ALL ABOUT DOGS: Potty training, part 2: Did you make Max's experience 'wonderful'?
Question: We've had our new puppy for about a week now but he still has some accidents. He won't tell us when he needs to go out. Where do we go from here?
Answer: More than likely, you're expecting too much of your puppy to "tell you when he needs to go out." He's a baby and is looking to you for guidance on this. Which is the exact reason why, when your puppy has an accident, we never reprimand him for it. This is essentially your fault, and is usually the consequence of not keeping a vigilant eye on your puppy. To prevent this from happening in the future, you could roll up a newspaper very tightly and then begin whacking yourself on the head with it, repeating, "I am a bad mommy and need to watch my puppy more closely" over and over until this message sinks in.
The so-called "book" says that your puppy can "hold it" about an hour for every month of age. That's not a bad guideline, although your puppy may be able to hold it substantially longer than that. But I like to err on the side of prudence, which is why last week I mentioned taking your puppy out every hour and a half or so at first, in addition to: after he plays, after he naps, and after he eats. Again, it's the reward aspect of this training (like it is for every other training) that starts to get this into your puppy's head.
Dogs figure out patterns. Obviously it may take a puppy a little bit to figure out the pattern that every time he goes to the bathroom outside, "something wonderful just happened!" So it will take x amount of times of him being rewarded before he realizes fully what the protocol is. The flip side of this again is keeping an eye on your puppy.
It makes sense to cordon off an the area where your pup will be allowed to be. It's also a good idea to close doors to rooms you don't want him in. Some dog owners remove area rugs until their puppy is potty trained because your rug sort of feels like grass, and some puppies may automatically want to go there. And while yes, we're trying to set our puppy up for success by not giving him an opportunity to go to the bathroom indoors, sometimes we have other stuff to do.
It's absolutely OK to crate your puppy at these times. Periodically being relegated to "alone time" in his little den is perfectly natural for a puppy. It makes no sense to feel sorry for him, as this is exactly what his mom he would do. Of course he's not going to be in his crate for hours and hours. And if that's your plan for a puppy, you probably shouldn't have a puppy. But if he has to be in there for an hour or so, he'll be fine. And you have the advantage of his natural aversion to soiling his den.
As far as teaching your puppy he has to tell you when he wants to go out, you could sit him by the door before you go out for potty time. The procedure looks like this: Get him to follow you to the door, put him in a sitting position, then quickly open the door and go out. Each time before you go out, sit him by the door then quickly open it and go out. The idea is that he will figure out the pattern that before he goes out, he sits by the door. Ultimately, you'll be busy with something, and you'll look over and there he'll be... sitting by the door. Of course when that happens, you reward him with "Good boy! Let's go out!"
Some people want to use bells hanging on the door for this. That's not a bad idea, but bells may scratch your door over time, and you can't take bells with you when you go to someone else's house or are in a hotel room.
Finally, the best thing about potty training is that it's temporary!
Originally from Louisiana, Gregg Flowers is a local dog trainer who “teaches dogs and trains people.” Contact him at dogteacher7@aol.com or dogsbestfriendflorida.com.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: GREGG FLOWERS: Potty protocol is over-the-top praise for job well done
