How To Train A Dog

Anna Walker answers:

Good advice above. Also try to learn the schedule of your dogs potty habits. My dog always poops about an hour after I feed him in the evening.

Anna Walker answers:

Just believe in yourself, believe in the dog. Don’t worry, everything will work out fine.

Anna Walker answers:

Consistency, consistency, consistency.
And positive reinforcement. And a schedule.

Take the dog outside first thing in the morning. When you feed the puppy, take it outside about 20 minutes later. Take it out before bedtime. And when it uses the bathroom outside, give it a treat.

Also take the dog out every hour or two during the day, to give it an opportunity to relieve itself. (More often if it is a young or small puppy.)

If the dog uses the bathroom inside and you don’t catch it in the act, do nothing. (Well, clean up the mess, but do nothing to the dog.) The dog doesn’t understand why it is being punished after the fact, it has forgotten all about it’s mess on the floor by then.

If you catch the dog in the act, say “no!” or “unt-uh!”, and promptly take the dog outside. When it finishes using the bathroom outside, give it a treat.

You need to watch the dog constantly. Tie the leash to your belt-loop if you need to, so the dog is always by you. If you cannot be watching the dog for some reason, but it in it’s crate. A dog typically won’t soil it’s sleeping area. (Crate training is a wonderful tool when housebreaking a dog.)

Anna Walker answers:

Shoving his nose in it and yelling at him won’t produce any useful results. After the material has left his body it is too late to correct him. You have to catch him in the act, interrupt him (perhaps with a sharp “NO!”) then rush him outside to go.

Praise heavily when he goes in the right location. That’s the thing most people forget. He needs to understand that it is not the act, but the location that matters to you. So he needs positive motivation in the right location.

Put him on a schedule. You can actually train his body to need to go at certain times of the day. Keep a journal of when he eats, drinks, plays and sleeps, as well as when he potties. Typically they will need to potty immediately upon waking and right after or during vigorous exercise. Also about half an hour after meals.

So make sure he is emptied out before playing with him in the house and also take him out on schedule.

If you aren’t yet crate training, consider it.

Http://www.servicedogcentral.org/content/node/277

–edit–

Tying his waste around his neck is not only useless from a training standpoint, it is abusive.

Dogs are not furry little humans. They do not process cause and effect across time well. 2 seconds after the fact (much less 10 minutes) he is no longer associating anything with the act of toileting indoors. That’s why shoving his face in it is ineffective. He’s not making the connection. A human would, but he’s a dog and he can’t.

Anna Walker answers:

Same as any other dog, patience and routine, with lots of praise.

Get the dog out walking on leash within 15 minutes after he eats, walk the same route so it becomes established as his potty routine – praise long and loud when he gets it right.

Try to walk him every 2 hours at first until he understands the routine – definitely first thing in the morning and before bed.

Crate or put in safe room when you can’t watch him. Clean up any accidents without making a fuss, NEUTRALIZE (get pet odor neutralizer) the spot so he doesn’t go back there.
Don’t give free run of house until potty trained.

Repeat, repeat, repeat — takes time and patience in most cases, but some dogs catch on really fast. Don’t ever yell or hit, that just gets you a sneaky dog who goes in a corner or behind the sofa to potty.

I’ve potty trained dogs of all ages, including breeder dogs who were never inside a house before, they all get the idea sooner or later if you are patient and establish a routine.

Alexa — you definitely have a point about pads. My longest potty training was with a lovely little long hair dachsie who was so damn pad trained that I ended up dragging the pad around, first near the door, then outside the door, then down the sidewalk, eventually along when I walked her. She got the idea after many, many months, but my neighbors must have thought I was demented.
This little dog was so determined to go on her weewee pads that I ended up putting it on the road where I wanted her to potty – much easier to train than untrain.