Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Potty Training Your Dog The Easy Way

By Ray Alexander

Your desire to have your own puppy is to enrich your household through your rewarding experiences with your pet. However, you know that there will be obstacles to this objective. One important wake up call to this situation is when your pet starts to create a mess inside your house and in your daily schedule.

But you know that there is one very good answer for this, dog training. Teaching your pet impeccable manners and good behavior has many dimensions. It also involves different actions and reactions that you want your dog to acquire. One of your priorities is to potty train your dog.

Potty training is not as daunting and stressful as you probably perceive it to be. There are even plenty of dog owners who opted to do their dog's training on their own. There could be a number of methods you could utilize for this and most of them are probably as effective as the other. But the basic idea is the same, teaching your willing student the concept of right and wrong.

In potty training your dog, you must start as soon as possible. Delaying the training might make it harder for you when you get around to doing it. This is because your dog has started to form habits of its own. In potty training or in any other training, consistency is the key as it is the foundation of the habit.

First step you must take is to choose an area for this training. It is advisable that the floor of this chosen area is easy to clean as the training could involve regular clean up if your dog misses the mark. Get plenty of newspapers or even cardboard and lay them all down in your designated area. Each time you notice that its bathroom time for your pet, steer it towards this paper heap.

It is also important that you lavish your praise while your pet is at it. Delaying the shower of love for a job that is being well done might not be easily connected by the dog. Then, as you remove the pile of newspaper each time you clean up the mess, get a slightly soiled one and put on top. Your dog could then connect its bathroom requirement with the real function of the layers of paper.

As your dog slowly learn that this is the only spot for a bathroom, slowly shrink the size of the coverage area. If it misses the mark and messes the uncovered area, expand your newspaper cover again. Repeat with shrinking the spot in a gradual manner until your dog perfects the bathroom concept.

When you only allot a space as big as your dog's mess, you can now move with the next step in your training. Either you could buy an indoor toilet for this purpose or you could move the bathroom to the door ready for house training your pet. Now you can rest knowing that your dog was able to learn that there's only a specific place to use as bathroom.

Always remember though the one important rule in dog training is the proper formation of your pet's habit. This entails time and endless duplication of the required action to achieve the desired outcome. Yet your patience and determination will be properly rewarded as you could enjoy your pet without the unpleasant mess.

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