Toilet training your Great Dane
Toilet training your puppy should
be quite a simple process, as long as you take the time and trouble to get into
a good routine.
Initially, you will have to build your routine around your
puppy's needs, and these are reliably predictable when they are very young.
Puppies need to urinate immediately after waking up, so you need to be there to
take your puppy straight into the garden without any delay.
Eating its meal
stimulates its digestive system, and puppies normally urinate within fifteen
minutes of eating, and defecate within half an hour of eating (although this
might vary slightly with each individual).
Puppies have very poor bladder
control, and need to urinate at least every hour or two. They can urinate spontaneously
when they get excited, so take your puppy out frequently if it has been active,
playing or exploring.
You may find it useful to keep a record of when your
puppy eats sleeps, urinates and defecates. A simple diary list will do. Repeat
cue words like 'wee wees' and 'poo poos' or 'be busy' and 'be clean' while the
puppy is actually urinating or defecating. Use different words for each action
so that you will be able to prompt the puppy later on.
Always go with your
puppy into the garden so you are there to reward and attach the cue words to
the successful actions! Fortunately, puppies are creatures of habit, so as long
as you introduce the garden to your puppy as its toilet area early on, you
should be able to avoid most of the common pitfalls.
I don’t recommend the puppy pads
either because you are actually teaching your puppy to pee or poo inside and
giving confused messages.
Also never ever lift your pup for
one at 6 months you wont be able to but because the dog is training your not
the other way about.
common errors
Unfortunately there are many
reasons why 'toilet training' might not go as smoothly as it could, so make
sure you do not make any of the following mistakes:
• Over-feeding.
• Feeding an unsuitable diet or giving a variety of
foods.
• Not feeding at regular times.
• Feeding at the wrong times (which could cause
overnight defecation).
• Punishing the puppy for its indoor accidents (which
can make it scared of toileting in front of you - even outside).
• Feeding salty foods (e.g. stock from cubes) which
makes them drink more.
• Using ammonia based cleaning compounds (which smell
similar to urine).
• Expecting the puppy to tell you when it needs to go
out; this is unrealistic, so it is better to take them out at regular
intervals.
• Leaving the back door open for the puppy to come and
go as it pleases (a puppy will think that the garden is an adventure
playground, rather than a toilet area. Also, what is a puppy meant to do when
the weather gets cold, and it is faced with a closed back door?).
• Leaving the puppy on its own too long, so that it is
forced to go indoors (which sets a bad precedent, or even a habit of going
indoors).
• Mistakenly associating the words 'good girl' or 'good
boy' when they toilet, as opposed to the specific cue words. Guess what could
happen the next time you praise your dog?
• Access to rugs or carpet (which are nice and absorbent
- just like grass).
• Laziness on your part, resulting in more wees indoors
than outdoors.
• Leaving the puppy alone in the garden, so you are not
there to reward it for going outdoors… how is it meant to learn that it is more
popular and advantageous going outdoors, if you are not there to show your
approval?
• Submissive or excited urination on greeting (if this
occurs, take your puppy outside before you greet it and tone down your greeting
so it is less exciting or overwhelming).
• It is unfair to expect your puppy to go right through
the night when it is very young.
• Sleeping the puppy in a crate or puppy pen can help
with house training but you should let it out in the garden to relieve itself
during the night.
How to teach your puppy
to toilet out on a walk
Many owners appear disappointed
that their young puppy will not toilet when out on a walk, yet relieves itself
the second it gets back home. This is because the puppy has been taught to
toilet only at home (hopefully in its garden), and being creatures of habit,
they often wait until they have returned home before evacuating their bladder
and/ or bowels.
To break this habit, you will have to get up very early one
morning (when you have plenty of time), and get your puppy out on a walk before
it has had its morning wee. You should not bring it home until it has been
forced to go out of desperation. If however, you are unsuccessful, and your
puppy has not toileted, then take it immediately into the garden on your
return, or you risk it relieving itself indoors.
