Toilet Training Puppies Explained.

[Mick Trainer]

When reading this topic please consider that it was written for my puppy customers who take their puppies at 8 weeks of age.

Toilet Training Puppies.

One of the most common problems people have regarding the training of their new pup is in regards training a puppy that is to come inside the house for long periods of time that it must go outside to toilet. Teaching them to desire to go to the toilet outside the house. This is partially due to there being so many “wives tales” and “old techniques” still in practice in regards such training. I will try to dispel in this article some of these wives tales and techniques.

Toileting for a dog, like so many other behaviors that a dog exhibits in it’s life, is based in habit and conditioning. This includes where it is to go to the toilet. When we talk about conditioning we are talking about the dog behaving in a certain way every time that a given stimulus is present. When a dog is young it will experiment offering behavior/s and action in varying ways. If these behaviors result positively for the dog they will be repeated. These behaviors will then be conditioned and the dog will repeat them over and over again for many years to come if they are reinforced successfully periodically when the stimulus is present. A practical example is when we teach sit to a dog we give the command of “sit” and when the dog does it we praise him (we may give him/her a treat etc). Overtime when we give the dog a “sit” command he/she will resume the sit position. The dog is said to be conditioned that when it hears “sit” it is too perform that action. The opposite is also true. If the dogs finds the result to be a negative one then the dog will not repeat them and the behavior will be extinguished from the dogs exhibited behavior. However a behavior will also be extinguished if the behavior is not used.

When toilet training we use the dogs natural experimentation and natural ability to be conditioned to repeat successful behavior and its ability to extinguish non used behaviors to teach them were to go to the toilet. Every time a dog goes to the toilet in an area, if this is successful for it, then it will repeat going in that area again. Also if a dog never goes in that area it will extinguish this as a reasonable place to go and will earn to resist going in this area. So if we wish for the dog to go to the toilet outside we must get the dog to go outside and reward it for this (toileting of course is self rewarding to a degree as relief comes with it). Too do this of course we must have the dog repeatedly go outside, without letting it toilet inside the house thus conditioning it to go outside and extinguishing the desire to go inside. It is very important to not let the dog go inside the house, as this will teach it that it is normal and therefore successful to go inside. So in short the way to toilet train is to take the dog outside BEFORE it goes to the toilet every time.

Now to the inevitable question of how to do this? A 8 week old puppy when awake and active will need to relieve itself on average about every 20-40 minutes, after every meal and after every sleep. When asleep most puppies of this age will last about 3-4 hours between toilet breaks. So this means that when awake the puppy will need to be taken to the toilet every 20 minutes aprox, after every sleep and every meal and at least once during the night. In doing this you will reduce accidents and will be conditioning the puppy to go to the toilet outside as this will be the place that is repeatedly successful. For me if the pup is awake and I am playing with it I will set my alarm clock for 15-20 minutes and once this time is up I take the puppy outside until it goes to the toilet. This normally is not long. (Over a very short period of time the puppy learn that when it goes outside that it goes to the toilet. The first few times may take a minute or two however in the end it is a very short wait). I do the same after each meal and when it wakes up. I also get up about every 3-4 hours after I have gone to bed to take the puppy out to the toilet. (Yes this can be hard but it is necessary). This way I never allow the puppy to go to the toilet inside.

Like I said above if the puppy goes to the toilet inside it is then learning that this is successful and will repeat it. One of the biggest problems people have with toilet training a puppy is that the puppy goes to the toilet inside the house as they are too busy to keep an eye on the puppy, thus conditioning the pup to do this. If you are to busy for one reason or another (lets face it who isn’t at one time during the day or night) it is very important the puppy not be allowed to just wonder and do what it pleases when it pleases. So if you are too busy to watch the puppy and take it outside as required, either place the puppy outside (if it is a safe area to do so), or in a crate or safe confined area (the puppy should always be toilette before this) so that it does not go inside the house. If it never does then it will never learn too.

Of course mistakes happen and we need to know what to do in this case. This is where a lot of people get into trouble due to the old wives tales I spoke about. Discipline has no place in toilet training. Techniques like rubbing the dogs nose in it and putting it outside simply do not work. Dogs do not have the cognitive ability to make the association of what it has done and the discipline that it faces for this behavior and therefore how to avoid getting the discipline again. (This can have very negative effects on the owner/puppy relationship and can cause problems further down the track). In all likelihood if any association is made for the dog it will be made for going to the toilet full stop, not for going where it did. I don’t think I need to point out the problems with such an association. (Some such techniques actually encourage to dog to back there again). So if YOU make a mistake and the dog goes to the toilet in the house. Simply place the dog outside and clean the mess up like nothing had happened and start again. I use a lemon disinfectant as it smells less like urine than the ammonia based bleaches etc (part of the reason why a dog repeats going in the one area is due to the smell. If the dogs does not smell the urine it is less likely to repeat the going there). Getting mad and punishing the dog will only lead to confusion and stress towards this matter for the dog thus making the time taken for the dog to learn longer.

Many people also ask me what to do if the dog has already learnt to go inside the house or is an adult dog that has never learnt not to go in the house. (It is very rare for an adult dog that has been kept outside the house for a long period and is brought inside to desire to go inside, as it will usually be conditioned to go outside. The exception to this can be a dog that has spent large amount of time in a run etc with a concrete floor so the area where it is the normal place to go). Well the fact is with dogs such as these the same rules apply. The dog simply must be taken outside every time before it goes to the toilet. Now this can be far more difficult as the dog can go a lot longer between breaks and you cannot know when. However in most cases the same rules apply to meals and long times of sleep. It just requires more time and patients.

In conclusion the keys to toilet training is get the puppy to repeatedly go outside and very rarely (never if possible) go inside. Sticking to these rules, toilet training a puppy will be very easy and take only a small amount of time. 1-2 weeks would be about average. Also always remember that disciplining a puppy for going to the toilet inside will be of no use and more than likely cause problems for you and it, not only in this process, but for others further down the training process.

[poohbearsmom]

but, i have two 10 week old pups in the house right now - and trying to get them both OUT/ and off the back porch before the dam breaks has turned out to be a comical impossibility!!!!
When raising one, I always slipped a lead on the pup to whisk it outside..... but with two! LOL Let's just say, I'm not that graceful.....
Needless to say, the back porch has had a lot of cleaning lately.....

:D

Nice advice above, Mick, as usual. When are you moving to the States? LOL

Elisabeth

[Sansano]

Mick,

I have nothing to add to this but I just want to say that myself and so many others here are so grateful for you well thought out, well informed and all around great posts on many different subject. Thanks.:)

[DixieGrl113]

I just wanted to bump this to the top for some of our new puppy people. Thanks to MoonDog for the link

[moondog]

Just giving this a bump to the top for all the new pups out there!:)

[moondog]

Time for a boot back up to the top.:)

[woofwoof]

this may be a little off topic but i have never had solid answers from anyone...

how do i make the dog poop on command?

and

should i let my dog make his mark every 30 feet or so when i'm walking him or just allow him to relieve at one designated place only?

[whitney greenway]

Mick,

I am one of those new puppy owners, and we are steadily working on housebreaking.

She is doing rather well. I have been giving her lots of treats for her good deeds outside.

I, don't think we are going to have a breakthrough yet, but we sure are working on it.

Thanks for the post, we all appreciate it.

Whitney

[Rottnlove]

Great thread!!!

I'll be doing the "puppy housebreaking" thing this week.

I want to do it right, so that's why I'm crate training and will be letting her out right after she drinks and eats!!! :D

[PocketChange]

Excellent.

[alexav]

I think this should be brought back yet again! Great article, Mick, and thank you for taking the time to post it.:)

[moondog]

Bump to the top for all the new little puppies out there! :)

[Connie]

I enjoyed your article Mick, but I have a question for you. I got my rott puppy five weeks ago when she was eight weeks old. I had read an article similar to yours in advice for training, and have been trying to do all the right things. She is doing very well, and we've (I've) only had a few mistakes. My question is this: will there come a time when she will tell me that she needs to go outside?? And will there come a time when I do not have to go out with her? Right now she thinks that I am to come out and watch her - otherwise she won't go - just scratches at the back door to get back in unless I go out there and stand and watch.

I appreciate any input.

Thank you,
Connie Mell

[Mick Trainer]

Connie,

Dont have time for a full responce today. Will get back to you further Monday my time. Nut in the mean time answer me this. Will the dog be an outside dog or only going outside to go to the toilet? Do you wish to get the dog used to being outside other than times when she needs to go to the toilet? Does she eat outside?

These wont change the answer massivly but will enable me to be more specific to your individual requirements?

Mick.

[Connie]

Mick,

Right now she is pretty much an inside dog. I have been out of work since we got her, so have been able to be home with her. But I am going to have to go back to work, and am planning on leaving her outside while working and bring her in while at home. I have also kept her inside because of her age and the weather. I live in the panhandle of Texas, and we do get cold weather. But it is getting nicer outside where she could be out more than what she has been used to. So far I have been feeding inside the house.

Thanks for your reply, and I look forward to hearing more.

Connie