Is house training your dog a necessity?
Every pet parent knows that bringing your newest edition to the family home is always a life changing experience.
Starting a new journey with a new best friend is something every new owner looks forward to, but what some new pet parents may not know, is that a simple thing like housebreaking, or potty-training, is a huge deal in the beginning!
Some owners expect that their dog will know to just “GO” outside, however, that is not the case. Expectations such as this leads to many common misunderstandings among the new pet parent community.
A lot of the time, we allow our new pet to have a lot of free range around the house in the beginning of our time together, but when we leave the house for the first few times, we expect the same good behavior from our pups.
Often, though, new dogs may have accidents in the house while we’re gone, and it usually gets misconstrued as them being upset that we left, and that they did it out of spite. If we take a step back and look at this scenario from our dog’s perspective it can be seen in a totally different light. To them, being left alone means one thing: no rules. Without our guidance, our new pups do not know right from wrong, by no fault of their own.
This is where house training your dog helps.
There is nobody to correct bad behavior, so mistakes will most likely be made. By implementing a few simple rules to follow when we are home, and giving a bit less free range when we aren’t home, we can create a general understanding of what is and is not acceptable, no matter what the scenario.
Our Job as Pet Parents:
Our main job as pet parents is to teach our dogs what is and is not allowed.
House training your dog helps you implement rules in a way that your pup can understand what is expected of them, and help to create a trusting bond between us. Dogs are creatures of habit by nature, so creating a set routine for them is key when house-breaking.
Guidelines to Follow:
- Crate training is a great way to properly manage your dog’s concept of space when trying to reduce accidents in your home.
- Implement strong habits and routines by making a walk schedule.
- Reward heavily when your dog does relieve itself in the right space.
- Never punish your dog for an accident made in the past. Wait until you catch them in the act, and relocate them to the proper area to go.
- Remember: no matter what age, size, background, or breed, training is always possible with time and patience!
The name of the game is preparation so accident don’t happen. If they do, show them the right way in a positive manner!
For more information on potty-training and more, click here to contact us.
