Toilet training a puppy

By Sindhoor Pangal, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Jun 1, 2015, 09.10 PM IST

Toilet training puppies is the simplest in terms of technique, but the most demanding in terms of patience. It relies on some basic traits of a dog. A puppy, without any training, has some natural preferences when it comes to elimination. Puppies like porous surfaces to pee on. These include soil, grass, carpets, newspapers, mattresses, carpets etc. They also like to pee on familiar spots. So they will go back to the same spot over and over. Their pee timings are also largely predictable. They mostly pee after waking up, after meals and when excitement mounts during play. The trick to good toilet training is to use this knowledge to our advantage.

To start out, puppy-proof your house. Remove all porous surfaces. All carpets, rugs and mattresses go off the floor. The puppy's bed can stay. Puppies are wired not to pee where they sleep. That's nice, is it not?

Well, there is one exception to this rule - puppy-mill puppies. These puppies pee where they sleep because they were forced to do so in the early days. So they will take longer to get toilet trained. They have had it rough. Give such a puppy some extra love and care. Instead of expensive beds, give her a few cotton blankets. These can be washed when soiled. Do not reprimand. Just have patience. It will happen in due time.

Now keep a pee chart. Jot down when your puppy pees and where. Within a day or two, you will get a pretty good idea. Next, decide where you want your puppy to pee. Be practical. Now that you know how many times your puppy pees, pick a place that is accessible enough. A newspaper on a balcony or a bathroom may be ideal in apartments. Don't worry about graduating to the road. That will happen in due time. This is just for your little puppy with limited bladder control. Provide a porous surface in your designated puppy toilet. It can be a newspaper or a patch of grass or soil. But it has to be a porous surface. Some puppies insist it has to be dry. Most puppies insist it has to be stress free and excitement free. So roads are bad choices for most puppies anyways.

Armed with this plan, the next part is all patience and will work, based on how well you execute your plan. It could take a day, a week or a month. Watch your pup with a hawk eye. Sleep while you pup sleeps. Awake with your pup. When your expect your pup to pee, take her to her toilet. Wait for her to pee. When she does, throw her a "pee party". Celebrate. Give her treats. Praise her. Pet her calmly. Smile at her. Let her know she got it right.

When she has an accident, clean up the accident area with vinegar to neutralise the odour. Other floor cleaners do not do the job. And this part is important, DO NOTHING. I cannot overemphasise this part. Do nothing. No punishments, yelling "NO!", rolled-up newspapers, threats of hitting, tap on snout, rubbing nose in or reactions of any kind. The complete lack of reaction has to be in stark contrast to the exuberant reaction when she gets it right. Anything else and the technique fails. The brilliance of this technique lies in this stark contrast created in reactions and in providing them a favourable toilet space.

There is a reason I call it an accident and not a mistake. It really is an accident. Your puppy is a baby, still trying to figure out your rules. She is not making mistakes but is having trouble controlling her bladder. So have patience. She will learn. She wants to learn and please you. She loves you more than you can imagine. 

Building puppy bite inhibition

If you have a biting puppy ACT NOW! There is a lot of material on the internet on how to do it. I find this to be the best source for the method I have found most effective. And here's the deal - this is one of those areas where work has to start RIGHT NOW. I mean NOW!

Pick up a pen and paper. Read these suggestions actively. The author calls the 4Rs of this technique. Take notes. At each suggestion stop and ask yourself how you would do this with your dog. Write that down. Once you are done, go over your notes, repeat to yourself a few times. Make it your own '4R mantra'.

I am trying not to be prescriptive. However, I do want to emphasize that this needs to be addressed NOW and actively. By the time your puppy is ready for his next play session you need to be ready and armed. When you see him heading your way to play, repeat the '4R mantra' in your head and do it right. Do it right for every play session this evening. By tomorrow morning you should be doing much better. And the next day should be better. And the day after will be better till it's all good. You are then done. It might take a few days or a month. But if you do it right and your dog's health is holding up, you will be there sooner than you expect.

Pluto learning to develop a soft mouth.
It's work in progress, but we know we'll get there

So, here are the steps are I recommend. My source is Pat Miller's article in The Whole Dog Journal. But it's my own variation on the method.

Installing bite inhibition
In the best of all worlds, puppies initially learn bite inhibition while still with their mom and littermates, through negative punishment: the pup’s behavior makes a good thing go away. If a pup bites too hard while nursing, the milk bar is likely to get up and leave. Pups learn to use their teeth softly, if at all, if they want the good stuff to keep coming. As pups begin to play with each other, negative punishment also plays a role in bite inhibition. If you bite your playmate too hard, he’ll likely quit the game and leave.

For these reasons, orphan and singleton pups (as well as those who are removed from their litters too early) are more likely to have a “hard bite” (lack of bite inhibition) than pups who have appropriate interactions for at least seven to eight weeks with their mother and siblings. These dogs miss out on important opportunities to learn the consequences of biting too hard; they also fail to develop “tolerance for frustration,” since they don’t have to compete with littermates for resources. They may also be quicker to anger -and to bite without bite inhibition -if their desires are thwarted. Note: Being raised with their litter doesn’t guarantee good bite inhibition; some dogs have a genetic propensity to find hard biting (and its consequences) to be reinforcing; others may have had opportunity to practice and be reinforced for biting hard.

Your dog may never bite you in anger, but if he doesn’t have good bite inhibition you’re still likely to feel a hard bite when he takes treats from your fingers -and removes skin as well as the tasty tidbit.

If you find yourself with a puppy who, for whatever reason, tends to bite down harder than he should with those needle-sharp puppy teeth, you need to start convincing him that self-restraint is a desirable quality. You can’t start this lesson too early when it comes to putting canine teeth on human skin and clothes. Ideally, you want to teach your pup not to exert pressure when mouthing by the time he’s five months old, just as his adult canine teeth are coming in, and before he develops adult-dog jaw strength. Here are the four R’s of how to do it:

• Remove: When your puppy bites hard enough to cause you pain, say “Ouch!” in a calm voice, gently remove your body part from his mouth, and take your attention away from him for two to five seconds. You’re using negative punishment, just like the pup’s mom and littermates. If he continues to grab at you when you remove your attention, put yourself on the other side of a baby gate or exercise pen. When he is calm, re-engage with him.

• Repeat: Puppies (and adult dogs, and humans) learn through repetition. It will take time, and many repetitions of Step #1, for your pup to learn to voluntarily control the pressure of his bite. Puppies do have a very strong need to bite and chew, so at first you’ll “ouch and remove” only if he bites down hard enough to hurt you. Softer bites are acceptable -for now. If you try to stop all puppy biting at once, both of you will become frustrated. This is a “shaping” process (see “The Shape of Things to Come,” March 2006).  {Sindhoor: While I agree with this for normal cases, my article here is for extreme cases where intense help is required and it's not an option to tolerate any bites}

• Reinforce: Your pup wants good stuff to stick around. When he discovers that biting hard makes you (good stuff) go away, he’ll decrease the pressure of his bite and eventually stop biting hard. This works especially well if you remember to reinforce him with your attention when he bites gently. {Sindhoor: Removed content here as I feel your attention is sufficient reinforcement here} By the time he’s eight months old he should have learned not to put his mouth on humans at all, unless you decide to teach him to mouth gently on cue.

• Redirect: You probably are well aware that there are times when your pup is calmer and softer, and times when he’s more aroused and more likely to bite hard.

It’s always a good idea to have soft toys handy to occupy your pup’s teeth when he’s in a persistent biting mood. {Sindhoor: In India, due to the quality of stuffing in soft toys, I don't recommend that. I instead recommend other objects like coconuts, coconut twigs, jute ropes, cotton ropes, coir ropes, old cotton clothes, paper and objects of different textures that are safe for a puppy} If you know even before he makes contact with you that he’s in the mood for high-energy, hard biting, arm yourself with a few soft toys and offer them before he tries to maul your hands. If he’s already made contact, or you’re working on repetitions of Step #1, occasionally reinforce appropriate softer bites with a favorite squeaky toy play moment.

If there are children in the home with a mouthy puppy, it’s imperative that you arm them with soft toys and have toys easily available in every room of the house, so they can protect themselves by redirecting puppy teeth rather than running away and screaming -a game that most bitey pups find highly reinforcing.

It is possible to suppress a puppy’s hard biting by punishing him when he bites too hard. That might even seem like a quicker, easier way to get him to stop sinking his canine needles into your skin. However, by doing so, you haven’t taught him bite inhibition. If and when that moment comes where he really does feel compelled to bite someone, he’s likely to revert to his previous behavior and bite hard, rather than offering the inhibited bite you could have taught him.

 All my variations to the article are explained in notes that will look like {Sindhoor: Note}. For the full article, visit this page . However, please note that while I find it a good source to refer, I do not recommend the entire technique as is. I have a few variations that I recommend based on the cases I deal with, Indian conditions and my personal principles. 

Structure during puppyhood

Jul 01 2014 : Mirror (Bangalore)

We now have a fully functional crèche at our centre.Nishi, our boxer, is being the nanny and a good one too. But I must confess, I am exhausted. Having had only adult dogs for a while, having puppies around floods me back with memories of when Nishi was a pup. One might ask what the big deal about being around puppies is ­ after all it's all puppy play, is it not? Well, not really. This is a critical period in a dog's life. Many important lessons are learned during this period and laying the foundation right is critical. The puppy is learning everything from toilet training, bite inhibition, boundaries etc. And the one tool that will help you through all of it is ­ structure.
That's right ­ structure is critical in a puppy's day. The puppy should wake up at the same time every day. Have his meal and water at the same time. Have his potty break at the same time. And play too should be at a scheduled time. For example, at our crèche, the puppies come in and are immediately confined in the pee-pen.

As soon as they are done, they all get to play for half an hour. They get to drink water at this time. The play is supervised closely.This is important as not all puppies have the same appetite for rough play.Some pups might need to gain confidence at their own pace and might want to hide behind you till they are ready to head out for play. It's important to give that protec tion to the pup and let him venture out at their own pace. This gives the pup confidence that if at any point he wants to back out of the play, he has a choice. “Choices“ are key in confidencebuilding exercises. As a puppy explores the sounds and shapes around his world, some things may scare him. But to have the choice to run indoors or into his crate and venture out when he feels like it is the best way to give your pup the space to build his confidence and personality.

After half an hour of play, all the pups are forced to have naps. Pups need a lot of sleep. Grown adult healthy dogs need about sixteen hours of sleep a day. Puppies need a lot more.Being in the company of other pups excites them too much and they don't sleep enough. It's important to impose structure ­ mandatory nap time.

Mandatory nap times also give them alone time. A puppy needs to start learning this early, as there will come a day that you will have to leave the pup alone at home for a few hours.You don't want the puppy to completely freak out. So start by walking away during nap time. Take short breaks ­ starting with perhaps taking a shower or going into the kitchen. Then step out for 15 minutes or so. Slowly increase that. Soon enough, your puppy will be more than happy to be left home alone during nap time.

At our crèche, the puppies are all fed at the same time.Once they are fed, about twenty minutes after their meal, they will need to relieve themselves. Back to the pee-pen. Free play is a privilege for puppies at this point. They are given only after they have relieved themselves. Most of the other time, the pups have to be confined, to avoid accidents all over the house.

During play, it's important to mix puppy-puppy play and puppy-dog play. An older dog is a good mentor. Older dogs teach pups boundaries, bite inhibition, dog language and dog manners. All of this is next to impossible for humans to teach dogs. As my teacher puts it, no human can raise a perfect dog.Only a dog can raise a perfect dog. So having a mature, gentle adult around teaches the puppy several life lessons.

As you can see, raising a puppy needs constant supervision for the first few months, even during play. The puppy needs gradual exposure to many new situations ­ dealing with people, dogs, pups, sounds and sights. The puppy needs reassurance when he asks for it. And he needs structure to reduce confusion on what is expected of him during the day.