House training your dog the right way

One of the most important areas of dog training you will want to focus on is house training. You want to use the dogs own instincts when teaching him to only go where he is supposed to.

Dogs by their very nature do not want to soil themselves. They have some level of cleanliness and they do not want their sleeping and eating areas to be soiled. Where they soil becomes a habit with a dog. Dogs that are used to urinating and defecating in the grass, will want to keep going there. Use this instinct when training your pet.

First set up an area for training

The one thing you want to do right away is set up an area for training. Some place small like a bathroom or part of your garage. This is slightly different than crate training as crate training might make a large dog feel too confined.

Spend a lot of time in your dogs training area. Let the dog eat and sleep in this training area and play with your dog in there as well. A “bed” needs to be provided in this area for your pet. It could be a small bed, towel, blankets, etc… When the dog realizes that this area is his sleeping and eating area, he will not want to soil there.

Once the dog has been used to having its own bed, you can move the bed around the home. Switch the bed to different rooms. When your pet is alone, he should be in its training area.

Set the toilet area

Next, you want to set an area of your house for the dog to have as its toilet area. The dog will need access to this area whenever he needs to “go”. Try your best to accompany your dog when he goes to the toilet area until he gradual gets used to soiling in this area.

When your dog eats will affect when he wants to use the toilet area. So feed your dog at set times everyday so he gets used to going to his toilet area at set times of the day. When you are aware of when he will go, it is easier to guide him to his area.

After the dog is using his toilet area on a regular basis, make sure he does not stop having access to this area. You do not want your dog to soil his training area but this can happen.

The process of house training

When your dog is soiling in the toilet area and not in the training area on a regular basis, you can now move on to enlarge the training area to the rest of the home. Do this at a slow pace. Once you are certain your dog is capable of only going in its toilet area, you can add one room at a time to its training area.

When you begin to enlarge your training area to one whole room, let your dog sleep, play and eat in this room. Always supervise your dog in this room. Put the dog back in its regular training area when you can not supervise him. Once the dog realizes the room is part of his original training area, this area can be made larger.

You can train your dog faster buy giving praise and treats each time he uses the toilet area as his bathroom. Never punish the dog. Your pet will get confused if he is being punished.