Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Give Your Dog A Toilet Break!

Hi,
Today, lets not just focus on the training method but another important aspect of helping your doggie friends to build up the good housebreaking habit.

That is ......... Sticking to a Schedule.

New dog owners do not always seem to understand the basics of housebreaking a puppy. Besides the wanting of the puppy to learn to go outside to the bathroom, has anyone ever thought of the simple concept of time?

What I mean is just like humans are set to a schedule; wake up in the morning, go to the bathroom, take a shower, brush your teeth, get dressed, and go to work; so are puppies. The only differences are puppies need to be taught their schedule, just like a baby.

Developing a schedule and sticking to it daily, even on the weekends, will help solve some of the issues concerning housebreaking your puppy.

When I began housebreaking Tymmie, it was a rainy summer! One of my neighbors who owns two dogs and was a breeder kept seeing me outside with her every fifteen minutes. One day, after a week of this, she said to me, “Why do you keep taking Tymmie outside when he doesn’t need to go?” My answer was I didn’t want him to go to the bathroom in the house or clean up any more pee and poop! So keeping Tymmie outside made it easier for me to not have to worry about smelling that lovely scent.

This is a common mistake of many new dog owners. The basic rule is for every month old a puppy is, the amount of hours plus one they should be able to hold themselves. We began housebreaking Tymmie at three months old, so according to the rule, he should have been able to hold his bladder for four hours. He was capable of doing this and even at times for five or six hours! The meaning behind this concept is a puppy bladder is only large enough to hold a certain amount of urine and as they grow, so do their bladders.

Writing out a schedule and sticking to it seemed to work the best.

First thing in the morning, before being feed, take the dog out to pee. Give lots of praise when they go.
Then after feed the dog.

Four hours later, around lunch time, take the dog out again for their second pee and poop time.
Before dinnertime, about four hours later, take the dog out again before eating dinner.
Last pee and poop time should be around 8:00-9:00 pm.

Another note, after dinner is finished; do not allow any food or water till the next day. This helps eliminate accidents.

Also, having a new puppy is similar to having a new baby in the sense they may wake up several times throughout the night. This is part of the schedule and eventually the puppy will learn to sleep through the night, just like a baby does. But until then, establishing a schedule sets you and your puppy up for a long lifetime of pee free and poop free housing.

Plan the schedule out, it works wonder, especially for new dog owner, it is a MUST.

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