A Word About Training

Training a dog is a responsible part of pet ownership. If you’re going to own a dog, you need to make the time to train it. If you don’t, there is a multitude of things that will go wrong, and behavior problems are only the beginning. You will undoubtedly wind up with an unruly dog that refuses to listen, come when told, and goes to the bathroom all over the house. In most instances, untrained dogs wind up in animal shelters. In worst case scenarios, these dogs could lose their lives. Whether it’s because they were so unruly that they lost control and bit someone and had to be euthanized or because they didn’t listen when an owner told them to come and the dog was hit by a car on the road.

Training a dog doesn’t mean you have to go out of your way to teach them to sit, down, come, stay, leave it… Incorporate these commands into your everyday routine and they will become second nature to your dog. If you’re in the kitchen and drop a piece of food on the floor, practice the command “leave it” with your dog. Before you give you’re a dog a treat, make a habit of asking the dog to sit or lay down for it first. You don’t have to set aside an hour a day to training your dog. Just five minutes here or there is all it takes. This means that even if you work 12 hours a day, you can still train your dog and get them to listen to you!

This web page will lay out a few of the basic commands and how to go about teaching them. As an added bonus, it will even go over housetraining for those that don’t know where to begin or are experiencing particular difficulty with it.

Sit

With some treats handy, clip a leash to your dog’s collar. Gently pull up and back on the leash while gently pushing the dog’s rear to the floor. While you are doing this, say, “Sit,” when the dog’s butt is firmly against the floor. Enthusiastically praise the dog by saying, “Gooood sit!” Give the dog a treat and repeat.

Each dog is different, so it may take your dog a few minutes to learn this, or it may take your dog a few days to learn it. But if you are consistent, your dog will soon be sitting whenever he is given the command and you won’t have to use your hands to place him in the proper position. Always be sure to praise your dog when he does what you ask him to do. You don’t always have to follow up with a treat, but make sure you do give one once in awhile to keep your dog guessing about when he’ll get one. Then he’ll always want to listen to your command just on the off chance it might be when he gets a nice treat.

Down

Many dogs learn “down” in different ways. This web page only covers two ways.

Once again, have some treats handy and clip a leash to your dog’s collar. While stepping on the leash close to your dog’s neck, say “down” as you bring your foot to the floor. As you push the leash to the floor, gently press down on the dog’s back to encourage them to lie down. Expect some resistance from your dog at first. Very soon, they will learn that when your foot goes on the leash, it means they have to lie down.

Just as with the command “sit,” each dog learns this command at a different pace. If you are consistent, your dog will soon be lying down as soon as you give the command and you won’t have to use force.

Another way to teach the “down” command is to find a table or chair the dog can crawl under. Placing your dog on one side of the table or chair, coax them underneath it using the treat from the other side. Your dog should have to lie down in order to get under the chair. As soon as they are in a down position, say “down,” and immediately praise them by saying, “Gooood down!” Give them a treat. Very soon, your dog should understand what the word means.

Stay

Be sure your dog understands sit and down before you move on to “stay.”

After you have told your dog to sit, count to two, then praise and treat. Then tell your dog to sit again, count to five, and praise and treat. When your dog is able to stay in place until the count of ten, then you start adding the word “stay” to it.

Tell your dog to sit, then say “stay.” Count to ten. Praise (“Gooood stay!”) and treat. Gradually lengthen the amount of time your dog stays in place.

As your dog gets better about staying in place, practice taking steps away from them. They might get up initially, but immediately correct them by saying, “No! Sit. Stay.” And repeat the exercise until you are able to take a step away from them without them getting up from the stay. Gradually work up to where you can take several steps away from them without them getting up. Then move on to the next step, which is to pretend you aren’t paying attention to your dog but it is still expected to stay in place.

Come

This is probably the easiest command to teach a dog. Say, “Buddy, come!” and show them a treat you have in your hand. It should be a treat they really want. They will no doubt come running to you. Immediately praise them and give them the treat. As they get better at coming to you every time you call them, start giving them a treat sporadically. Make it unpredictable about when they’ll get the treat and they’ll no doubt continue to come to you every time just on the off chance that it’ll be the time they get rewarded.

Crate Training

Crate training is crucial for many reasons; it’s very difficult to housetrain a dog without it, if you leave an unsupervised puppy loose in the house, it’s bound to chew things it shouldn’t, and if you go traveling on a plane, it’ll cause problems for the dog to be howling in its crate the entire trip to its destination.

Some people believe using a crate with a dog is inhumane. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Wolves in the wild use enclosed dens to sleep in most of the day, and dogs that live outside will often modify a badger’s den to suit their needs. When my Siberian husky had puppies, she used a modified bear’s den to birth and care for her puppies. A crate is equivalent to a dog’s den.

It is important when you get a crate that your dog is able to stand up and turn around in it, but do not make it so big that it can go to the bathroom on one end and sleep on the other end. This defeats the purpose of using a crate for housetraining.

Some people with pet store puppies run into the problem of their dogs going to the bathroom inside the crate. This is because their puppies learned to pee where they sleep. I would not recommend using a crate for a pet store puppy for this reason until they have been sufficiently housetrained. In the meantime, enclose a bathroom or small section of your kitchen and lay down puppy pads or newspapers and use that area as your puppy’s “crate.”

Some dogs take to crate training immediately while others take a bit of time.

Lay down a towel or comfortable blanket and one or two toys in the crate. Bring your puppy over to it and throw a treat on the floor in front of the door of the crate. Praise your puppy when it goes near the crate to get the treat. Then throw some treats inside the entrance of the crate. Praise your puppy when it steps into the crate to get the treats. Then throw treats into the back of the crate. Praise when the puppy goes to get them.

When the puppy is comfortably entering the crate, start encouraging him to stay in the crate of longer periods of time. After you throw the treat into the back of the crate and the puppy eats it, place another treat on the floor of the crate when the puppy turns around. Praise the puppy for staying in the crate when it eats the second treat. Then start putting a small pile of treats for the puppy to eat when it turns around.

When your puppy is comfortable in the crate while eating the treats, start closing the door. Do not latch it yet. Just close it and then immediately open it and praise the puppy while giving it a treat. Then latch the door and wait a moment before opening it. Praise and treat. As your puppy gets comfortable with this, start leaving the door closed for a few seconds. Gradually increase the time the door is latched as your puppy becomes more comfortable with it.

When your puppy is able to stay in the crate for three to five minutes without a problem, move away from the crate a few feet after latching the door. If your puppy starts to whine, say “No,” in a calm voice. Do not open the crate door until the puppy has quieted down. If you open it while the puppy is whining, then the puppy gets the message that whining gets it what it wants. When he is comfortable in the crate for five minutes while you’re five to ten feet away, start practicing leaving the room during those minutes. Be sure your puppy has the toys and a few treats when you are doing this. You want to associate the crate with good things.

Slowly extend the amount of time you are outside of the room while the puppy’s in the crate. After you are able to be half an hour out of the room or more, then it safe to say your puppy is sufficiently crate trained.

Be sure not to leave your puppy inside the crate for a long period of time! Remember: If they can’t hold their bladder, they don’t have a choice but to pee in their crate, and then you’ll really have a mess to clean up. Never let a 2 month old puppy stay in its crate for more than two and a half to three hours without a bathroom break. An adult dog should not be in its crate for more than four hours without a bathroom break, unless it is at night. That is the only exception and the dog should be brought outside to potty first thing in the morning.

The most crucial part to crate training is not to open the crate door when the puppy is whining. If you do, this will send the message to the puppy that by whining, they are being let out of their crate. This will only perpetuate the cycle and the puppy will continue to whine in the future when it doesn’t want to be in its crate. Wait until the puppy is quiet and then let it out. The puppy should learn that by being quiet, it will be allowed out of its crate. The only exception to this is if the puppy’s been in the crate for a few hours and starts whining. This means he has to go to the bathroom and you should take him outside immediately. If you ignore him until he’s quiet, then you’re going to have a mess. A puppy that whines because it has to go to the bathroom will eventually pee in its crate. Then it will become quiet, but by then, you’ve got a mess to clean up when you go to let him out.

Housetraining

Housetraining is one of those areas that many people have a difficult time with, usually because they are unsure about what they are doing. Housetraining a dog can be very easy but you must understand a few fundamental basics first.

1) Don’t free-feed your dog.
2) Adhere to a schedule, and until your dog is housetrained, do not deviate from it!
3) In most instances, use a crate.

Note: Until your puppy is 14 weeks old, do not expect it to get housetrained. At that young of an age, they do not have the muscle control to hold their bladder.

To obtain housetraining success, you must have your dog on a premium dog food. What goes in must come out, and if your dog is eating something that doesn’t suit their needs nutritionally, then you’re going to wind up having a lot coming out. So make sure the food you are feeding is free of grain (especially corn) and make sure there are at least three meat products listed in the first five ingredients. I recommend Innova EVO, Royal Canin, Wellness, Canidae, Purina Pro Plan, or Nutro (in that order).

Once your dog is on a premium dog food, you must figure out a schedule that works well. If you have a puppy, it will have to be fed three times a day. Pick three times that you can stick to. If you’re on vacation, do not pick times that you can feed your dog and then change those times when you go back to work. Instead, choose times that you will be able to stick to when you do go back to work. Then feed your puppy at those times everyday. Until your puppy is housetrained, only offer water every two to three hours. Do not leave water lying around!

When you are unable to watch your puppy, put it in the crate! A puppy is only able to hold its bladder for however many months old it is, plus one. For example, if your puppy is 2 months old, it will only be able to hold its bladder for three hours maximum. I recommend taking this puppy out every two to two and a half hours for a potty break. If you are not using a crate, take the puppy outside every one and a half to two hours.

If you do not own a crate or do not feel it is humane to put a dog in a crate for a long period of time (I can assure you, it is humane because dogs use dens that are smaller than their crates in the wild), you can put the puppy in a small enclosed place with some newspaper covering the floor. A kitchen, laundry room, or bathroom is ideal because if the puppy moves the newspaper and pees on the floor, it will be easy to clean.

At this point, you need to start choosing the times your puppy is going to be brought outside. First thing in the morning is crucial. You do NOT have time to put on the coffee! Get dressed, put shoes on, and immediately take your puppy outside to do its business. Do not walk around. Just stand in one spot, do not play with your puppy, and then when it pees, praise it enthusiastically. Do not use treats. If you use treats, your dog will expect them every single time it goes to the bathroom. The puppy’s reward should be the feeling of relief of not having to pee anymore.

At this point, there is some controversy. Some people say to take the puppy back inside immediately so it understands why it was brought outside in the first place. Others say to play with the puppy for a few minutes before going back inside. This is because if the puppy does not get some time to play outside, it will continue to hold its bladder for longer and longer periods of time in the morning before going so it can spend some time outside. Whichever way you choose is up to you. Personally, I have always brought my dogs back inside immediately after going to the bathroom except for a few times throughout the day when I take them out for a walk.

I take my dogs for two walks per day, and you should too. All dogs need exercise. This helps alleviate the problem of the puppy holding in its bladder so it can spend some time outside. If it goes for two walks throughout the day, it won’t mind being brought back inside immediately after going to the bathroom at other times.

But getting back to the schedule, you must make sure you take your puppy outside at the same times everyday and sometimes in between. For example, a good schedule is to take your dog outside first thing in the morning, at mid morning, at noon, at mid afternoon, in the evening, and again before going to bed. For an older dog, you could take them outside first thing in the morning, at noon, at four or five in the afternoon, and then again before going to bed. But if your dog is showing signs of having to go outside between those times, do not hesitate! Take it outside immediately! For puppies, you will not only have to take them outside at these times, but you will also have to take them outside after they eat, drink, play, sleep, and anytime they start sniffing around the house. By taking them outside at the same times everyday, they begin to expect when to be brought outside, and before long, they will start holding their bladder until the time they are brought outside. If your dog is like mine, they will learn to go to the door and whine when they have to go outside to potty. Do not ignore your dog’s cues!

Above all, and I have already mentioned this but I am repeating it, if you cannot keep an eye on your puppy, put it in its crate or the small enclosed area you have made for it!

Here is an example schedule that I used when housetraining my German shepherd:

7:30 a.m. – I get up and take my dog outside. I come inside and give her food and water. I play with her for an hour and then place her back in her crate.

9:00 a.m. – I take my dog outside. I come back inside and give her water. I play with her for an hour and a half before placing her back in her crate.

12:00 p.m. – I take my dog outside. I come back inside and give her food and water. I play with her for two hours and then place her back in her crate.

5:00 p.m. – I take my dog outside. I come back inside and give her food and water. I then play with her for an hour or two before putting her back in her crate. After this hour, I do not offer her anymore food and water!

9:00 p.m. I take her outside. I come back inside and play with her for an hour before the both of us retire to bed for the night.

After a week, she was showing signs of being able to hold her bladder for longer and longer periods of time, so I eliminated the mid morning bathroom break and started letting her stay out of her crate for longer periods of time. At first, she was only out of her crate for an additional 15 minutes, but then it gradually increased to 30 minutes of extra time outside of the crate. Within two weeks, she was going to the door to whine to let me know she needed to go to the bathroom, so I would immediately grab the leash and take her out. At that point, I was just about ready to say she was housetrained. After another week, she hadn’t had any accidents in the house, she let me know when she had to go outside, and I was able to leave food and water out for her at all times without any accidents occurring. My dog was finally housetrained! And it was because I fed her a quality dog food, stuck to a schedule, and gradually allowed her more and more time outside of the crate until she was trustworthy. I did not change anything drastically. Everything was done on a gradual basis so she didn’t become confused, and it paid off in the end.

Note about certain breeds: It is not typical for a dog to be housetrained in a matter of weeks. It often takes a few months’ time. If you own a smaller breed, such as a Chihuahua or Italian Greyhound, you can expect housetraining to take one or two years of work before you are successful. Granted there are exceptions and some people have had their Chihuahuas housetrained within a month or two. But most of the dogs that come to me with housetraining problems at more than a year of age are almost always the toy breeds. Perhaps this is because their accidents are so small and people are more lenient with them because it doesn’t take much to clean up after them. Perhaps it is because they have smaller bladders and have to go outside more often throughout the day but the owners believe they are able to hold it as long as a large breed of dog. Whatever the reason, toy breeds tend to have more housetraining difficulties than any other group of dog breed.

© Jessica Curtis, 2006.

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To contact the writer, Jessica Curtis, please send an e-mail to white.husky@gmail.com