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Doggy house training

By Arthur Webster of thendt network

There is quite a lot of nonsense talked about the difficulty of house training some dogs. The REAL difficulty is dog training some houses!

Whenever I hear the phrase 'he won't do anything we tell him' applied to a dog I simply know that the person complaining has no idea of what they should do with a dog. Dogs have two common traits:-
1 - they are naturally clean
2 - they are desperate to please.

These traits are inherited from a long line of wolves and are virtually hard wired into the dogs brain. Most animals are clean by nature and do not foul their own dens. In the same way, most animals have a clearly defined hierachy and each level defers to all levels above it.

When humans get involved there is always a major problem for the dog - the humans never sit down and discuss how they are going to help their dog fit into the 'pack' so that it knows its place. Look at any family that has a dog and I will bet that no two members of the family treat the dog in the same way. One member might let the dog onto the furniture while another might let it on to one or two pieces of furniture while yet another won't let it on any furniture at all. How is the dog supposed to learn from this and reconcile its behaviour?

When it comes to house training, there is a whole raft of sad and ill-informed ideas about how it is done.

In many countries, these start with crate training. If you think about the logic of this it will not be long before you discover that there is no logic. You want to house train your dog - so you try to train it to live in a crate. You take a simple problem and complicate it.

When house training a dog you need to decide where it is going to be allowed to roam in the house until it is trained. My preference is to restrict the dog to an area with easily cleaned and sterilised floors. You then need to decide what training method you will use and EVERY MEMBER OF THE FAMILY has to stick to it.

The simplest and quickest way to train a dog is to have a dirt tray or newspaper where he can get at it and every time you see him squat or cock his leg you simply say a sharp 'No!' and pick him up and put him in the tray. When he has finished with the tray, even if he finished on the journey to the tray or newspaper, praise him and make a fuss of him. Do this four or five times and that will train him to go to the tray. Once he knows what the tray or newspaper is for you can move it towards the door or just outside the door (as long as he has access to it.

I have trained, literally, hundreds of dogs in this way and it really is that simple.

So why do people have difficulties?

The major problem is that they all have a different reaction to a dog if it makes a 'mistake'. Instead of using the simple 'No!' and transfer I have described, some will screech at the dog, others will call someone else to see what the dog has done and yet others will simply smack the dog. Is it any wonder the poor animal does not learn? Also, there is often no consistency. It is no good thinking that you can train your dog when it is convenient. To house train your dog you must ensure that he is watched all the time so that he is stopped every time he is in the wrong place.

If the whole family reacts the same way, even the youngest puppy will be house trained within three days. If it can't be allowed out of the house, it will, at least, be tray or newspaper trained.

The worst habitual abuse I have ever seen of dogs is by those people who believe that 'rubbing his nose in it' will teach him not to do it again. This is cruel and totally useless. It is even more useless if it is done after the event. If you do not stop the dog in mid stream, so to speak, he will not understand why you are beating him up.

House training is so easy if you do it simply. Show him where he can go and then praise him when he does. The family has to be aware of the dog at all times so that he will be caught in the act. Just make sure everybody has the same instructions and uses the same simple word - 'No!' followed by a transfer to the tray or newspaper. This will help with all other training because he will also learn that 'No!' means 'stop what you are doing'.

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Great intel, Arthur.
Training people is tougher than training animals. The animals will not know everything as the humans think they do.
Keep up the good work.
Frederick

People need to remember that dogs communicate by body language. They bark in monosylables and cannot recognise a word with more than one sylable. This is why people have to be trained to use commands like 'no', 'sit', 'heel¡, 'fetch', 'stay' and so on.

It is very sad that too many dog owners can not get together with the family and decide what commands the dog will be given. If the same simple command was given by every member of the family, dogs would be a lot better integrated and more obedient. They are only disobedient because they do not understand that verbal variations mean the same thing. For example, a dog trained by one member of the family to sit when told 'sit' and to lie down when told 'down' will be very confused when another member of the family tells it to 'sit down'.

Your statement, "I have trained, literally, hundreds of dogs in this way and it really is that simple." intrigues me.

Were 101 of them Dalmatians by any chance? How does one get to house train literally hundreds of dogs? Do you house train dogs for others? Does that invole training families then as well? Good article.

Many years ago I worked at a dog refuge. It was surprising how many people who took on rescued dogs did not understand that they had to re-train them so that they could fit into their families.
For about nine months I worked full time in other people's homes showing the simple process of 'no - move to tray' and arranging the limited access to the house for the dogs.
Once trained, the owners soon realised that single word commands followed immediately by gently putting the dog where or in what position they required followed by effusive praise worked wonders.
Training a dog is easy - training the owners is a little more difficult.
On the point of Dalmations, I often had to rescue them from innappropriate homes. Like all dogs, Dalmations love to please but they also get very frustrated with urban life. Dalmations were bred to run alongside horse drawn carriages for many hours a day and really do need a lot of exercise. They do not settle well to a hearth and inactivity.

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