Housetraining 101: 9 Steps to a Potty-Trained Pup

Note: This post is part two of a housetraining series. Check out part one, Housetraining 101: The Basics

courtesy Flickr.com/amagill

Here it is: your simple, magic-secret-free guide to housetraining your dog. How long this process will take depends on how consistent you are with it and what experiences, or lack thereof, your dog has already had with housetraining. If you’re really good, it can take as little as a week or two. Otherwise, about 1 – 2 months.

You can’t prevent every accident in the house; expect to be cleaning up a few messes. Just keep in mind that every accident your dog has in the house sets you back in your training that much more, because it reinforces that “going” in the house is an option. …read more

Housetraining 101: The Basics

Housetraining is not all that complex. But do a search on Google and you’ll find all kinds of sites proclaiming they have the “secret to housetraining,” or “ten potty training secrets!” All this complicates things way more than they need to be. If there is a secret to housetraining, it’s that there isn’t a secret at all.

Before we get started, there are a couple of things we need to get out of the way first:
One – Yes, you CAN housetrain your dog. It takes some commitment, but so does anything that’s worth doing, right? Take a deep breath. I believe in you.
Two – Accept that there WILL be accidents in the house. It’s not the end of the world, it doesn’t mean that you have a bad dog and it doesn’t mean that you are a bad owner.

Okay, so the anti-secret housetraining formula? …read more

Puppies Behaving Badly: Jumping and Biting

Jumping up and mouthing too hard: two of the most common behavior problems in dogs, especially young dogs. Fortunately the solutions are fairly simple – they just require some patience and consistency on your end.

Each of these solutions are based on the following basic process. Most behavior problems can be solved by following these three steps.

1. Dog misbehaves, so you take the Good Things away immediately the “Good Things” will vary depending on the situation. It might be attention from you, toys, or playtime.
2. Redirect the behavior by telling/showing the dog what to do instead, OR waiting until she does something good on her own.
3. The dog does what you ask, so you immediately give her the Good Things that she was after in the first place. …read more

Oh, Just Kill Me Now! Surviving Your Dog’s Teen Months

Adolescent shelter dogs have it rough. Since most shelter adopters fall into one of two categories, those wanting a sweet little puppy and those looking for a mellow adult dog, the teens are often overlooked. Most of them are there because they are teenagers. Their previous owners bought them as puppies but were not prepared to handle them once they grew out of the fluff-ball stage and into the obnoxious, gangly stage.

If you’ve adopted an adolescent dog, congratulations! The world needs more people like you.
Or, if you started out with a puppy and are ready to brave the teen months, congratulations! The world needs more people like you. …read more

Puppy Training Games

The rule used to be that you didn’t start training a dog until he was six months old. You couldn’t take a puppy any younger than that to an obedience class, primarily because the harsh methods that used to be the standard are too much for a puppy to handle. Though fortunately this is not usually the case anymore, there is still some merit to the six-months rule: You can’t really expect a young puppy to work on long obedience drills. Puppies generally have the attention span of a gnat.

Wait, let me rephrase that: puppies have the attention span of a gnat unless they are doing something really fun.

So put your puppy’s sense of adventure to good use an …read more

I Just Got A New Puppy – What Do I Do With It?

Getting a puppy can be an overwhelming experience. No matter how much or how little planning you did beforehand, when the pup arrives home, it’s common for new owners to freeze up and go, “what do I do now?”
The following is a list of four critical steps. Work on each one, and you’ll lay the foundation for a great life-long relationship with your new friend. (more…)