How Troti was potty trained

We started seriously thinking about that after Troti repeatedly did his no.1 on my beautiful carpet. No.2 was always outside, but no.1 inside most of the times. So what did I do? It was a 4 step process:

1.      Whenever he did no.1 outside we made a shhhh noise for him to get the reflex and associate the action with the noise; this took about 2 weeks;

2.      Whenever he did no.1 inside we told him "No” in an angry voice and always stopped him from doing it;

3.      We bought special sand used for pets and placed it in a large box in a fix location in one corner of the room that was more quiet and intimate;

4.      On the D day we gave him lots of water to drink and lots of play and exercise inside the house in order to make him drink even more. When I thought he had enough, I placed him on the box in the sand and waited while repeating the shhh sound to him over and over again to remind him it was time to do no.1. He wanted to get off the box and each time he did that I stopped him and put him back repeating the shhhh sound. I also gave him water again from time to time to make sure he would have to do no.1 at some point :) It took us 45 minutes and he finally did it. My husband and I then told him "Good boy" and hugged him and told him "yes, yes" and "bravo" so many times that he got the idea that the box is the correct place for him to do no.1. 30 minutes later he was doing it again in the exact box by himself.

Of course we still had some accidents later on a few times, but each time he got the firm "No", that after lets say a month he was using the box only. This was happening when he was about 5 months old. Now, at 11 months old he no longer does neither no.1 nor no.2 inside the house even if we leave him alone for 8-9 hours. Hes old enough to hold it until we come home.

So, no matter how desperate the situation is at first, dont despair (like we did :)). Theres always a solution and things tend to fix themselves as the dog grows.

Take care,

Geo


After this post I received a comment on LinkedIn from Mr.Roger Bernard - dog training specialist telling me that this is not a correct way to train a dog. I accepted his observations and place them here for everybody to avoid doing the same mistakes:

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LinkedIn Groups

Group: K9 Networking Discussion: How our Troti was potty trained - practical guide :) Dear Georgiana, This information is being given to you with respect and guidance. I was pleased to hear you are not a professional trainer which explains some of your misconceptions. 1. Most dogs can be house trained within 2 - 4 days. Your method took weeks. 2. The shhh sound you made has no connection to how a mother dog would have taught her puppy not to soil in or around the den. I am going to assume you were looking at the puppy while you gave the shhh sound, It is best not look directly at a dog whenever you are giving a correction or command; especially when house training because an angry look from its master can cause some dogs to tighten their bladder or anal muscles and then wait until the perceived danger has passed to eliminate. 3. The word "no" has a long vowel sound. Dogs are more likely to interpret this sound as a howl. Howling helps dogs/wolves to locate one another. You also indicated that when you said the word you let the dog/puppy know you were angry. That must have been confusing for you pet. In the future use the word "now" or "enough" which give the human voice a natural growling sound and down-ward cadence. 4. Placing a sandbox in your home, or pee-pee pads teaches a dog to eliminate in the home. Again, that must have been very confusing for your puppy. 5. Over taxing a puppy with water and then following -up with exercise to induce it to urinate could be thought by some as a form of abuse. Forcing the puppy to remain in his sandbox for 45 minutes until it eliminated is a form of animal abuse. I am sure you are a caring person, a dog lover and an animal enthusiast and just wanted to share your success story with others, but sometimes the methods some dog owners (non-professionals) use to train their dogs either defies logic or canine common sense. In my book I devoted 15 pages to teach dog owners a safe and successful way to house train their canine companions. Unfortunately, this venue does not allow me to expound further on those methods. Please do not take my comments to heart, but reconsider some of the methods you are promoting. I look forward to future communications with you." Posted by Roger Bernard

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