Wee Wee Pad Training

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Paper Training is perfect for apartment dwellers and very small dogs whose owners would prefer to not have to walk their dogs.

I remember one of my clients in Palm Beach had a Havanese.  We pad trained her puppy from the beginning and was doing very well. She called me one day panicked because she was heading to Paris and was concerned that during her stay at the luxurious Hotel Plaza Athénée her puppy would have an accident, quite a faux pas, to say the least.  HOwever, she called me once she arrived ecstatic that her puppy held it the entire flight, which I am certain was a first class trip, to tell me that as soon as she arrived in her room she put that day’s issue down of Le Monde and he went right on the paper.  She jokingly said, “My Cuban dog doesn’t even speak French, we trained him in English and he pees on French papers.  I think my friends back in Palm Beach would approve but what do you think the French would say?”  I told her not to tell them.

Many owners make the mistake of starting their dog on pads when they really intend to housetrain their dog.  I recommend that you make a decision day one as to whether you want a housetrained-one that goes outside, or a pad trained dog.  Pad training can be easier to implement but don’t decide half way through that you really want to housetrain your dog.

Dog training is not complicated and pad training is probably the simplest part of training your puppy.  Like all training, I like to keep it simple.

You want to find a small area in your home.  A small bathroom is ideal.  Lay on the floor, wall to wall, pads. Pick one small spot for your puppy’s bed as well as food and water.  This way your puppy only has a place to lay down, eat and drink in a very specific spot and only ha the opportunity to go to the bathroom on the pads.  It impossible for the puppy to go to the bathroom anywhere else because you will keep a baby gate up across the doorway to the bathroom.  This way you set the dog up for complete success without the chance of accidents.  

Each week you will make the padded area smaller and smaller by lifting up one pad.  This the give the dog less area t relieve himself, while keeping the same amount of area for rest and eating but it also leaves a small amount of flooring available for the puppy.   If your dog has an accident, meaning he goes tot he bathroom on the spot where there is no pad, you will want to put a pad back down to make the potty area larger.  It is a good idea that when you see your dog circling around looking for a spot, to repeatedly say, “go potty”, “do your business” or whatever it is you want to use as the verbal command.

Many time people will want to give the dog a treat as soon as it goes, research has shown that this is not necessary.      Going to the bathroom is self-rewarding behavior. Just as when human go to the bathroom, they feel better from having gone.    You can reward the dog by giving it lots of love and praise.  Give it some playtime to run around the house for short periods of time, no more than approximately 15 minutes.  

As your puppy progresses and becomes more reliable when using the pads, you can slowly build up the amount of free time the puppy gets.  However you don’t’ want to jump a huge amount of time free.  Build it up slowly, 15 minutes, 25 minutes, and 40 minutes.  Just because you dog has been doing well, you don’t want to give it 15 minutes this week and then 40 minutes next week.  If you rush the process, you will have more problems and take two steps forward and one step back

As your puppy continues to progress in the training, and you make the padded area smaller, you will be giving the puppy more frequent periods of free time, not just longer periods of free time. 

Be consistent and keep it simple and before you know it, you will have a pad trained dog.

Crates or Shall We Call it The Puppy Bedroom?

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YOUR PUPPY’S BEDROOM

        The crate is the most important piece of equipment, next to the leash.  The crate becomes the dog’s home. It is a safe place and the most helpful tool when it comes to house training.  It keeps the puppy from getting into trouble around the house, stops accidents from occurring and another important thing that many people fail to consider is that if your puppy is ever hospitalized they will be placed in a crate for their safety. If they are not use to the crate, they will become very stressed and that hospital stay becomes more difficult for your dog.  So it is important to allow them to become use to the crate.  You can keep their bed and toys in there. It is their safe space, just like having your own bedroom as a child.

        The two most popular crates are the wire crate and the airline crate.  There are advantages to each and the differences in price is negligible.

        The wire crate is foldable and easy to store or transport even when empty because it folds flat.  It can also be much lighter in weight than the plastic style airline crate.

The wire crate is open and some people feel better having their dog in something that is “open” and that the dog can see what is going on around them.  Many crates today are very cost effective because they often come with a divider which enables you to make it as small as necessary when it is a young puppy and as the puppy grows in size, you can make it bigger.

        Many people mistakenly put the small puppy in a large crate but that creates house training issues which will be discussed in chapter three.

        If you are prefer the wire crate the best one to get is one that has a divider and then purchase one that will fit your puppy when they are fully grown.

        The other option is an airline crate.  If you are purchasing your dog from a  breeder who  will be shipping the puppy to you, you will most likely receive the appropriate sized crate for the puppy when he arrives.  As long as the crate is not over sized, meaning it is not very roomy, you can use the same crate for house training.

        The advantage of the airline crate is the fact that you will always have it should the need arise for you to fly with your dog.

        Many people like the airline crate because it offers a cool, warm, dark area, is easy to clean and since it is made of a heavy duty plastic when the dog moves around in it, it is not as noisy as a wire crate.  The enclosed crate also stays very cool on warm days.

        The down side of the airline crate is that should you decide to stop using it for a period of time, it is not as easy to store as a wire crate.  It is recommended that you never get rid of your crate permanently as you never know when you will need to use it again.  Always keep in mind the ability to store your crate when deciding whether or not to get an airline type crate or a wire style crate.