Basic Training

What to Teach Your Puppy First
Once you have your puppy home, the lessons can begin. Love is the first lesson. The puppy must be comfortable with you and have the same type of social relationship with you that he had with his mother and littermates. During the first few days a puppy is home, love, pet, stroke, cuddle and snuggle. The more he knows he is loved, the easier he will be to train. Teach respect by respecting the puppy's needs. Provide the puppy with his own house—a crate—and his own temporary living quarters somewhere safe inside your house close to people.
 

House Training

At an early age puppies develop certain bathroom habits that later make house training easy. Very young puppies eat, sleep and relieve themselves and do little else. At this stage the mother makes sure the nest is free from excrement so the puppies don't eat in the same place they relieve themselves. Once the puppies are more mobile, they will begin to leave the nest or sleeping area to urinate or defecate. As they become more aware of their surroundings they will sniff and investigate before they relieve themselves.  Here are some points to remember when house training your dog. Puppies are unlikely to soil their eating or sleeping areas. If you give them a sleeping area—such as a crate—they will be less likely to defecate or urinate there. You can not expect your puppy to hold it through the night if he is less than 12 weeks old, no more than you would expect a one year old child to not dirty his diaper at night.  The best you can do to house train a young puppy is to take him outside every two hours and praise him when he uses the outside his toilet area.  If taking your puppy outside every two hours is not possible, then paper train him.

Puppies use body language to say, "I am looking for a place to go to the bathroom" by sniffing and investigating an area. If you watch for the signs and rush them to a safe area to relieve themselves, house training will happen automatically. It's important to remember that many puppies arrive at their new home at the age of eight weeks. Physiologically, they can't control their bowel movements or urination until they're twelve weeks of age. They simply can't hold it! So for those first four weeks you must teach your dog by association. While your puppy may not have any control, he can learn where to go. He can learn not to miss the papers you've put down. You must be responsive to your puppy's needs, putting him on the papers or taking him outside when he tells you—one way or another—that it is time for a bathroom break.

Watch your puppy closely, and you'll see the look in his eye, or the special way he is walking, or the general anxiousness when he is about to relieve himself. Since he has no control, it's up to you to take him to the proper place outside or to put him on the papers.

You can look at bathroom behavior logically and determine when your puppy will need his bathroom break. Think about when you use the toilet: when you wake up from a good night's sleep or a long nap and a little while after you eat or drink. It's the same for your dog. Make sure that he can go out when he wakes up and a little while after eating. Now when you wake up, your first stop needs to be relief for the puppy. You can hold it another few minutes; he can't.

If the dog barks in the middle of the night, drag yourself out of bed and let your puppy relieve himself. It sure beats cleaning up in the morning. Wouldn't you get up to tend the needs of your baby crying in the night? Don't you sometimes have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night? Listen to what your puppy is telling you and take care of his needs. Remember, dogs generally won't use eating or sleeping areas for toilet purposes. This is the key fact we use when house training a puppy twelve weeks or older.   AND NEVER RUB YOUR DOGS NOSE IN HIS POO OR PEE!   HE HAS NO CONCEPT OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING OR WHY!  In order for a dog to learn something is not good, he must be caught in the act, a simple clap of the hands or a verbal command no is all that is needed to get his attention, then pick him up and take him outside to relieve himself, remembering to praise him when he does.

Paper Training

Here's a method of training that works well with the logic and observation just described. Give the puppy a small room in the house, like the laundry room, spare bedroom or kitchen, preferably a room with a tile floor. Remember to barricade the room to confine him. Then take the puppy's room and split it in half. Put the puppy's food and bed or crate (with the crate door open) in one half. Then divide the other half in two. Put newspapers all over the floor in the quarter farthest from the food and bed. That's the toilet area. Put the water bowl on the edge of the paper.

Let the pup know that it's fine to mess on the papers. During the early weeks, that's the safe place he can go if you can't rush him outside. The next step is to reduce the papered area. The pup will learn to use the papers, even though they're shrinking.

As the papers get smaller and smaller, your puppy's room will seem to him to get larger and larger. You can begin letting him into other rooms of your house or apartment little by little. The more he understands where he has to go and when, the larger the area of the house you can let him explore.

Take him outside when he needs to go, and he will begin to learn to use the outdoors. Take him to the same spot every time. Dogs like to use the same area each time, as the odors will stimulate him to action. If you let him go in only one specific area, he'll usually use that area, making outdoor cleanup an easy task.

When your dog relieves himself outdoors, tell him he's the most wonderful, best puppy that ever existed! He'll quickly associate your praise with doing his duty outside.
In just a week or two, the whole house will be his house, and his toilet will be outside where you want it!

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Crate-Training Your Dog
The absolute best thing you can do for your dog and your own sanity is to buy your dog a crate. A crate is a large cage or kennel made from wire or plastic. Many crates look like the shipping containers airlines use to fly dogs in. For those of us who have crate-trained our dogs, we know the dogs enjoy the comfort of having their own space, their own bedroom, and we love the security of knowing that the dog is safely out of trouble when we can't watch them all the time.

What are some of the benefits of crate-training your dog? How about peaceful nights, with your puppy sleeping without crying? Waking up and finding your floors without messes? Returning home and finding nothing destroyed? Driving a car without a dog squirming at your feet or under the steering wheel? Crate-training does all of this and more. It will keep your puppy happy and you and your family sane.
What kind of crate should you get? There are many varieties on the market. Some are plastic, others are wire. Some are collapsible for easy transportation, others are convertibles, good for shipping or at home, where the top comes off for easy cleaning and moving.

It's important to make sure the crate you buy is big enough to hold your full-grown dog, even if he's just a mere pup right now. You don't want to have to buy another crate later—unless you get another dog! Also, be sure that the crate you buy fits easily in your car. There will be times when you want to take your dog in the car (such as going to the veterinarian), and the crate will keep your dog calm and secure. In training your dog or puppy to rest in the crate, you are trying to convince the dog that this is his house, his den and his special place. The crate needs to be a private space for your dog, where prying little hands (if you have any in your family) are not permitted.

The crate becomes a refuge and a mobile home for your dog, no matter where you happen to be. It makes the car, the kennel or a motel room familiar and comfortable. If your neighborhood ever has to be evacuated because of a disaster, your dog can be confined and moved without any trouble.
Dogs, like many people, like routine and their own comfy bed. The crate supplies those needs at home and elsewhere. If the crate you buy is a used one, give it a thorough cleaning and disinfecting. Allow it to air out completely to get rid of the disinfectant smell.

If you are crate-training a puppy, put a closed cardboard box inside the crate. This will take up the excess space in the crate so it's just right and cozy for the puppy, and the puppy won't think about using part of his crate as the bathroom. As the puppy grows, replace the cardboard box with progressively smaller ones, or remove it, and you have a crate for a bigger dog!

Those crates with uncomfortable bottoms require some padding or bedding. This can be an old blanket (without fleas), or it can be a fancy, comfortable antibacterial pad available at dog shows and some pet supply stores. Whatever you choose to use, it should make a little "nest" inside the crate.  After your dog is housebroken, leave a bowl of water in the crate and be sure the water is kept fresh. Many crates have a little dish for water that hangs on the door, but this is often inadequate for the needs of a large dog left in the crate for several hours.

Introduce your dog to the crate slowly. Let him sniff the crate, walk inside and out and explore it. Put a favorite toy or treat in the crate, and tell your dog how good he is when he's inside. He'll get the idea. A treat can entice the dog inside.  Respect your dog's privacy when he's in the crate. Don't bug him and don't let the kids tease him. Keep your fingers out of the crate and just let the dog be alone in his own space.  Let your dog come out when he's good and ready. Avoid reaching in and dragging him out. Once he's used to being in the crate, close the door for a few moments while he's inside. Tell him he's a good dog and then let him come out. Try it again and he'll get used to staying in the crate with the door closed.

Don't reprimand your dog when he's in the crate, and avoid putting him in when he has misbehaved. The crate is not a jail or place of punishment. A crate is not a disciplinary device. It is the dog's bedroom, and should represent a happy place to your dog. 

Some people feed the dog in the crate. This is good, as it reinforces the crate as a happy place where many of the dog's needs are met. It also prevents your dog from sneaking food from another pet's bowl.  If begging at the table is a problem, the crate can be a way to encourage the dog to eat his dinner while you are enjoying yours.

A dog usually won't relieve himself where he sleeps, unless he is poorly trained, desperate or has a medical problem. You can use this knowledge, along with the crate, to train your dog to relieve himself where and when you want. The dog won't eliminate in the crate, unless it's too big for him and then he will pick a corner and use that as his toilet. If the crate is the correct size he will realize this is his sleeping area. He'll wait until he's out of the crate, and that's when you can rush him outside to "the spot." Again, remember that dogs need to go at particular times: first thing in the morning, shortly after sunrise (for most puppies), when they wake up from a nap, when you get back after the dog has been left alone and after meals. The dog also needs to go to the bathroom just before you go to bed at night and whenever he lets you know it time to go out.

Of course, you wouldn't start off your dog with four hours in the crate. Start with just a few minutes in the crate, followed by playtime. Every day, increase the amount of time he is left alone in his crate. In just a few weeks, your dog will be content to stay in the crate while you are out.

When crate-training puppies, do not close the door until you are absolutely certain the puppy has gone to the bathroom and is capable of holding . In addition, you should not enclose your puppy for the night until he is more than 12 weeks old. When the puppy can control his eliminations through the night, then you can begin to close the door. If you close the door before he can control his elimination, you'll be telling him it's okay to use the crate as a bathroom.

It is permissible to correct your dog if he whines, barks or howls because he doesn't want to be in the crate and not because he has to go to the bathroom. You can tap on the front door of the crate and say, "No, quiet"; cover the crate with a towel; tell him to be quiet and ignore him; or spray him with a squirt bottle full of water, repeating, "No, quiet." He'll settle down shortly.

If your puppy is barking because he doesn't want to be in the crate, do not let him out, as this will reinforce the behavior of barking. He'll learn that you will let him out of the crate every time he barks, and that is the wrong lesson. He must learn to stay in the crate without barking to be released. You, on the other hand, must learn to distinguish the difference between the bark your dog gives to tell you it's time to get outside to relieve himself and the bark he gives because he doesn't want to be in the crate.

Warning: To avoid strangulation, never leave your puppy or dog confined in his crate wearing a training collar, choke chain or nylon slip collar!