House training can be a stressful experience for both puppy and owner, pooping in the house is obviously an undesirable behavior which owners are always keen to resolve as quickly as possible.
Natural body excretions are not repulsive to dogs in the same way they are to humans. However, dogs are naturally clean animals and will prefer not to foul their sleeping or eating areas, which makes them easy to train with a little patience and understanding.
It is important to remember that puppies won’t immediately differentiate between indoors and outdoors, so if your puppy’s normal place to sleep and eat is in the kitchen, your puppy may think it’s just as convenient to go to the bathroom in the front room as it is the garden. This is especially true if the weather outside is cold and wet.
Similarly, once your puppy has learnt the place to go is the garden, they don’t necessarily understand that they are also allowed to use other outside areas. It is common for young puppies to hold on for a whole walk and quickly rush to the garden on their return in order to relieve themselves!
When working out a house training regime you need to look at both practicability and effectiveness. Ask yourself, which method will work in our house? What would work best with our family routine?
Here are two popular methods of house training and their advantages and disadvantages. It is up to you to choose the regime that is going to work best for you and your individual situation.
- Pad method
- Crate method
You can also check out some of the basic Do’s and Don’ts of house training here