As with younger dogs and puppies, getting the right tips out there to potty train your dog is essential to maintain a clean and mess free household for yourself, as well as making sure your lovable pooch knows exactly where to go when it has to relieve itself. Here are a few tips to help get to that point of fully potty trained! In many plush cities, such as Perth in Australia, potty training is an essential pet care task as you may not have enough space in the house and a messy pet can be quite a nuisance.
- Choose a designated spot outside where you want your dog to go. This may be in a specific point of your backyard, a certain tree or a patch of grass. You need to make sure you take your dog to this spot after each time it eats or drinks and maintain consistency in your choice of where it goes. Ensure you reward your dog too after each time it successfully relieves itself as this is the best way to stop dog peeing just anywhere at home.
- Make sure you do not clean up the mess straight away if the dog goes correctly in the area you have directed it too. The dog needs to know where is the right area to go too and will soon understand if its previous business stays there for a bit. Make sure you do the opposite though if your dog relieves itself in an incorrect area. This is especially true if your pet relieves at dog crate.
- As with making sure your dog goes to the same area, make sure you also use the same words when each time when it comes to doing your dogs business. Such words as ‘outside’ and ‘toilet’ can help your dog maintain a sense of consistency, in much the same way you would if you were teaching your pooch to sit.
- As you are aware of, dogs have a keen sense of smell. This must be taken into account when your dog goes in the wrong spot, so make sure you thoroughly eliminate all traces of urine or poo odours if your dog goes somewhere you don’t want it too so you can avoid any repeats.
- Dogs sometimes have accidents in their sleep and will want to relieve themselves where they rest at night. Make sure this isn’t possible by not providing space for them to go in the area they sleep in at night.
- Try to curb the times you feed your dog. Attempt to feed it during the afternoon instead of night time, so that you provide a long enough time between meal and sleep so that it won’t feel the need to go in the middle of the night where you might not be quick enough in getting up to clean after it if you miss the chance to take it outside!
- Speedy time and recovery is essential in taking your dog to the right area to let it do its business. Waiting too long could mean the difference in cleaning up after your dog in a spot you don’t want it to go!
These are just some dog training ideas to help train your older dog to go outside and avoid any unpleasant discoveries inside the house. With these tips in mind, make sure you keep up with the training and allow yourself time and practice to get it right!
Some students opt for a dog sitter’s job while staying for free at their pet owner’s house. If dog sitters are wanted at home, especially if you are not able to train your pet or leaving for a vacation without your pet, you can opt for a dog trainer cum sitter to train and groom your dog.
