Hi all,
Just got myself a 7 week puppy - gorgeous etc. Can you give me tips on how
to toilet train him - I am leaving newspaper out at the mo, he has peed on
it once but rest of time just peeing and pooing when and where he likes.

Dont want to "rub his face in it" as the old school of thought used to do -
so what is the secret to success?

Your advice would be most appreciated.

LytaA

"LytaA" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Just got myself a 7 week puppy - gorgeous etc. Can you give me tips on
how
to toilet train him - I am leaving newspaper out at the mo, he has peed on
it once but rest of time just peeing and pooing when and where he likes.

Dont want to "rub his face in it" as the old school of thought used to
do -
so what is the secret to success?

Your advice would be most appreciated.

I find that crate training significantly helps the housetraining process
along because the dog's movements are restricted when you're not home and he
won't want to eliminate where he has to lay. At 7 weeks, he doesn't have
much, if any, control over his bladder and bowels. Take him outside on
leash every hour. Praise him well everytime he elminiates. Always remember
that a puppy will need to eliminate within 30 minues of eating and normally
about 15 minutes of significant drinking. You can use little treats to
accompany the praise when outside. Start praising the very second he begins
to eliminate (not after he's done) then give the treat when he's finished.
This will become a pleasant experience for him. When he eliminates in the
house, don't scold him at all as this will just teach him to hide somewhere
when he needs to eliminate. Its only your diligence that will prevent
accidents in the house.

--
Tara

A pretty good website for pet owners is: www.petplace.com

You'll find training tips, health tips and a host of articles that cover
just about any training or behavioral issue.

--
Tara

LytaA wrote:

Hi all,
Just got myself a 7 week puppy - gorgeous etc. Can you give me tips on how
to toilet train him - I am leaving newspaper out at the mo, he has peed on
it once but rest of time just peeing and pooing when and where he likes.

Dont want to "rub his face in it" as the old school of thought used to do -
so what is the secret to success?

Your pup has no idea where he is supposed to poop and pee, and it is up
to you to show him the right place. It requires a lot of vigilance on
your part, and a really good supply of an enzymatic cleanser like
Nature's Miracle. Good source for housetraining info:
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/housetraining_puppies.htm This is a really
good collection of links for dealing with general puppy behavior,
including training: http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/lib-Puppy.htm Just
keep in mind that some of the links might advocate outdated and harsh
methods like scruff shaking for correction, which is quite unnecessary.
Read thorough a bunch of the links and ask more questions. Good luck.

Suja

LytaA wrote:

Hi all,
Just got myself a 7 week puppy - gorgeous etc. Can you give me tips on how
to toilet train him - I am leaving newspaper out at the mo, he has peed on
it once but rest of time just peeing and pooing when and where he likes.

Dont want to "rub his face in it" as the old school of thought used to do -
so what is the secret to success?

The secret is supervision. The more, the better. At 7 weeks, a puppy's
bladder/bowel control is not very well-developed -- by the time Puppy
realizes he's gotta go, he's already gone. So, part of supervision is
learning to recognize the "gonna go" signals before Puppy does g.

Also, there are certain times/situations that make elimination likely.
Waking up. Eating/drinking. Playing. Pretty much everything a puppy
does results in some kind of eliminatory behavior. So, puppy goes out:
first thing upon waking, before feeding, after feeding (about 10-20
minutes is the usual "travel time"), immediately after every nap, after
10-15 minutes' vigorous play, and pretty much any time you look at Puppy
and think "when was the last time I took you out?"

Go out with the puppy. (Supervision doesn't end at the door!) Watch
for, and *PRAISE*, behavior you want to encourage. The pup may not be
able to control the pottying impulse, but he'll soon recognize that
getting it right results in Good Things. Then you can start putting it
"on command", which can be handy when it works.

You'll probably feel like you do nothing all day but take the dog out,
bring the dog in, out, in, out, in, clean up accidents, out, in, out,
in, sleep. This won't last forever. You'll soon figure out which
situations are the ones when your pup is most likely to need relief.
Sam, for instance, was a "first thing" pee-er. (Don't try to reason
with your dog on this stuff, just go with it.) Wake up, dog goes out,
dog comes in, feed dog. Then I got Noah, who could hold it first thing
but needed to go out after being fed. Wake up, dogs go out, dogs come
in, feed dogs, let dogs out again, let dogs in again.

Most of housebreaking is developing habits, in both the dog AND the
human. Observe and accomodate.

--
Mary H. and the Ames National Zoo: Regis, Sam-I-Am, Noah (1992-2001),
Ranger, Duke,
felines, finches, and fish

Mary Healey wrote:

Lafter
10-15 minutes' vigorous play,

--
Mary H. and the Ames National Zoo: Regis, Sam-I-Am, Noah (1992-2001),
Ranger, Duke,
felines, finches, and fish

Now that is the one I keep messing up on.

I have all these others down pat. And most of the time the above
but the accidents Reznor has had have always been after 15 minutes
of zoomie playing.

Gwen

Gwen Watson wrote:
Mary Healey wrote:
After 10-15 minutes' vigorous play,

Now that is the one I keep messing up on.

I have all these others down pat. And most of the time the above
but the accidents Reznor has had have always been after 15 minutes
of zoomie playing.

The doggie response goes something like: "But, but, but, I'm PLAYING!!!
I don't hafta ... ooops. Never mind ... Chase me!!!!"

I always have this mental picture of reeling Sam in (as he's doing laps
around the house, using the furniture as banks and springboards), he's
whirling in smaller, tighter circles around me (impersonating a very
short Maypole), then opening the back door and the two of us being FLUNG
outside with the released energy. Him protesting the whole while, "but
I don't hafta go!"

Crate, tether, supervise. A rolled up newspaper to thwack over your own
head whilst intoning "I forgot to watch the puppy" when accidents happen.
--
Mary H. and the Ames National Zoo: Regis, Sam-I-Am, Noah (1992-2001),
Ranger, Duke,
felines, finches, and fish

Mary Healey wrote:

Gwen Watson wrote:
Mary Healey wrote:
After 10-15 minutes' vigorous play,

Now that is the one I keep messing up on.

I have all these others down pat. And most of the time the above
but the accidents Reznor has had have always been after 15 minutes
of zoomie playing.

The doggie response goes something like: "But, but, but, I'm PLAYING!!!
I don't hafta ... ooops. Never mind ... Chase me!!!!"

Yep you are 110% correct about that. Strangely it is similar with toddlers.



Crate, tether, supervise. A rolled up newspaper to thwack over your own
head whilst intoning "I forgot to watch the puppy" when accidents happen.
--
Mary H. and the Ames National Zoo: Regis, Sam-I-Am, Noah (1992-2001),
Ranger, Duke,
felines, finches, and fish

Great advice.LOL

I gotta remember the rolled up newspaper for my ole noggin.)

And I have been using tether lots. One for some "time outs".
Since I do want the crate to be his beloved safe haven and not thought
of as a negative at all. He loves his crate though.

Gwen

"LytaA" wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Just got myself a 7 week puppy - gorgeous etc. Can you give me tips on
how
to toilet train him - I am leaving newspaper out at the mo, he has peed on
it once but rest of time just peeing and pooing when and where he likes.

Dont want to "rub his face in it" as the old school of thought used to
do -
so what is the secret to success?

Your advice would be most appreciated.

LytaA



Thank you very much to all of you for responding - links are brilliant and
so was advice - I will be lurking here every now and then and no doubt the
odd question will be asked of you obvious doggie fans - cheers!

LytaA xx

Gwen Watson wrote:
And I have been using tether lots. One for some "time outs".
Since I do want the crate to be his beloved safe haven and not thought
of as a negative at all. He loves his crate though.

I didn't crate Sam at all when he was a little puppy. In fact, I didn't
start crating him until he was almost a year old. He *hated* it. I
hated the thought of coming home to an electrocuted dog (one of Sam's
early hobbies was chewing the plugs off electrical appliances). Even
so, nowadays he heads to his crate whenever he wants a few minutes "down
time".

I know the conventional advice is to make the crate a happy place for
the dog, but I've been sent to my room often enough to realize that it
isn't the confinement that's punishing and it isn't the location that's
blamed. (Crating as "punishment" or "time out" is more about preventing
access to fun-but-forbidden stuff, which is why baby gates, tethers, and
other forms of separation are as effective.)

Almost all of my "destructo dog" stories are about Sam, not because the
others were so much better, but because he taught me all about (you
guessed it!) supervision, tethering, and crating. The others just never
got the same opportuntities to risk life and health that he had. He
also taught me about exercise, training, and "a tired puppy is a good
puppy".

Well, okay, one Noah-training-me story, which I've told before. When I
got Sam, he was confined to the kitchen at night and only allowed to
sleep upstairs with me after he was housebroken. When I got Noah, I
planned to follow the same program, but crate him in the kitchen instead
of leaving him loose. The first night, I settled him in and went to bed.

The house started to vibrate on its foundation from Noah's low and
mournful howl. Ride it out, thought I. HOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWLLLLL, said
Noah. He'll stop in a minute or two, I think. MOOOOOOAAAAAAANNNNNN,
thundered Noah. He's gotta breathe sometime, I prayed.
ARROOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW, boomed Noah.

For the next seven years, Noah slept in his crate without complaint.
Next to the bed.

--
Mary H. and the Ames National Zoo: Regis, Sam-I-Am, Noah (1992-2001),
Ranger, Duke,
felines, finches, and fish