Rules of Housetraining

[Donandpug]

By Popular Demand:

Take a look at my housetraining post - follow it religiously and to the LETTER and you'll have a trained pug!

Housetraining your dog (puppy or adult!)

The first thing you need to do is to remember that you’re trying to reinforce a new behavior. That means that the rewards for this behavior must be WONDERFUL. NOT **** from the store. Wonderful treats are poached chicken breast/turkey breast, cheese and steak. And you don’t have to use big pieces. Tiny pieces (about 3mm cubes) are just fine! I poach a whole turkey breast every few weeks, cut it into hunks when it’s cool enough to handle, wrap them well and store them in the freezer. When I need some, I’ll thaw a hunk overnight and cut off pieces and dice finely, storing them in a plastic bag in the fridge. One hunk will last about five days. Cheese is also popular, so variety is fine.

I carry these plastic bags in my jacket pockets in the winter and in a fanny pack in warmer weather. You HAVE to have these with you, or this method won’t work, because you need to reward as soon as the dog finishes pooping or peeing. It’s not going to work if the rewards are in the house.

Remember that you’re trying to change a very ingrained behavior. Some dogs like to feel certain things under their feet when they eliminate, like fabric, or newspaper. This is called a ‘substrate preference.’ What you’re trying to do is change this substrate preference, and to do that you have to make the treats SO wonderful that the dog will change this very well-entrenched behavior. Thus the chicken, cheese, steak.

I love clicker training, but this can be done without clickers. You just need a way to ‘mark’ the behavior you want to reinforce. Use the word ‘YESSSSS!!!!’ very enthusiastically – that works for some.

You’re going to need to GO OUTSIDE WITH your dog and the dog needs to be on a leash. Yes, even in winter. If you don’t reward IMMEDIATELY after the event (when dog immediately finishes pooping or peeing) and wait inside, the dog is going to be reinforced for coming inside, not for doing its business. So, leash up your dog. STAND IN ONE PLACE. Be boring. Bring a book or magazine for yourself.

Eventually, the dog will do what you’re waiting for. The NANOSECOND that the dog is finished, HAVE A PARTY – lots of loud, high-pitched praise, treats and running around. You want to make this memorable for your dog! You’ll find that once the first event is achieved, the others will come more quickly. Keep on treating (you don’t have to throw a party except for milestones – a milestone = if he only pooped outside but now peed, too, or something equivalent to that) until he’s good and used to peeing/pooping outside. Before you know it, you have a trained dog.

Regarding accidents in the house: NO SCOLDING. Just clean them up. If you scold you’ll get the dog to think it’s bad to pee or poop and he’ll do it in places you won’t see. Until you step in it. Invest in a big bottle of Nature’s Miracle or Simple Solution and use it liberally on accidents.

With young puppies, remember they have little control of the muscle that holds the bladder closed. This is something they grow into. Just as it’s not expected that a human baby is toilet trained at six months, don’t expect much from a puppy. Patience, patience, patience!!!! The nervous system in a puppy has to mature, and it won’t have much control over the sphincter (closing muscle) at the neck of the bladder until six or seven months. The same goes for the anal sphincter. Until control is achieved, both of these muscles operate on reflex: there are stretch receptors in the bladder wall. When the bladder is full, it sends impulses to the spinal cord and these, in turn, send signals to the sphincter to open and the dog pees.

In the stomach wall, there are also stretch receptors. So when the dog eats and the stomach is stretched, the impulses again go to the spinal cord, but this time the reflex, outgoing, nerve signals are sent to the anal sphincter, so the dog defecates. This operates in people, too – which is why some people rush to the ‘reading room’ after a meal – especially breakfast.

[Luvbean25]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

[Co-Pilot in Flight]

Just think of the time I will save not searching for this post, then copying and pasting it.

Thank you!

[thetses]

So I have a question: It has been raining cats & dogs-the kind of rain that if you step outside you're soaked. If I tried really hard I might be able to get Duke to go outside but I should've named Lola Peter because she turns into a rock when it comes to water. She will not walk if she's wet and she will not willingly go outside if it's raining. She is puppy pad trained, but only for pee, we've tried poo but she's never gotten it. I feel like with all this rain potty training is taking huge steps back...

What should I do?

[ViralMD]

Get her a raincoat. If it were cold, I'd say find a covered place so that you both didn't get too wet, but in the warm weather it's not as big a problem. After all, it's just water. But do get her a raincoat and carry on!

[Imon]

I had a female terrier that absolutely hated rain AND raincoats. I tried plastic, tweed, didn't matter, she hated them all. That dog just didn't like to get wet in any way, shape or form.

I finally knitted her a coat out of unprocessed wool from Ireland (it still has the lanolin in it, and that makes it pretty water-repellant) - that finally helped a lot. It was the only coat she would ever tolerate wearing. I made it specifically for her, with a bib in the front to protect her chest and shaped the top and bottom separately and made it so that the bib/bottom buttoned on to the top. This made it very easy to put on; nothing had to go over her head or buckled/tied. And I got really good at finding sheltered places on the leeward side of buildings so that the rain wasn't hitting her in the face.

Hope you find something that works for you and your pug!

[jwestoverpug]

So I have a question: It has been raining cats & dogs-the kind of rain that if you step outside you're soaked. If I tried really hard I might be able to get Duke to go outside but I should've named Lola Peter because she turns into a rock when it comes to water. She will not walk if she's wet and she will not willingly go outside if it's raining. She is puppy pad trained, but only for pee, we've tried poo but she's never gotten it. I feel like with all this rain potty training is taking huge steps back...

What should I do?

I just put on a rain coat (for me) and go, none of mine mind too much, but I think that's because they're used to it. If she doesn't move just pick her up for a second as you're walking and put her back down, don't make a big deal out of it. She'll get the hang of it.

[[email protected]]

At 8 weeks old Daisy Mae is doing very, very well on schedule based training. She never wets in her playpen/bed at all, even though there is a pad in it. She even wakes in the night, and whimpers. If I get up promptly and put her on a pad, voila! She pees and then goes back to sleep like a good girl.

When we get up at 5:00 (ugh!) I take her right out, and she will both pee and poop for which she is liberally rewarded. I am lucky to be at and able to keep a tight schedule and put her out every few hours.

But of course, being so young, she can't hold anything, and sometimes we don't get out in time. Other than first thing in the morning when it is cool (In Arizona the ground is very hot during the day) she will always use the wee pads in the house. However, I can't get her to use them to poop.

Anybody got an inkling as to why, and what I can do to change this behavior and to use the pads instead of the carpet to poop?

Thanks, a new and totally-in-love pug owner.

[ViralMD]

She's showing you her substrate preference: carpet.

However, if she poops on the carpet, it's because you permit her to go on the carpet. She should have her access more restricted. You can tie her leash to your belt or you can use an ex-pen, covering the floor COMPLETELY in pads. When she uses it (as she'll be forced to do if she's in a confined space with the pads covering the entire floor) that's when you reward. And if she's on a leash tied to your waist, the moment you see her get ready to 'go,' scoop her up (no scolding!) and put her on the pad to finish. Then treat liberally.

[macylee36]

Do you have the pattern for this? I'd love to make one for my pg!

I had a female terrier that absolutely hated rain AND raincoats. I tried plastic, tweed, didn't matter, she hated them all. That dog just didn't like to get wet in any way, shape or form.

I finally knitted her a coat out of unprocessed wool from Ireland (it still has the lanolin in it, and that makes it pretty water-repellant) - that finally helped a lot. It was the only coat she would ever tolerate wearing. I made it specifically for her, with a bib in the front to protect her chest and shaped the top and bottom separately and made it so that the bib/bottom buttoned on to the top. This made it very easy to put on; nothing had to go over her head or buckled/tied. And I got really good at finding sheltered places on the leeward side of buildings so that the rain wasn't hitting her in the face.

Hope you find something that works for you and your pug!