her puppy pile or her sleeping area, so that her instinct will kick in and she won’t go anywhere other than the designated toilet space. Start small with maybe just one area in a room (you can use a playpen or a partition) and the designated dog bathroom, and slowly let her understand that that entire room plus the rest of the house is off-limits for toilet stuff. Take it slow — each room will have a bunch of new smells and other stimuli for pee and poop.
If you’re using a pee pad or a grass mat toilet, place it in the balcony/ toilet and take your dog there when you wake up and every hour after that. If you have a private garden and want to train your dog to go outside, you need not use a pee pad. This will essentially be housebreaking and not housetraining.
Spend a few minutes at the designated toilet area with your dog and let her sniff and take her time. Your dog may or may not pee or poop; that’s okay! We’re simply giving her the option to go and a place to go if she needs to. If you leave your dog alone, make sure you take her to the designated area immediately after coming home, or that you arrange for someone to take her there while you’re gone.
Some people take their dogs out before and after every meal to train them. I find this hourly method better. As your dog begins understanding the training, you can increase the gaps between toilet trips. You can reduce the number of trips further once your dog starts going on walks until walks are the only time your dog pees or poops. It’s a gradual process, so be patient.
Some sprays can be used to encourage dogs to pee in a particular area, and some discourage them to pee in a particular area. You can use either, both, or neither. You can also use toilet training to get your dog used to a harness and leash. It’ll restrict the area the dog can access and pay off later when you start walking your dog outside. Like any training you impart to your dog, this has to be done gradually with heaps of positive reinforcement and absolutely no use of force.
Reward:
Reward is the positive reinforcement that establishes the training, in addition to a routine. Reward your dog every time she goes at the right place. The reward at this point cannot be just verbal — you have to give her a small treat or an engaging play session. Your puppy should get a clear message that they’ve done the greatest thing in the world by peeing in the right spot, and the positive reinforcement should be consistent every time they go. Since puppies relieve themselves so often, break up treats into bite-sized pieces suitable for them, so that you don’t overfeed them.
You can also train your dog to associate a command with the act of peeing or pooping. For example, ‘Go potty,’ ‘Make,’ or ‘Do peepee’ can work. Ensure it’s not a phrase you would otherwise use with your dog to avoid confusion. Merely saying, ‘Go’ might not work because you can say it while playing or as part of another command. To associate a verbal cue with the training, say it when your dog relieves herself, right before you give her the treat.
Accidents:
If you catch your dog relieving herself inside the house, do not scold her. You can pick her up and place her in the designated toilet area. Otherwise, control the places she has access to, eliminate any stimuli, and be more careful in the future.
Even the best-trained dogs might go inside the house at times. Your dog might be sick, have a side effect of some medication, might be reacting to stress or might have been left for way too long without a walk. Understand that your dog does not pee inside to spite you. There’s always a reason behind dogs breaking training.
Stress/ Excitement Pee:
If you have a stress-reactive dog or a dog that pees when excited, socialisation will help. Although the issue of excitement or stress pee resolves by itself in most dogs, socialisation is essential for your dog’s overall behavioural development.
Socialisation is not merely letting your dog meet other people and dogs; it’s also allowing your dog to experience new places and environments and build trust. It’s helpful in this case because it gets your dog used to common stressors like loud noises or new places. It is important to understand that various training are co-related so your toilet training will be refined as your dog learns how to behave when you’re gone or when she’s out on a walk.
Regression:
Your dog might break training when exposed to new stimuli or a new environment altogether. She might pee inside if you have moved houses or have gone to a new place that she isn’t used to yet. For the latter, it’s always advisable to take your dog for a walk before going into the new space. The chances of her peeing again will be lesser if she has already peed outside.
If you have moved houses and find your dog regressing, start from the basics, and your dog will catch up in no time! You can easily housetrain a dog of any age if you follow the basics — Routine and Reward.
Markers of success:
As you train your dog inside the house and then start taking her for walks, you’ll notice the frequency of accidents going down. However, wait for a couple of months before you claim that your dog has been toilet trained. Once you’ve gone a few months without accidents inside, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Once you go six months without an accident, you can pat yourself and your dog on the back! Be consistent and be patient while training your dog. Remember that you’re using the dog’s instinct to train her — you’re a team, and you’ve got this!
I have a list of all the products I use for my dogs, including poop and pee stuff. You can find it here.
None of the listed products are sponsored; I have paid full price (and shipping, where applicable) for them.
Resources:
How to Potty Train your Puppy EASILY! Everything you need to know! | Zak George | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vOXWCewEYM
Toilet training a puppy | BlueCross | https://www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/toilet-training-puppy
Puppy Potty Training Tips to Avoid Accidents in the Home | Hill’s Vet | https://www.hillspet.com/dog-care/training/puppy-potty-training-tips
