So, you’ve brought your cute little puppy home. Now begins the not-so-cute phase! Playing with the pup and watching hiss adorable antics will keep you enthralled and delighted. The not so delightful bit will be cleaning up his poop and pee, finding your shoes or socks or the newspaper all chewed up, discovering it foraging on your garbage bin…! Small puppies seem to pee and poop through the day; at least that’s how you will feel!
Toilet training your pup is essential and the sooner you begin the better. You need to establish a routine and you need to be consistent and committed to it. I fact, it’s all about routine. Feed the puppy at the same time every day and take him out or to his designated spot immediately after every meal.
You also need oodles of patience. Getting angry and bashing up the puppy is not the answer. Remember, it takes at least six months before a pup is completely toilet trained. Initially, they are like babies – they do their job whenever and wherever they please.
Mark out a designated toilet area in your home (if you don’t live in an independent house). It could be the veranda or ideally, the bathroom. Till a pup crosses three months of age they are going to take a pee every one to two hours and most definitely immediately after a meal and directly after they wake up. Once you figure out how often the pup is going and when take her immediately to her designated area. Pat and praise her when she does her job there. Within a couple of weeks, the pup will get the idea and will go there whenever she wants to relieve itself. However, be prepared for mishaps – they are puppies after all!
You can start taking the pup out for walks only after he has had all his shots. Never take a pup on the road until he has been immunised; he could pick up a fatal disease. And when you take the puppy out, always take him on a leash. Puppies are excitable and any little thing could trigger them off and have them haring off across the road. Since they have not developed any road sense, a passing vehicle could knock them down, resulting in serious injury or death.
Once you start taking your puppy for walks, establish a routine. It could be every time after she has had a meal or it could be morning, afternoon, evening and night. Stick to this schedule; it helps the puppy to establish a routine. During the first six months, you may have to take the puppy out more often since she will need to go more frequently. Slowly taper it down till you are taking her out three or four times a day.
Observe your pup carefully. When a pup stops playing and starts to look around for a ‘good spot’, he probably needs to answer the call of nature! By observing your puppy, you will quickly learn to tell the difference between when a pup is exploring his new world and when he wants to relieve himself. The more time you spend with the puppy, the quicker you can train him.
Avoid scolding or punishing your puppy when he makes a mistake. What works best is praise. Whenever the puppy pees or poops in his designated spot, give him a treat, pet him and use cue words for peeing and pooping and keep repeating these. My Labrador Retriever, Bonbon, pees on command because I trained her by always carrying treats with me. Now I just have to tell her to pee using cue words, and she does!
All pups are not the same. Some take much longer to get toilet trained. I have had pups who, when I take them out for a walk, are clueless about what to do. They are more interested in sniffing around, checking out all the sights and playing. You need patience…lots of it. Always take the puppy out immediately after a meal; chances are she will pee and poop. And, as mentioned earlier, give her a treat, as soon as she does her job. Soon, it will become a habit.
Once you are taking your pup out regularly or letting her out in the garden, if she does pee or poop in the house, you can admonish her by saying, ‘No, bad girl’. Please, NEVER rub your puppy’s nose in her pee or poop. You only instill fear in her.Never punish the puppy for indoor accidents. It will scare her and she could fear ‘toileting’ in front of you.Also, if you admonish your puppy hours after she has messed up, it is pointless. The puppy has no memory of having messed up. Only if you see her messing up can you admonish her!
As the pup grows older, his control will improve. That’s why you need patience. Once the pup has crossed six months, he will be able to hold on for longer and longer periods. Till then patience, routine and consistency is the key.