Having a new puppy is an exciting time but there are also some downsides. Having to house train your puppy is definitely a downside although it must be done from early on if you’re to have the best chance of training your dog correctly. Dog training pads are a great way of house training a dog although they are only one method. In this article I’ll be talking about the basic steps for training your dog.

To start with your puppy will probably go to the toilet in the house in the same place. You shouldn’t tell your dog off – it doesn’t know any better. That’s why your using the puppy training pads after all! When you find out where your dog is starting to go everyday you can put the pad there. When the dog goes to the toilet on the pad make sure you praise him so that he knows that it’s the right thing to do.

Next, every time the dog goes to the toilet you should start to move the pad away and closer to the door. As you do this the dog should always go on the pad and you should praise him every time he does. At this point you should be only praising your dog if it goes onto the pad.

Eventually you’ll get to the door and you can start to put the pad outside. You’ll start to realise when the dog or puppy needs the toilet so you can move the pad before he goes. Once the dog starts to go outside you should praise him whether he goes onto the pad or not –after all you want him to know that anywhere outside is OK.

Once you’ve got this far you’re nearly there! Leave the pad outside (although you need to make sure it is secured down). Try to get the pad to an area of the garden where you want the dog to go to the toilet – leaving it right outside the back door probably isn’t a good idea.

Once your dog has learnt to be potty trained you can then get rid of the pad altogether. By this point he should know the he should only go to the toilet outside.

Remember, the key to using a dog training pad effectively is praise not negative feedback. Let your dog know when he’s doing something well and you’ll find the process much easier than if you try and punish the dog. Remember that when you first get the dog he doesn’t know where he should go to the toilet – it is your responsibility to train him; you shouldn’t have expectations of getting a trained puppy when you buy it!

If you are having problems with your puppy biting too much then you should know that this is natural for a puppy. However training puppies not to bite is important as even though they might not be doing any damage now when they get to be older they need to know that biting is not acceptable. Many of the techniques people try to use to train puppies not to bite are ineffective though so in this guide I’ll talk about a few different methods and techniques for training a puppy not to bite. You should definitely be aware that it is vital to train puppy not to bite for future years. (more…)