Potty Training

Article by Ahimsa Dog Training, Seattle

Whether you’re interested in potty training a puppy or an adult dog, the rules are the same. The main housetraining tips are: prevent mistakes through management, teach the adult dog or puppy to go potty outside on cue, and find a way for the dog to tell you it needs to go outside.

We’re potty training Puppy, not breaking her, so in this article, we’ll actually use the phrase “house training Puppy,” not “housebreaking Puppy.”

Certain dog breeds seem to be more of a potty training challenge. But whether your puppy or older dog is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, a yorkshire terrier, a shih tzu, or a labrador retriever, the principles are the same. Puppy potty training management is harder with the smaller breeds, like Italian Greyhounds, because they finish quickly and we don’t care as much when there’s just a small spot of pee on the floor!

Clicker training is a way to precisely tell the animal student, “I like that!” Clicker dog trainers use a marker of some sort - a word, a whistle, or a plastic box called a clicker that always signals to the dog that a high value reward is coming.  We can use the clicker for potty training your puppy or dog.

From the puppy potty training tips above, we know the puppy or older dog needs a way to get outside quickly. Say you don’t have a dog door and you want to clicker train your dog or puppy to ring a potty bell for house training. Puppies and dogs are great at this! Here’s one way:

  1. Prepare tiny food treats that can be swallowed quickly.
  2. Put the treats in a treat pouch or on a nearby counter.
  3. Have the clicker in your dominant hand - timing is everything!
  4. Put the potty bell out of sight - like behind your back.
  5. Show the potty bell to the puppy, close to, but not right at, his nose.
  6. When your puppy reaches toward the potty bell or touches it with her nose, click and then give her a treat. Try to avoid doing anything with the food until after the click. You have a few seconds to give her the treat. It’s click, THEN treat & praise. The timing of the click is more important than the timing of the food delivery afterwards, though you shouldn’t dally long.
  7. Put the bell behind your back as the dog eats.
  8. Repeat steps 5-7, gradually making the potty bell further away and clicking for more precise nose or foot touches. Louder bell rings get more treats.

Don’t do so many of these that your dog or puppy gets bored. Once she’s joyfully ringing the potty bell (after a few sessions), start putting the behavior on cue (”cue” is the positive dog training version of “command” and has a slightly different meaning).

Here’s how to put the potty bell ringing behavior on cue:

  1. When you know the puppy is going to ring the potty bell in the next second or two, say, “Bell,” or “Ring.” (pick one or something else of your own). The tone should be the same you might use for a child when you say, “Come to the table for dinner,” or “clean your room.” You can really use any tone you want, but the point here is that you don’t need a growly voice for this or any cues for your puppy.
  2. When the puppy rings the bell, click and treat as above.
  3. Gradually switch to a variable schedule of reinforcement - that is, sometimes praise, sometimes click and treat.

Once Puppy rings the potty bells on cue, hang the potty bells by the door and cue the puppy to ring them. Now, instead of feeding, the reward is that you take him/her outside, on leash, to go potty.  Have the leash on already when you put the bells on the door.

The bells are for Puppy’s potty training, not play, so go out for a few minutes or less, and if she potties, great! If she doesn’t, back inside.

Once she’s got that, cue her to ring the house training bell every time she goes outside to potty. Soon she’ll start ringing them on her own to say she needs to go out. For the first few weeks, take her outside whenever she rings the bell on her own. After a while, start to be selective about taking her out. If you think her bladder is empty, just say, “all gone” (which is what I use to politely deny requests from dogs or end a training session).

Happy house training! Now that she’ll ring bells, it’s a snap to clicker train your dog how to close cupboard doors, too!

Note: if you’re having problems potty training an older dog, please visit your veterinarian to check for a urinary tract infection or other physical problem! Potty training problems in adult dogs are often physical.

© 2008 Ahimsa Dog Training. Ahimsa strives to teach humane dog training methods in a compassionate and fun environment that is sensitive to canine and human needs.

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