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These techniques have been thoroughly tested and researched by Wee
Expressions through the years- so,
after reading this, we absolutely guarantee that you will be well on your
way to having a loving,
well-trained and perfectly obedient Puppy!
The techniques mentioned will generally be applicable for both a puppy as
well as an adults
You will discover tips for
Housebreaking your Puppy
Training your Puppy & making it obedient
Teaching the basic commands to your New Puppy
All of this many
seem overwhelming but it is not as hard or time consuming as it sounds
Housebreaking.
If done properly, housebreaking does not have to be as much of a hassle as
some owners make it
to be.
Your Puppy is a creature of habit. If it is taught where you want it to
eliminate, and you control its
food and water intake to regulate when it will eliminate, you will have a
happy relationship
relatively free of accidents.
The biggest mistake made by owners is inconsistency. It is important that
you first choose
the method of housebreaking appropriate for you and your pet and secondly
stick with it. We know of many
owners who are impatient or inconsistent when housebreaking their pets.
The end result is a pet that
is never fully housebroken.
So, remember the three P's - persistence, patience and praise, and you are
guaranteed success.
Here are the 3 methods you can use to housetrain your Puppy
The Paper Method
The paper method seems to work better with a puppy
than with an adult
although it can be used on both.
To begin housetraining your pup with the paper method,
first you must choose a location where your puppy will
be staying until housetrained.
Make sure the room is puppy proofed and that
elimination on the floor in this area will not cause
permanent damage to your home.
A bathroom or small kitchen is usually a good place for this.
Once you have chosen an area, cover the entire floor
with newspaper.
If you have a young puppy, it will eliminate much more
often than when it is older. So, just be prepared for
many messes in the beginning.
In the beginning, it is important to replace the paper
as soon as possible after the elimination has occurred.
This helps your puppy establish the area as its own,
and it will help you get a better idea of where it
favors doing its business.
As your puppy eliminates throughout the day, it may go
in several different areas of the room.
But, as it gets a little more used to its room, it will
choose a certain area where it prefers to eliminate.
When its preferred area for elimination is established,
begin removing the paper from the rest of the room,
only covering the area it uses.
Make sure you leave its papered area large enough so
that it does not miss the paper.
If it misses the paper, the area is too small and you
need to add more paper.
When it uses its papered area, praise it. The more
your puppy associates a reward with its choice of the
paper instead of the linoleum, the quicker your puppy
will be trained.
After it has established that it will use the papered
area instead of the floor, begin moving the paper
towards the area (presumably somewhere outside your
house) where you want it to go when fully trained.
The paper should only be moved a little at a time
towards this location. If moving the paper confuses
your puppy, you may only be able to move about one inch
per day, until the paper reaches its final destination.
Once your puppy understands that it is to eliminate
only on the paper, and you have been able to move
towards the area where it will eventually go outside,
monitoring its habits will be much easier.
Once the paper is completely removed, it will go to
that area automatically and sniff or turn circles,
letting you know it has to go out.
Crate Training –
Crate training can be used on both a puppy and an
adult and is probably the most
effective and efficient way to housetrain your pet.
No Puppy will want to eliminate in a place it
considers to be its own and therefore, unless left in
its crate for too long, it will not eliminate in its
crate.
Once every hour, place your new puppy on a leash and
walk it in the area where you want it to go potty.
If it has not gone in five minutes, return it to its
crate for another hour.
After another hour goes by, the dog that did not go
last time will most likely go this time.
When it does go, be sure and praise it profusely and
return it to its crate. The excitement in your voice
when you are praising it will help it better
understand that THIS is the place you want it to go.
Once that is established, it will do its best to make
you happy by eliminating in its designated area.
Once you feel it understands where it is to go to
potty, you may lessen its crate time, and begin opening
up its area to more than just its crate.
Be sure and open up its area a little at a time so it
clearly establishes the larger area as "its area",
increasing the desire to keep its area clean.
Eventually, you will be able to open up your entire
home, but this is only after a lot of time has been
spent training and proof that it understands.
Litter Pan Method –
This method will have the best chance of success with
an young puppy but an older
Dog may be able to litter train with success as well.
Similar to paper training, litter box training begins
in a confined area such as a bathroom or kitchen.
Although you may be able to use a traditional cat
litter box for this purpose, pet supply stores do sell
doggy litter boxes. They are shaped a little different
and are a bit larger than the traditional kitty box.
Also available are special litters and papers that
should eventually be used in the box.
Like paper training, the beginning stages have paper
lining the entire floor of the room. You continually
change any soiled paper until the puppy chooses a place
on the floor it likes to eliminate.
Once the puppy has eliminated in an area about the size
of a litter pan for approximately two weeks, place a
litter pan on the floor and paper inside the litter
pan.
When it goes and does its business inside the litter
box, make sure to praise it profusely. It has got to
establish this is the correct behavior before it will
be comfortable with it.
Once it is used to the litter box with the paper, you
may begin the change to doggy litter if desired. As
time goes on, you may add additional litter until
eventually the paper is gone and only litter remains.
If you choose this method, you must clean the litter
box every time your Puppy eliminates. It will not
go in a dirty box. Failure to consistently clean the
litter box will result in your puppy reverting back to
the floor.
Follow any of the above 3 methods consistently, and you
should soon have a fully house-trained Puppy!
Training you puppy to be more obedient
Welcome to Day 2 of your
Toy Poodle Training Mini
Course.
how to train your puppy
and make it more obedient.
The key to success in
training is understanding the psychology of your pet - i.e. how its
mind works, and then incorporating that with proven
training techniques and a few training aids.
Remember, your Puppy is
not a human and therefore
does not think or react as a human would. Also, your
pet does not verbally communicate with humans and you
should not think that it does.
It may recognize the word
"out" and associate it with
going outside, but that is only because it is a common
action that occurs consistently before it goes outside.
If you change the verbal
word you use to communicate
with your along the way, your pet will no
longer understand what you want. It is important that
whatever word you choose to give a command, you stick
with that same word each and every time, without the
least alteration.
Also, before you can even
begin training, you must establish that you are the "Master" and your
Puppy is the "Follower".
Remember Puppy has an
inherent trait that makes
it a social animal, needing a dominance subordination
hierarchy. You must establish that you are the leader
of its pack before you will be successful with any type
of training. This is called "social reinforcement".
The following items will
help you establish that
leadership role in the life of your puppy:
i) Do not compromise with
your Puppy. For example,
if you want it to perform a desired behavior, don't
just give up and walk away when it does not perform.
Instead, use some type of reinforcement to show it that
its behavior was not correct, such as withholding the
treat or toy.
ii) You should always
initiate interaction with your
puppy and terminate the interaction with them rather than the other way
round.
iii) Avoid tending to your
pet's every desire. Rewards
should only be given for desired behavior, and should
never be given just like that.
iv) When you are spending
time with your Puppy, pet,
talk and touch it often. This will help establish the
trust needed to truly set you forth as the leader.
Obedience Training
Styles
Just like housebreaking,
when you are training your
Puppy, the key thing is consistency. You need to
pick a training style that is suitable for you and your
Puppy and stick with it.
The two most popular types
of obedience training are
leash and collar training and reward training.
In the leash and collar
type of training, the leash is
used in the beginning as the tool to teach the correct
behavior, then once the behavior is learned, the leash
is only used to correct unwanted behavior.
A mistake often made by
the novice owner with this type
of training is they forget the leash is used only as a
tool.
Often a novice owner will
abuse the leash to nag at
the Puppy.
This defeats the purpose
of the leash. The leash must
establish the leadership role between master and pet,
but to be successful in training, the Puppy must
understand the command with or without the leash and
you must be able to utilize any tool at hand to solicit
the correct behavior from your pet, not just a leash.
Reward training usually
incorporates food rewards or a
reward that is associated with getting food. The
associated award could be the command "Good". Many
owners now use a clicker as an associated reward.
A secret to making the
reward trained reliable
is working the pet around distractions in its
environment and teaching proper socialization.
If you only train your
Puppy in the house, it will
not be used to extra stimuli. The well trained
Dog, then exposed to unfamiliar people, may not
respond as desired. When reward training, it is
important you train both inside and outside your home
to make sure your Dog is exposed to as much
stimuli as possible.
Another important tool in
communication between you and
your Puppy is the tone of your voice when delivering
a command.
The command "Good" will
have a more positive tone. The
excitement in your voice will be picked up by the
Puppy and it will eventually associate it with the
feelings of acceptance for that response to the
previous command.
The word "No" will have a
more forceful tone, usually
associated with a negative response, such as a stern
tug on the leash if leash training. The Puppy will
eventually establish that tone as an indication for an
undesired response to your command.
As you move on in your
training, the tone will be as
important to the Puppy as the command itself.
Also frequently overlooked
by the novice owner is body
language. Once you get to know your pet better, you
will understand its meaning behind specific body
motions.
An owner who really
understands his/her puppy will
see even the slightest head movement in certain
situations and understand exactly what it means. This
enables the owner to give a command prior to a behavior
occurring.
To teach the basic commands
Before we begin instructions for individual commands,
it is important that you understand the pitfalls to
avoid and tips for success when teaching the basic
commands.
* Always use your pet's name when speaking to it. This
will increase its attention to you when calling it or
giving it a command.
* When you give a command, enforce it. Do not repeat
the command over and over again. If it does not respond
to the command, manipulate its body into the command
position if appropriate. Never give a command if you do
not intend to enforce it. You will lose credibility
by doing this.
* Always reinforce desired behavior. Reinforcement does
not always have to be a treat. Your touch and voice can
be enough reinforcement to help understand
it did what you desired.
* Never reinforce undesired behavior. No matter how
they tilt their head or make you feel bad, never
reinforce the undesired behavior. Remember, your
Puppy is also learning how to manipulate you. If it
does not perform the desired command, it is imperative
that you ignore it, then try again in a few minutes.
Eventually, it will respond to your command because of
its born-in desire to please you.
* Never punish desirable behavior. Many owners do not
realize that when their Puppy performs the desired
action, such as going to the bathroom outside, and then
the owner immediately walks away, they are punishing
thenm by ignoring them. Stay with your
Puppy after the desired behavior is performed. Make
sure it understands that what it did was good and you
are happy before leaving it.
* A trick for success is keeping your puppy
interested. Remember, a Puppy will only learn if it
is having fun. Know when to quit when training. Trying
to do too much too soon will mentally exhaust them
and it will be much harder to train.
Basic commands that you should teach your Puppy..
COME
Teaching to come is one of the most
important commands it will ever learn.
It is also a command that will take a lot of time to
successfully learn.
Begin by waiting until your Puppy is already
approaching you, then when two to three feet away, use
your pet's name along with the command "COME"
("SCOUT COME"). Always use the name of your Puppy
first before you use the command.
When the Puppy gets to you, praise it. You should
repeat this exercise as often as you can for several
months.
As your Puppy begins to associate "COME" with a good
thing, you can gradually increase the distance.
If your Puppy does not come, then it has not yet made the
association of the word to the action. Give it time,
it will eventually understand.
The key to success with this command is to always associate the command
"COME" with a
good thing.
A common mistake made by novice handlers is they use a
firm tone with the command causing the Puppy to
associate fear with the command. If a Puppy fears
you, its instinct will be to run away instead of coming
near.
NEVER chase your Puppy when using the command
"COME". This is a sure way to teach your Puppy that
"COME" is a bad thing.
Once you believe your Puppy understands the command,
begin to reinforce it.
Put a lead on your pet's collar and allow the puppy
to run around with the lead dragging behind. Gently
pick up the lead, without the puppy noticing and say
"SCOUT COME". If your puppy does not come, then
gently pull the lead forcing it to come. Repeat this
test often.
Another exercise to test the "COME" command is having a
family member walk the puppy, on a leash, away from
you. Give the command "SCOUT COME" and see if the
puppy comes. Repeat the command if it does not come
the first time. If it does not come the second time,
give a third command, but this time have the family
member walk the puppy towards you until it reaches
you. Be sure and give a lot of praise when
it reaches you, even if the command was performed with
assistance.
OFF
This command is used to tell your Puppy that it
should not touch an item with its mouth or paws.
It can be taught by containing the puppy in a
controlled environment with only a few items that may
distract it.
As soon as it reaches for one of the items, use the
command "OFF", i.e. "SCOUT OFF". Praise it when it
leaves the item alone.
Eventually you can begin to walk it around and use the
command "OFF" in a larger area.
It will eventually understands that this means to leave
the item alone when the command is used.
It is an especially nice command to utilize when your
puppy may be getting into a dangerous situation by
touching something that could potentially hurt it.
.There are lots of other important basic commands like
HEEL, TAKE, DROP, SIT, DOWN, STAY, TOY, OUCH etc. that
have not been mentioned you need to also work on these commands
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