The first area of dog training many people want to imprint on their dogs is house training. The key to good dog training is to be patient and consistent. Some experts recommend offering treats to your dog when the animal behaves well but this isn’t absolutely necessary. For the purposes of house training you can begin by taking the dog outside after eating, after it wakes and after playtime. Then it’s simply a matter of supervising your dog and waiting for it to poop or pee (wait for 10-15 minutes to see if your dog needs to go and if it it doesn’t then you can go back inside). If your dog does poop or pee than use a command word like “toilet” and scoop up and dispose of the mess. If your dog poops or pees indoors then scoop up the mess and take it outside. You must drill or repeat the command word into the dog whenever it poops or pees outside and when this happens, you can reward the dog with lots of praise and affection or treats. After a while whenever you go outside and say the command word your dog will do its business almost immediately and the house training process will have been imprinted successfully. A similar method of using command words and positive reinforcement is recommended for teaching the puppy to come, stay, sit etc.
When to start dog training?
Remember also that it’s never too early to start the dog training and you’d be amazed how quickly your puppy will pick things up. The dog training sessions should not be overly complicated and their duration should not exceed half an hour. Keep things short and sweet and make sure that the lesson is easily understood by your dog and most importantly you should frequently repeat the drill until it becomes second nature to your dog to behave in the way you wish.
