House Training Poodles

Picture the scene, you arrive home with your 8 week old puppy. Everyone is excited and playing with your new arrival. Your puppy starts to look worried then suddenly and with no warning down goes the bottom and your sweet puppy almost sighs with relief as a growing stain appears on your carpet! You realise you had better house train your new charge as soon as possible.

So how do we go about house training a poodle or any other dog for that matter?

If you consistently follow the tips below you'll have your poodle / puppy house trained in no time.

• House training starts as soon as you bring your new puppy home. You need to plan in advance how and where your puppy is going to go.

• Your new puppy needs to be monitored at all times! The fewer accidents he has in the house the quicker he will get the hang of it. Consider taking a week or two off work to help house break and bond with your puppy.

• Get your puppy checked by your vet to ensure he's healthy. If your puppy is sick it makes it very difficult to house train.

• If you are going to paper train your puppy place fresh paper in designated spot preferably by a door.

• Pick a spot outside and always encourage your puppy to relieve itself there. This way your puppy will make the connection between needing to go and that particular spot.

• Do not let your puppy out to relieve himself unsupervised. Always go out with him and check he's been.

• Take your puppy out to relieve himself as often as possible, once an hour if you can. The fewer mistakes he makes the better.

• Use a command like "go toilet" whenever you want your puppy to relieve himself. Don't make the mistake of using "good boy"!

• Praise your puppy when he's finished.

• Be aware of when your puppy is likely to want to go and take him to his designated area. Common times a puppy will want to go are after feeding, when he wakes up and when he's excited,

• When he can't be supervised consider restricting his movement by placing him in a suitable crate. Puppies and dogs will try and move away from their sleeping area to relieve themselves. A crate is too small to allow this so they are less likely to relieve themselves in it. Don't leave a puppy in his crate for too long or else he'll be forced to go and you will have re-enforced the undesired behaviour.

• Clear and disinfect accidents immediately.

• If your puppy has an accident stay calm, don't get angry or upset just clean up the mess. If you punish him their is a chance that next time he'll hide to go potty.

• Never rub a dogs nose in it's own mess. It won't help with your house training and is cruel to boot.

The most important part about house training a puppy or a dog is you need to be there to help re-in-force the behavior you want. The more times your puppy has an accident because you weren't watching the longer it will take to house train. Some dogs house train very quickly others take more time. Be patient and use the time your with him to not only house train him but also to bond and play.

Enjoy your new puppy - He's going to be your best friend.

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All the best,

Laura

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