I’m sure you have imagined even just once that a canine companion is convenient to have inside your household. However, good dogs would require the input of the owner in order to make him a ‘good’ dog.
Most dog owners would have a hard time training their dog because they don’t have enough patience to stick with the training. Training your dog is important especially at a young age as he would bring the knowledge even after he has grown up.
One of the most important basic trainings that every dog should learn is how to potty train. Potty training your dog could be difficult for most owners who don’t have enough time to teach and train their dogs.
Some would even hire a professional trainer for their canine companions. This is a good option in itself. But, the time for bonding while training will be lost and won’t be back again.
Quick tips in potty training puppies
Dogs should be trained even from a very young age in order to build a good foundation for their behavior. Training a puppy indoors could sometimes be difficult and complex for most dog owners. However, with the help of puppy pads, the training should be easier. It allows your dogs to have a comfortable potty even while indoors at your home.
It is quick to train, easy for puppies to get used to, easy to clean and maintain, and it provides a good potty area for your puppy. This could take a lot of time to achieve and it could be messy at times but using high quality puppy pads would reduce the difficulty. Below are five tips to make it even easier to pad train a puppy.
1. Designate a special area for the puppy pad
This is easier if you already have an area assigned for your puppy to play around in. If you have a wide area, put the puppy pad in it. However, make sure that it is on a reasonable distance away from food and water. This is to reduce contamination of their diet and to maintain sanitation in the area.
It is recommended to use the bathroom as an area for the puppy pad as it could be easily cleaned in the bathroom. Also, put it way from the napping area of your puppy.
2. Guide his smell
Indicating the puppy pad as a potty area could be hard at first. But did you know that there are chemicals called pheromones present in their poop and urine as residual odors that could guide them where to go potty again?
Exploit this information to your use by putting rags and sheets of paper that has been soiled by your puppy’s urine under your puppy pad. The next time that he wants to go pee, he would smell it in the puppy pad and would guide him to pee there instead of anywhere else.
3. Learning the pattern of your puppy
Knowing your puppy is also essential in training. You have to know the signs and signals that he exhibits whenever he wants to go potty or go pee. Some dogs would whine or bark and circle around a place before releasing their waste.
If you are observing your dog properly every time, you may slip the puppy pad immediately before the waste touches the floor. This will make him understand little by little that the proper area for waste is the puppy pad. This method makes it easier for them to learn.
4. Rewards and reinforcement
You can reinforce your puppy for the proper behavior by means of giving out rewards after a good deed. Whenever your puppy poops and pees properly in the puppy pad, reward him.
Rewards usually come in the form of delicious treats but could be anything from an encouraging phrase like “good boy!” accompanied with a head rub or by giving more time with his favorite toy.
This form of positive reinforcement will make him associate pooping and peeing on the puppy pad as a good behavior. He will learn to do it every time as your puppy wants to please you with his actions.
5. Repetition and consistency
If you have observed your puppy, sometimes you might find out that there is an area where he usually goes. After buying a puppy pad, look out for his pooping and peeing signs and immediately lift your puppy into the puppy pad to make him realize that this is the proper area for going potty. After he goes potty in the puppy pad, praise him and reward him.
If he went potty again on the said area, do not praise him or give him any rewards so as not to reinforce that behavior. Repeat this behavior and be consistent in doing it to make your puppy go potty in the puppy pad.
By following the said methods above, your puppy will eventually learn how to go potty properly in puppy pads. Usually, the recommended puppy pads to use have at least 6 layers of padding which helps in absorbing the waste materials and neutralize the odor so as humans would not be disgusted by the residual smell.
Some puppy pads are even customized and formed in accordance to the puppies, especially those with large bodies. There are also puppy pads that have easily replaceable paddings and there are some with even washable ones.
After deciding to have your puppy potty trained, make your choice in purchasing the perfect puppy pad and use it consistently along with the proper training methods mentioned above. In time, your puppy will get to learn and be comfortable going potty on the puppy pad.
Be patient with your puppy and do not punish him whenever he goes potty in a wrong area. Instead, do not give him a reward. Punishing him verbally or in the form of a slap will just make your puppy have a rooted fear for their beloved dog owner.
They would not understand why you would punish them for that, but they will understand that you have rewarded them for something that they have done. Good luck to your puppy and his potty training!
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