Posts Tagged ‘free dog training tips’
Three ways to use clicker training for house training your dog
No matter how much we love our puppy, we wonder when it will ever be house trained. A new puppy has no idea about picking a place to “go.” Dogs really want to be house trained, because they want to have a clean living space. Here are three tips for using clicker training to help your dog be house trained faster.
First, take your puppy to his potty place after eating and sleeping. It’s at these times that a puppy most likely needs to empty his bladder and bowels. Stay with your puppy and reward him when he goes where you want him to. If you’re using clicker training, click when he squats and reward when he’s done.
If he’s not ready to go just yet, give him some more time. But always watch for signs — walking in circles, a certain kind of sniffing around — that it’s time. You’ll get the hang of it as you watch your dog’s day-to-day behavior. Always click when he does something you want him to repeat and reward him with your enthusiasm and a treat.
Second, set a place for the dog to go potty. If that’s outside, you might want to designate a part of the yard specifically for your dog’s “business.” You’ll want to pick up after your dog frequently, because they don’t like to walk through their waste, but it’s one way to narrow the area that needs to be cleaned.
If the potty place is inside, find an easily cleaned space of floor and tape down an oven liner or a pet training pad. As the dog gets older and better able to control his bladder and bowel movements, he can wait longer times before eliminating. You can stop clicking when your dog has mastered a behavior and go back to the training when it’s time for your dog to learn something new.
Don’t hit your dog for making a mistake. Instead, help your dog learn to succeed. Formerly, common wisdom advised dog owners to house train their dogs by rubbing their noses in their own excrement. This is cruel and pointless. By the time he is finished with his bowel movement, he has no clue why you’re doing this to him.
If you reinforce the right behavior, they’ll do it because they want to please you. Dogs are creatures of habit, and if you can get them to succeed — and reward their success — they’ll be more than happy to get it right in the future. With clicker training, the dog knows exactly what he’s being rewarded for — and so exactly what you want him to do.
Dogs want to have a designated area for their waste away from their living area, an instinctive desire they share with wolves in the wild. They are really on your side in this effort. Your dog really wants to please you. You can use clicker training to help make your dog a welcome companion around your house.
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