Lorrie [00:00:08]:
Welcome to the Maximum Fun Agility podcast. I'm Lorrie Reynolds, owner of Maximum Fun Dog Sports. We help your agility team build your relationship, communication, confidence, and fun in training so that you can joyfully succeed on any course. In this episode, we'll talk about the best practices for house training your new puppy. House training your puppy doesn't have to be a struggle. There are 2 critical concepts for successful house training: supervision and consistency. When puppies are newborns, before they start eating solid foods, the dam takes care of all the cleanup so the living area stays clean. Starting at 3 weeks or so, puppies have enough mobility to help keep the area clean and can learn to move to a specific area to eliminate.
Lorrie [00:00:59]:
Once the puppies transition to eating solid foods, mom no longer cleans up after them, and having a dedicated potty space becomes even more important. Hopefully, your breeder started on potty training well before you got your puppy, whether it was by using puppy pads, a tray with wood pellets, or another method. When dogs habitually keep their sleep and eating areas clean and use a dedicated potty space, house training is much easier. However, all is not lost if your dog came from the rescue or animal shelter where they didn't have a choice about eliminating in a specific area. The process for house training is the same. Rescues or dogs who have not been raised indoors may just require a bit more work. One wonderful and slightly gross thing that Revel's breeder did was to give all the new puppy owners a scoop of used wood pellets from the potty tray. No feces included, of course.
Lorrie [00:01:56]:
The premise was that the used pellets could be placed in the new owner's yard where they wanted the puppy to eliminate, and the scent would help the puppy understand where to go. It worked very well with Revel. Whether you have a primed area or not, the most important thing to do is constantly supervise your puppy so that he doesn't have a chance to make a mistake inside. If you are not directly supervising your puppy, he should be in a crate unless he has recently eliminated. Puppies need to go out frequently. They do not have the physical ability to hold it for very long. With a new puppy, I take them out based on the following things. Immediately after waking up, and I carry puppies at first since they're so good at stopping on a dime to go.
Lorrie [00:02:45]:
10 to 15 minutes after eating, 10 to 15 minutes after drinking a significant amount of water, when they are winding down from an active play session, and every hour between the above activities if they're not asleep. When my puppy eliminates outside, I praise him exuberantly. As he gets better about going when we go out, I add a cue word right before I think he's going to go. My words are go potty for urination and hurry up for defecation. If you consistently add the words, you can teach your dog to eliminate on cue, which is a handy skill for agility trials. At first, you need to go out with your puppy every single time and throw a party when they eliminate. I don't typically take treats out with me and treat for elimination. I don't think there is anything wrong with doing so, but I have had a couple of dogs who either get so distracted by the fact that I had treats that they forget what they're doing, or they pretend to go to get the treat, or just go a little bit at a time.
Lorrie [00:03:55]:
That's the problem with having smart dogs. For me, throwing a praise party seems to work better. Your mileage may vary, so if you want to treat for success, do it. If my puppy has eliminated both pee and poop, he gets about an hour of supervised playtime or play and training time loose in the house. After that hour of playtime, I take him out and give him the opportunity to eliminate. If he doesn't, he gets put into the 6 foot by 3 foot pen that has a waterproof material underneath and is allowed to play with his toys or chew on a bone. I keep an eye on him for any signs that he needs to go and take him out every 15 minutes or so until he either eliminates or falls asleep in his pen. If I can't watch him, he goes into his crate.
Lorrie [00:04:46]:
Because he knows not to soil his sleep area, he will whine if he needs to go. When the puppy wakes up from his nap, we start the cycle all over again. The most important thing you can do is try not to let your dog have any accidents inside. If they do pee or poop in the house and you see them start, you can try to interrupt them, scoop them up, and quickly take them out to their spot. Do not act angry or they will hide from you when they need to eliminate, and it could affect their willingness to eliminate in front of you even when you are outside. Any accidents need to be cleaned up immediately with an enzymatic cleaner. I like nature's miracle, but there are plenty of other products out there that work well. If your dog eliminates inside and you do not see them do it, take a rolled up newspaper and hit yourself in the head for failing to adequately supervise them.
Lorrie [00:05:43]:
I'm kidding, of course. Do not punish your puppy by yelling, rubbing his nose in the spot, etcetera. Punishing your dog after the fact will not help with house training. It will only encourage him to hide from you when he needs to go, so you'll start finding accidents behind the sofa. It will also make him wary of you handling him. After your dog has consistently been eliminating outside, he should start going toward the door if he needs to go. It took about a week for Revel to head toward the door for the first time. It will be very sporadic at first, so stick with your schedule or routine, but praise heavily if your puppy does move toward the door and use your future cue like "Do you have to go outside?", then take him out immediately.
Lorrie [00:06:32]:
Here are a couple of other notes. Try to get your puppy to eliminate when they first go out and then let him play in the yard with you or with your other dogs. If you consistently take him inside immediately after he eliminates, ending his play or exploration time, he will delay going or forget altogether until he's back inside. Make sure you take your dog out on a leash sometimes even if you are in your yard. You don't want to create a dog who refuses to eliminate when they are leashed. It makes agility trials, travel, and staying at hotels much more difficult. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Maximum Fun Agility podcast. If you want to build a successful agility team where runs with your partner feel flowing and in sync, join us in The Agility Playground.
Lorrie [00:07:26]:
The Agility Playground is a low-cost membership that meets you where you are on your dog agility journey and helps you propel your team to new heights. You can check out The Agility Playground and join our community at www.maximumfundogs.com. See you next time.
