While having a puppy at home has many advantages and joys, it also
has its own price. And its not talking about the financial cost of
owning a puppy, its more about the troubles you have to go through as a
puppy owner and the difficulties youll have to face.
One of the worst troubles of owning a puppy in a city is proper house training. If you can not train your dog properly, he will urinate and poo in your house, usually in the middle of your favorite carpet. It can be nasty and it is very easy to take it personal and get very angry with your dog. But getting angry and punishing him harshly does not generally work well.
There are various different ways to overcome this problem. Some trainers teach about building bladder strength, increasing the time interval between eliminations, or even grinding the dogs face into his poo to show him it is not ok.
While those other approaches may work to some extent, the training described here has some advantages. You will learn how to teach your dog to ring a bell when he needs to go. This way, you can be anywhere in the house, doing anything you like, and you do not need to keep an eye on your dog to know when he needs to go out, youll know it instantly when the bell rings.
Also, most other methods focus on teaching your dog NOT to do something. This is very hard to do. In general, praising the dog for the good behavior works better than punishing the unwanted behavior. Many times the dog does not even understand why he is punished, and even when he does, he still does not know what to do to be rewarded. So many times, punishment causes confusion rather than training.
The first thing you need is his favorite treats as reward. Keep them close to the door for easy access. And then tie a little jingle bell (like the ones for Christmas trees) to your door knob so that it is at a similar height from the floor as your dogs nose. Whenever you open the door, the bell will jingle.
And then the dog will know in a short time that, when the bell jingles, the door is open, and he can go out of the building. Hell learn that pretty quickly. When you see that he comes to the door upon hearing the bell jingle wanting to go outside, he is ready for the next step.
Then you start to watch for signs for his need to go. He might sniff the floor, like choosing a good place to urinate, for example. Then take him out, let him eliminate the waste, and then, give him his retreat and reward him. He will think like The bell rings, I go out, do my dirty business, and I get a treat as reward! Thats nice, I want more of that!.
Then a while after that stage, you can make his nose touch the bell, before going out for dirty business. Then he learns that, when his nose touches the bell, it rings, and he can go out, do the dirty business, and get a reward.
Soon after that, hell start to ring the bell when he needs to go. And you still need to reward him for that nice behavior. For a couple of weeks, at least.
In that way, you can train the puppy to ring a bell with his nose when he needs to go out, within about three months.
And there is another lesson in dog training here also. When you try to teach him a complex task like that, try to do it in little pieces that are easier to learn, and progress simple to complex in time.
When you do that, and have patience, you can teach your dog anything you like.
One of the worst troubles of owning a puppy in a city is proper house training. If you can not train your dog properly, he will urinate and poo in your house, usually in the middle of your favorite carpet. It can be nasty and it is very easy to take it personal and get very angry with your dog. But getting angry and punishing him harshly does not generally work well.
There are various different ways to overcome this problem. Some trainers teach about building bladder strength, increasing the time interval between eliminations, or even grinding the dogs face into his poo to show him it is not ok.
While those other approaches may work to some extent, the training described here has some advantages. You will learn how to teach your dog to ring a bell when he needs to go. This way, you can be anywhere in the house, doing anything you like, and you do not need to keep an eye on your dog to know when he needs to go out, youll know it instantly when the bell rings.
Also, most other methods focus on teaching your dog NOT to do something. This is very hard to do. In general, praising the dog for the good behavior works better than punishing the unwanted behavior. Many times the dog does not even understand why he is punished, and even when he does, he still does not know what to do to be rewarded. So many times, punishment causes confusion rather than training.
This also applies to dog training in general, not just house training
your dog. For example it easier for you to train your dog to sit when
meetnig with people rather than training him not to jump on people he
meets.
So lets discuss how you can train your dog to ring a bell with his nose when he needs to go.The first thing you need is his favorite treats as reward. Keep them close to the door for easy access. And then tie a little jingle bell (like the ones for Christmas trees) to your door knob so that it is at a similar height from the floor as your dogs nose. Whenever you open the door, the bell will jingle.
And then the dog will know in a short time that, when the bell jingles, the door is open, and he can go out of the building. Hell learn that pretty quickly. When you see that he comes to the door upon hearing the bell jingle wanting to go outside, he is ready for the next step.
Then you start to watch for signs for his need to go. He might sniff the floor, like choosing a good place to urinate, for example. Then take him out, let him eliminate the waste, and then, give him his retreat and reward him. He will think like The bell rings, I go out, do my dirty business, and I get a treat as reward! Thats nice, I want more of that!.
Then a while after that stage, you can make his nose touch the bell, before going out for dirty business. Then he learns that, when his nose touches the bell, it rings, and he can go out, do the dirty business, and get a reward.
Soon after that, hell start to ring the bell when he needs to go. And you still need to reward him for that nice behavior. For a couple of weeks, at least.
In that way, you can train the puppy to ring a bell with his nose when he needs to go out, within about three months.
And there is another lesson in dog training here also. When you try to teach him a complex task like that, try to do it in little pieces that are easier to learn, and progress simple to complex in time.
When you do that, and have patience, you can teach your dog anything you like.