Did you just get a new dog, and you are wondering how to house train him?
In this video I'm gonna give you 4 tips that will help you toilet train your dog without
a crate. Coming up !
Hi, I'm Geraldine from Finn and Paddy and Co dog training, giving you weekly
dog training tips, helping dog owners so that less dogs end up in shelters.
And today I wanted to talk to you about potty training your dog, because I know with the
current pandemic going on everywhere in the world, I know a lot of people actually got
dogs, and maybe you just got a new puppy and you're kinda struggling to house train him.
So I wanted to give you 4 tips.
And by the way, make sure to stay until the end, because I'm gonna share with you the number
one mistake that dog owners make when trying to house train their dog.
And by the way, the tips I'm gonna give you is to actually house train your dog without
a crate.
I know a lot of people recommend crate training when getting a new puppy.
Well I had 4 dogs in total, I had one before that unfortunately died of old age, she was
called Joyce.
And now I have my 3 rescue ones, and I still foster as well other dogs from time to time
with the rescue, and I never ever had to use a crate with any of my dogs.
I am not saying that crate training is good or bad, I actually don't have an opinion on
it, I'm just saying that personally I never had to use one, so the tips I'm gonna give
you is to actually house train your dog without a crate.
So the first tip is actually to prevent mistakes.
What I mean by that is to actually regularly take your dog out.
Because young dogs, small pups have very small bladders so you actually need to take your
dog out every hour, after every meal and after every nap or sleep, so basically first thing
in the morning.
Second tip: teach your dog where you want him to eliminate.
So when you take your dog out on the 3 occasions that I just mentioned, I want you to take
him out and stay outside with him until he actually does eliminate, it might take a while
but be patient, he will.
And when it actually does happen, I want you to throw a big party.
What I mean by that, give him a lot of praise, make a huge deal out of it , pet him, be so
happy, reward him with treats, small pieces of chicken, hot dogs, cheese, anything, it
doesn't have to be big, small, but make a big party out of it and your dog will quickly
learn that actually using the toilet outside brings him a lot of good things, and he will
want to do that behaviour again and again.
Third tip: when you are not home, maximum 2 hours at the beginning because as I said
your pup has really a small bladder, so accidents might actually happen and it is ok.
But when you are not home or actually if you're home but you can not pay attention to your
dog because you're working or busy doing something, on a video call, whatever, what I want you
to do is to confine your puppy in a small area, ideally with easy cleaned floors and
you can use baby gates if it is possible.
But the idea here is if there are accidents, they will be limited to a small space and
it will be cleaned easily.
Last thing, during the night, what should you do?
Well I want you to do the same thing, confine your puppy in a very small space, ideally
the same one that you are using during the day when he is on his own.
And if it's close to your bedroom that's better, because in that case you can leave the door
open and if your dog needs to go to toilet during the night, he will probably cry and
probably circle, and you will hear him, and in that case maybe you can take him outside
so that he can actually go to the toilet.
Now I told you at the beginning that there was one mistake that a lot of dog owners actually
make when toilet training their dog.
What is it? it's actually to punish your dog.
I know, you probably read a lot of things about that, and you probably read as well
theories that tell you to actually put your dog nose in his pee or poo if he does have
accidents.
I am telling you, do not do it, and I can explain you why.
Because if you do that, the only thing that your dog is actually gonna learn is that it's
actually not ok to eliminate in front of you.
And can you see why it might lead to bigger problems?
Because if he's afraid of eliminating in front of you, it will mean that when you go outside
with him he's not gonna want to eliminate either.
So he's not gonna want to eliminate anywhere near you, so he's only gonna eliminate when
you're not home.
So that's gonna lead to more problems, so please please please whatever you do, do not punish
your dog if he has accidents inside.
Accidents will happen, it's absolutely normal, your dog is a small dog with a very small
bladder, but do not punish him because it's just gonna make the problem worse.
So I really hope the 4 tips that I gave you will really help you toilet train your dog,
and if you enjoyed the content of this video, make sure to subscribe to my channel so you
don't miss my weekly dog training videos and tips, and I will see you in next week's video.
Bye!