How to House Train a puppy

Jeanne Perciaccanto
Ultimate Dog Training

Tis the season for gift giving and the Christmas puppies will arrive. Whether you are young or young at heart, there is nothing like a new puppy!

Before you give the gift that keeps on giving, be prepared to ensure all goes well with your surprise.
First plan ahead on items you will need for the puppy’s new owner.
The most over looked part of the plan is how to house train the puppy once it arrives. Most think the pup will just know what to do and forget to teach the puppy the where, when and how of house training.

Let’s start first by helping a puppy learn what our expectations for them are for puppy house training.
You will need:

• A crate size suitable and expandable for growth
• A puppy collar and leash - takes a few days for pup to get accustom to wearing.
• Poop bags (ample supply) or a scooper
• Food & water bowls  **Food change can cause digestive upset so be sure to keep your puppy on the same food as the breeder until you can do a safe food change over.
• Paper towels - a lot of them
• Puppy shampoo - for crate accidents
• White vinegar or suitable enzyme based odor eliminator

Have a plan and start early. A puppy may be young but they have the mental ability to start learning from day one.
The most over looked part of house training is not just where to go potty but to help the pup develop the muscle control to “hold it” until the right time arrives, which is, when you let them out. House training has to address both sides of this coin, where to go and to be able hold it until they get out there! I come across many adult dogs who were not helped to develop this second part of the puzzle, muscle control.

Here are the basics:

• Time frame
• Limited access to house areas and unsupervised times
• Consistent feeding and out times
• Did I mention time frame!

There are three key times when your pup is in need of relieving themselves. These are:

• Waking up
• Feeding
• Play time- stimulates systems. Pups in play will start to sniff or look off in the distance, get them out!

Step one:

Every pup comes with its’ own bodily function. What goes in must come out so to speak but every pup digests food a little different from the next. Getting a handle on their normal functions is your starting point. It is normal for a puppy to poop 4 times a day, they digest food quickly. It is also normal for a pup to pee 5 times a day, tiny bladders. If you have a question about how often ( if excessive) your pup is going potty, speak with your Vet.

1- Time frame - the game is to catch the pup when it has to go and give them the chance to get it right! Spend a few days and write down every time your puppy goes no matter where (inside or outside). This gives you a starting point to understand how your puppy’s system works. How soon after eating/drinking do they normally have to go potty? This is never exact to the minute but gives you a window to work in.
This starting time frame now lets you know when puppy should be heading out the door.

Example: 6AM - pee & poop; 9 AM - pee; 12:30PM pee & poop; 4PM - pee; 7PM pee& poop; 10PM- pee

2- Start with your puppy in the crate. Pup goes from crate directly outside. So those in between times means your pup should be in the crate.
Take your puppy out on leash for 15 minutes to the same spot in the yard. Give them cue words such as “go potty”, “hurry up” and after 15 minutes, back into the house. If they have gone potty, they get free time in a regulated area to play, feed or training time. If they have not gone, they go back into the crate for 5-10 minutes, then right back out again and repeat until the puppy finally goes. This re-crating prevents the pup from just going when they come back into the house. Although not ideal, in the worst case, they go in their house (crate) not your home, which is where the puppy shampoo comes into play!
Sometimes they get so invested in sniffing and being distracted by life, they forget they have to go until back in the house away from all those distraction, then ooops, they go!
Do not stand or stay outside for extended periods of time, it will not help the puppy learn anything other than your willing to wait for-ever!
Do not play with your puppy during outside on potty runs. They must learn their first “job” is to potty upon going out before anything else happens.
Repeat this frame until the pup finally goes outside. “Good puppy” and free time. Don’t treat your pup for going potty, this causes other issues as adults. The pup will learn quickly that their reward is the free time. A simple mental connection takes place, “I get to do this, if I do that first!”

3- Puppies need to sleep for growth, so they sleep often. Start with a 30 minute free time frame and then back into the crate until the next out time on your schedule. Repeat step one.
This free time frame will increase as the puppy develops more self-control. Very soon they will be free for 45 minutes, then an hour and so on. Their safe place helps them relax and settle more easily. Never open the crate door to noisy pup! If they learn from day one that acting up in the crate gets them out, then you have taught a valuable lesson, carry on to get what we want.

4. Feed the same times each day and do not free feed. Regulating when and how much food they ingest makes it possible to regulate when they potty. Free feeding keeps their system digesting food, meaning they will always have to go at inconsistent times. Pups are usually feed three times a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Start your feeding patterns to match your daily schedule which allows you ample time to address out times. Example, you leave for work at 7:30AM, this means your pup should be feed around 6AM. Lunch should be around 11-12PM and dinner 4-5PM. This gives you a few evening hours for your pup to finish digesting breakfast and lunch before your bedtime.
So those are the basics. Control their free time and keep it regulated. Know your pups time frame and how/when their system functions and show them what they get for going outside.
For further help, contact www.ultimatedogtrainingnj.com

Teaching Heel

 Jeanne Perciaccanto

   Teaching your dog to heel is probably the most complex command a dog owner has to learn.  So much so, that many trainers are no longer teaching a formal “Heel” as a command but have gone to a “loose leash” walking.

I still prefer to teach “heel” as a primary part of creating a full and complete form of communication and build the deepest aspect of self control for the dog.

When your dog is on leash, you are the dogs’ only job and responsibility.  Their full attention must be focused on you whether moving or remaining still.

The leash has meaning, intent and purpose.  The mental switch in the dogs head when connected to a leash should produce a direct impact on the dogs’ demeanor and behavior.  Leash means walk here.  Leash means let the cats and squirrels go by.  Leash means follow you!  The leash means calm!

When the dog understands what their responsibility is while on leash, it then becomes easier to teach other responsible behaviors enabling your dogs to be capable of going to more places while remaining focused and calm.  The leash is an extension of you and your leadership with your dog.

Rather than seeing or using the leash as a tool for calm, we create contention and conflict with our dogs. Using the leash to hold or pull the dog back from the abyss of unwanted or expected behaviors, we fight with our dogs in a dance of pull and tug.  A dance they are ready, able and willing to participate in and one they will inevitably win!  The law of unintended consequence creates a dog that will always pull when on leash because they think they are expected to pull!

Before actually beginning the formal lessons for heel, which involves distraction training, I work first on creating calm and focus with the owner.  Building off what I call connectors, I start first in getting the dog to just follow closely and remain next to the owner when stationary. 

There are three points of reference I teach owners to understand which indicates the dogs level of focus.  These are: stand, sit and down.  I do not teach the dog to do any of these but allow the dog to come to them by processing information gained from allowance and consequence.  Dog training is teaching the dog how to make appropriate choices and develop the self-control and responsibility for those choices.

Each point of reference gives the owner an understanding of where the dogs’ mental focus is and the choices your dog is willing to make at that time, which would become, you or the distraction.

If you move a few steps back and away from your dog, does it immediately follow you?

No?  Then your dog is either waiting for you to be responsible for them by pulling on the leash or they are focused on a distraction and not you.

If you proceed forward, the dog will pull directly towards its point of focus.

Standing or remaining still should give the dog a message to remain next to you in a calm state, patiently waiting for your next move or command.  My first steps are to teach the dog to see and respond to your small movements, to follow, then to remain calmly next to you.

The mental points of reference give owners a basis for what and when to move onto the next steps.

A dog standing when they come to you is in decision.  They may sit or move away.

Sit indicates the dog has chosen you over a distraction as an indication of patience, a willingness to await your next move.  Moving away from you is obvious, the dog chose the distraction.

I have owners patiently wait to see which choice the dogs makes and to respond directly by either praising a sit or moving away if the dog leaves.  It may take a few minutes for the dogs to offer a behavior, but patience on our part is necessary.

Once the dog begins to develop patience and self - control by understanding that calm is expected, they will begin to auto sit when you stop.  As they accept your leadership, the dog will lie down next to you which is a mental state of calm.

  By allowing the dogs to choose, you help build self-control and the decision making process.  At this level, I do not give commands nor speak to the dog beyond saying “yes” or “good” to mark their choices. The dog is in complete control over the end result. 

Dogs are incredibly intelligent and we can be unbelievably confusing.  We enter into a realm of frustration babble, an assault of a nonstop barrage of sound to our dogs. I think people believe the more we speak the more the dog will understand. We need to stop trying to make training similar to the experience of a drive-thru restaurant seeking results in 30 second or less.  Giving dogs a space to think, assess and utilize natural trial and error processing, we give our dogs a greater chance of success.

Jeanne Perciaccanto

Ultimate Dog Training

www.ultimatedogtrainingnj.com

Sidley the Wonder Dog!

Where did the snow balls go?

By

Jeanne Perciaccanto

Ultimate Dog Training

Snow brings out the child in all of us.  I’m not sure if it directly relates to those coveted snow days when school would be closed or the games as kids we could only play in the snow.

Preparation was an important part of the process and getting a new Flexible Flyer sled for Christmas made the wait unbearable. Carefully waxing the running blades of the sled with Butcher Wax to be sure no sticking and the fastest run possible would happen was part of the pre-game plan.

Grabbing our sleds and meeting up with friends all heading up to the local grade school with the best hill top for a day of what seemed like the closest thing to flying we could create while still connected to the earth.  Without necessity of traffic laws, direction on how to, nor parental guidance, we had fun, got wet, slipped and fell a bunch of times and learned to use our own best judgment. 

We would try crazy things such as standing on our sleds and doing our best to remain on them flying down hill with our arms outstretched for balance with little directional control long before snowboarding was invented. 

Grabbing onto the runner of a sled in front of us to build a sled train which often resulted in a major pile up at the bottom of the hill but the last sled had a wild ride!

Building snow packed ramps to simulate flight; we often went up and over landing in a heap on the other side. We loved it! 

Play challenged us to challenge ourselves.  This taught us to work well with others to accomplish group goals of play. We got some bumps and bruises; heading home wet and cold to a cup of hot chocolate and cookies our Mothers had waiting for us after getting in warm jammies which made for wonderful end to an active day!

We learned by trial and error how to control our environment.  We tested our own boundaries and limitations based on feel and intuition for what the desired outcome would bring us. What brought us joy or what resulted in bruises became a balancing act in achieving one and not the other but we accepted the bruises as part of learning.

As a group we designed our own rules of play.  Those breaking the rules were ostracized from the group and not sought out to play again. Punishment was having no friends.  The rules were simple.  No icy snow balls in “capture the fort” and quarter was given to those who said “Uncle!” No using your sled to run into others on the hill and walking areas were sacrosanct and out of bounds from where a sled could go.  No picking on or bullying the younger kids, giving them ample room ride.  The rules worked.

When we moved from the hill to the street we learned to trust and be trusted by others with our very lives.  Heading down the top of one street, riding across a main road to continue on down the next road, we waited for and trusted those standing on the main road to say “Go” when no cars were coming.  If they were wrong, we were dead.

Being in the snow was the reward.  Whether building snow forts for the inevitable snowball fight or making snow angles and snow men on the front lawn, a snow day was always a gift from the Heavens for kids to enjoy.  Only kids could take frozen water and create a magical world out of it.  In that world of magic, we learned to find our own balance and learn future valuable life lessons.  The rules we live by today, we learned in play.