House Training Tips

When it comes to house training, patience and consistency are key!

Your pup needs a routine and if you can stick to a consistent training schedule then you will have your pup house trained in no time! Here are some handy house training tips to help you and your new house mate coexist happily ever after;

Embrace the fact that accidents will happen and never use negative emotions or negative discipline as a reaction to your pup going to the toilet indoors.

If you react in a negative way or try to discipline your pup for soiling in the house, the only thing you are teaching them is to not go to the toilet in your presence.

To train them to go to the toilet in the spot you want them to, you need to take them to that spot consistently, let them do their business and immediately treat and reward them. It won't take long for them to associate the chosen spot with only good things and a place they will always return to to relieve themselves.

As a general rule of thumb pups can hold their bladder for 1 hour per every month of age, so when they are young you will need to be taking your pup out to the toilet spot every 1-2 hours. Getting up with them through the night is essential if you want to house train quickly. Crate training is a huge help in this stage of your pups life, dogs generally will not soil in the place that they eat and sleep, so using a crate for your pups sleeping spot is a massive help when toilet training. Never crate your pup any longer than a couple of hours.

We recommend to never use puppy toilet pads as the texture is similar to other indoor surfaces such as carpet. Dogs are associative learners and therefore will associate the soft texture of toilet pads with their toilet spot. We recommend real or artificial grass pads if choosing to toilet train inside before moving to outdoor areas, or if you are living in an apartment and do not have access to a grassed yard.

Look for signs your pup is about to go! Dogs will exhibit behaviours such as sniffing the ground, spinning around in circles whilst sniffing the ground and pacing around. Every pup is different but it is quite easy to pick up on the signs that your pup is about to go by watching his or her behaviour and monitoring what happens before they decide to go to the toilet. When you notice these behaviours you can then get them to the toilet spot in time before they go.

Key times for toilet breaks are after waking up from sleep and naps, after food and after playtime.

It's always a good idea to take them out right before bed too.

When taking your pup out for toilet breaks, it is important not to play with them and keep the time to strict toilet time only. This is so that your pup doesn't get confused between going out to play and going out to pee or poop. If they don't go then simply take them back inside and try again in a little while.

Remember to reward the good behaviour and ignore the unwanted behaviour. You got this!!