Crate Training
copyright 1995 - 2002 Bohnenkamp, Perfect Paws
Crate training is one of the most efficient and effective ways to train a dog. The single most important aspect
of training is that you reward and praise your dog each and every time she does the right thing. For example:
praise her when she chews her own toys instead of the couch or eliminates outside instead of in the house.
The more time you spend with your dog, the quicker and easier it will be to train her.
The key to housetraining is to establish a routine that increases the chances that your dog will eliminate in the
right place in your presence, so that she can be praised and rewarded; and decreases the chances that your
dog will eliminate in the wrong place so that she will not develop bad habits.
It is important that you make provisions for your dog when you are not home. Until your dog is housetrained,
she should not be allowed free run of your house. Otherwise, she will develop a habit of leaving piles and
puddles anywhere and everywhere. Confine her to a small area such as a kitchen, bathroom or utility room
that has water/stain resistant floors. Confinement is NOT crate training.
What is Crate Training?
Crate training is one of the most efficient and effective ways to housetrain a dog. Dogs do not like to soil their
resting/sleeping quarters if given adequate opportunity to eliminate elsewhere. Temporarily confining your
dog to a small area strongly inhibits the tendency to urinate and defecate. However, there is still a far more
important aspect of crate training.
If your dog does not eliminate while she is confined, then she will need to eliminate when she is released, i.e.,
she eliminates when you are present to reward and praise her.
Be sure to understand the difference between temporarily confining your dog to a crate and long term
confinement when you are not home. The major purpose of confinement when your are not home is to
restrict mistakes to a small protected area. The purpose of crate training is quite the opposite. Short term
confinement to a crate is intended to inhibit your dog from eliminating when confined, so that she will want to
eliminate when released from confinement and taken to an appropriate area. Crate training also helps teach
your dog to have bladder and bowel control. Instead of going whenever she feels like it, she learns to hold it
and go at convenient scheduled times.
Crate training should not be abused, otherwise the problem will get drastically worse. The crate is not
intended as a place to lock up the dog and forget her for extended periods of time. If your dog soils her crate
because you left her there too long, the housetraining process will be set back several weeks, if not months.
Your dog should only be confined to a crate when you are at home. Except at night, give your dog an
opportunity to relieve herself every hour. Each time you let her out, put her on leash and immediately take
her outside. Once outside, give her about three to five minutes to produce. If she does not eliminate within
the allotted time period, simply return her to her crate. If she does perform, then immediately reward her
with praise, food treats, affection, play, an extended walk and permission to run around and play in your
house for a couple of hours. For young pups, after 45 minutes to an hour, take her to her toilet area again.
Never give your dog free run of your home unless you know without a doubt that her bowels and bladder are
empty.
During this crate training procedure, keep a diary of when your dog eliminates. If you have her on a regular
feeding schedule, she should soon adopt a corresponding elimination schedule. Once you know what time of
day she usually needs to eliminate, you can begin taking her out only at those times instead of every hour.
After she has eliminated, she can have free, but supervised, run of your house. About one hour before she
needs to eliminate (as calculated by your diary) put her in her crate. This will prevent her from going earlier
than you had planned. With your consistency and abundance of rewards and praise for eliminating outside,
she will become more reliable about holding it until you take her out. Then the amount of time you confine her
before her scheduled outing can be reduced and eliminated.
Mistakes and Accidents
If you ever find an accident in the house, just clean it up. Do not punish your dog. All this means is that you
have given her unsupervised access to your house too soon. Until she can be trusted, don't give her
unsupervised free run of your house.If mistakes and accidents occur, it is best to go back to the crate
training. You need to more accurately predict when your dog needs to eliminate and she needs more time to
develop bladder and bowel control.
House training Your Young Puppy
copyright 1995 - 2002 Bohnenkamp, Perfect Paws
The quickest and easiest way to housetrain your puppy is to rely on your puppy's natural instincts and
behavior.
What To Expect
Unless you can monitor your puppy 24 hours a day, don't expect your puppy to be completely housetrained
until he is at least 6 months old. It's normal for young pups to be little 'input-output' machines. Since they are
growing and developing rapidly at this stage, they eat more food, burn up more energy and seem to need to
eliminate constantly! They also have not yet developed bowel and bladder control, so they can't 'hold it' as
long as adult dogs.
When You Are Not Home
Confine your puppy to a small, 'puppy-proofed' room and paper the entire floor. Put his bed, toys and
food/water bowls there. At first there will be no rhyme or reason to where your pup eliminates. He will go
every where and any where. He will also probably play with the papers, chew on them, and drag them around
his little den. Most puppies do this and you just have to live with it. Don't get upset, just accept it as life with a
young puppy. The important thing is that when you get home, clean up the mess and lay down fresh papers.
Passive Training
While your puppy is confined, he is developing a habit of eliminating on paper because no matter where he
goes, it will be on paper. As time goes on, he will start to show a preferred place to do his business. When this
place is well established and the rest of the papers remain clean all day, then gradually reduce the area that is
papered. Start removing the paper that is furthest away from his chosen location. Eventually you will only
need to leave a few sheets down in that area only. If he ever misses the paper, then you've reduced the area
too soon. Go back to papering a larger area or even the entire room. Once your pup is reliably going only on
the papers you've left, then you can slowly and gradually move his papers to a location of your choice. Move
the papers only an inch a day. If he misses the paper again, then you're moving too fast. Go back a few steps
and start over. Don't be discouraged if your puppy seems to be making remarkable progress and then
suddenly you have to return to papering the entire room. This is normal. There will always be minor set-backs.
If you stick with this procedure, your puppy will be papertrained.
When You Are Home
When you are home but can't attend to your puppy, follow the same procedures described above. But the
more time you spend with your pup, the quicker he will be housetrained.Your objective is to take your puppy
to his toilet area every time he needs to eliminate. This should be about once every 45 minutes; just after a
play session; just after eating or drinking; and just upon waking. When he does eliminate in his toilet area,
praise and reward him profusely and enthusiastically! Don't use any type of reprimand or punishment for
mistakes or accidents. Your puppy is too young to understand and it can set the housetraining process back
drastically.Don't allow your puppy freedom outside of his room unless you know absolutely for sure that his
bladder and bowels are completely empty. When you do let him out, don't let him out of your sight. It is a
good idea to have him on leash when he is exploring your home. He can't get into trouble if you are attached
to the other end of the leash.Every 30 minutes return your pup to his toilet area. As your puppy becomes
more reliable about using his toilet area and his bowel and bladder control develops, he can begin to spend
more time outside his room with you in the rest of your home. Begin by giving him access to one room at a
time. Let him eat, sleep and play in this room but only when he can be supervised. When you cannot supervise
him, put him back in his room.
Active Training
The most important thing you can do to make housetraining happen as quickly as possible is to reward and
praise your puppy every time he goes in the right place. The more times he is rewarded, the quicker he will
learn. Therefore it's important that you spend as much time as possible with your pup and give him regular
and frequent access to his toilet area.
Key to Success
Consistancy and Patience. Never scold or punish your puppy for mistakes and accidents. The older your pup
gets, the more he will be able to control his bladder and bowels. Eventually your pup will have enough control
that he will be able to "hold it" for longer and longer periods of time. Let your puppy do this on his own time.
When training is rushed, problems usually develop. Don't forget, most puppies are not reliably housetrained
until they are 6 months old.
Housetraining Tips for Your New Puppy
by Gwen Bohnenkamp, copyright 1995-2002
Establishing good habits early on in housetraining your puppy is critical. If you allow your puppy to eliminate
everywhere and anywhere he wants in your home, you will end up with an adult dog who will always have a
tendency to want to eliminate in your home. You will have to live with it forever, or go through some
time-consuming, tedious retraining later on. A dog is either housetrained or it isn't. There is no such thing as
weekly 'accidents.' A truly housetrained dog will NEVER eliminate in your house unless forced to do so or
because of illness. Don't expect your puppy to be reliably housetrained until it is at least 6 months old. Your
puppy's early toilet habits are critical.
DO
-Provide constant access to the toilet area. If you are home, take your puppy there every 45 minutes.
If you are not home or cannot tend to the puppy, then you must make sure he cannot make a mistake. It's
actually not really a mistake because he doesn't know any better. With young puppies, when the urge comes,
they go - it usually doesn't matter where they are or what they are doing. If we didn't put diapers on human
babies, they too would be soiling our carpets and floors. Confine your puppy to a dog-proofed area and line
the entire floor with papers. If the weather is nice, the area safe, etc, you can confine the pup to a small pen
outside. Don't leave your pup out in the sun, wind, heat or cold. Be sure to provide shelter and water in the
confinement area. It's ideal if the pen is set up on dirt, grass, gravel or concrete. The idea is that no matter
where the puppy eliminates while confined, it is on something that resembles his toilet area. Your goal is to
never allow your puppy to eliminate on carpet, tile, hardwood, or anything that resembles the flooring in your
home. Once a habit is established, it is difficult to break, therefore, do not let your pup form bad habits in the
first place.
-Praise and reward your puppy each and everytime possible for eliminating in his toilet area.
-Feed your puppy at regular times. What goes in on schedule will come out on schedule.
-Use a crate to help your puppy develop self control. Confine him for gradually increasing periods of time
when you are home to monitor him.
-Be patient. It can take until the dog is 6 months old for him to be housetrained.
DON'T
-Do not reprimand your puppy for mistakes. Reprimand has no place in housetraining.
-Do not leave food and water out all day and night for your puppy to eat and drink at whim. Use some
common sense here. Obviously if the weather is hot, it is appropriate to give the pup access to water, but if
this is the case, then you need to be more alert to the possibility of the pup needing to urinate more
frequently.
-Do not allow your pup to eliminate anywhere other than his toilet area.
-Do not give your puppy free unattended run of your house.
Jumping Up
copyright 1995 - 2002 Bohnenkamp, Perfect Paws
Jumping up can be dangerous as well as annoying. Just as many owners are sued for their jumping dogs as
their biting dogs. Young children and elderly people can easily be toppled over and seriously injured by
exuberant, friendly dogs. Start now to teach your puppy not to jump up. Even little dogs can cause problems
and injury to themselves and others when they leap and jump around.
DO
-Gently and repetitively place puppy's feet back on the floor and reward him there.
-Be consistent.
-Get down to his level to give affection and attention.
DON'T
-Do not allow the pup to jump up. Do not pet, talk, cuddle or reward him for jumping.
-Do not give in!
-Do not allow other people to let him jump on them.
-Do not give up!
Puppy Chewing
copyright 1995 - 2002 Bohnenkamp, Perfect Paws
Prevent puppy from chewing and destroying your house and belongings by providing proper training and chew
toys. Afterall, chewing and playtime are part of normal puppy growth and development.
DO
-Provide several of a variety of toys for your puppy.
-Teach your puppy to play with these toys.
-Praise puppy every time you see him chewing or playing with his toys on his own.
-Teach your puppy to get a toy to greet you. Each time your pup runs up to greet you or anyone else,
encourage him to find and get a toy. All humans, especially the owners should always be greeted by a dog
with toy in mouth.
-Any area that the pup has access to must be kept clear and clean. Put out of puppy's reach anything you
don't want him to chew or destroy, such as trash, shoes, hazards, etc. Your dog does not know what is
valuable or dangerous and what is not.
-If you find your puppy with your best shoe in mouth, distract him away from it and replace the shoe with one
of his toys. Praise him for chewing his toy. Do not reprimand him for chewing your shoe. Reprimand yourself
for leaving it out where he could find it.
-Booby traps items and articles to show your puppy that these things are no fun to chew, in fact, they are an
annoyance even to touch.
DON'T
-Do not allow unsupervised access to 'unchewables.'
-Do not chase the puppy in an attempt to take something away.
-Do not reprimand excessively. A verbal warning should be enough. A loud startling noise is even better. It
gets the puppy's attention without the puppy associating it with you. As soon as the puppy is distracted, show
him what to chew and praise him for chewing it.
Important Socialization and Puppy Training
Pointers for New Puppy Owners
By Gwen Bohnenkamp, copyright 1995-2002
Do's and Don'ts
Socialization and puppy training is of utmost importance since puppyhood is the most important and critical
time for your dog's development. What you do and do not do right now will affect your dog's behavior forever.
Socialization
A properly socialized dog is well adjusted and makes a good companion. It is neither frightened by nor
aggressive towards anyone or anything it would normally meet in day to day living. An unsocialized dog is
untrustworthy and an unwanted liability. They often become fear-biters. Often they like to fight with other
dogs. They are difficult to train and are generally unpleasant to be around. Unsocialized dogs cannot adapt to
new situations and a simple routine visit to the vet is a nightmare not only for the dog itself, but for everyone
involved. Don't let this happen to you and your dog. Start socializing your new puppy NOW! The Cornell
University College of Veterinary Medicine agrees that the socialization period lasts up to about 12 weeks (3
months) of age. However, at 12 weeks, the puppy must continue socialization to refine its social skills.
Socialization most easily occurs before the puppy is 3 months old. Any later than that and it becomes an
excruciatingly difficult and time-consuming process that very few owners have the time, energy, money or
patience to cope with.
DO
Make sure that each of the following events are pleasant and non-threatening. If your puppy's first
experience with something is painful and frightening, you will be defeating your purpose. In fact, you will be
creating a phobia that will often last a lifetime. It's better to go too slow and assure your puppy is not
frightened or injured than to rush and force your pup to meet new things and people.
-Invite friends over to meet your pup. Include men, women, youngsters, oldsters, different ethnic origins,
etc.
-Invite friendly, healthy, vaccinated dogs, puppies and even cats to your home to meet and play with your
new puppy. Take your puppy to the homes of these pets. This usually is preferable with dog-friendly cats.
-Carry your pup to shopping centers, parks, school playgrounds, etc; places where there are crowds of people
and plenty of activity.
-Take your puppy for short, frequent rides in the car. Stop the car and let your puppy watch the world go by
through the window.
-Introduce your puppy to umbrellas, bags, boxes, the vacuum cleaner, etc. Encourage your puppy to explore
and investigate his environment.
-Get your puppy accustomed to seeing different and unfamiliar objects by creating your own. Set a chair
upside down. Lay the trash can (empty) on its side, set up the ironing board right-side up one day and upside
down the next day.
-Introduce your puppy to new and various sounds. Loud, obnoxious sounds should be introduced from a
distance and gradually brought closer.
-Accustom your puppy to being brushed, bathed, inspected, having its nails clipped, teeth and ears cleaned
and all the routines of grooming and physical examination.
-Introduce your puppy to stairs, his own collar and leash. Introduce anything and everything you want your
puppy to be comfortable with and around.
DON'T
-Do not put your puppy on the ground where unknown animals have access. This is where your puppy can pick
up diseases. Wait until your puppy's shots are completed. Do not let your pup socialize with dogs that you
don't know, that may not be vaccinated or who appear sick.
-Do not reward fearful behavior. In a well meaning attempt to sooth, encourage or calm the puppy when it
appears frightened, we often unintentionally reward the behavior. It's normal for the puppy to show some
signs of apprehension when confronting anything new and different.
-Do not allow the experience to be harmful, painful or excessively frightening. This can cause lifetime phobias
in your dog.
-Do not force or rush your puppy. Let your puppy take things at his own pace. Your job is to provide the
opportunity.
-Do not do too much at one time. Young puppies need alot of sleep and tire quickly. It is much more
productive to have frequent and very brief exposures than occasional prolonged exposures.
-DO NOT WAIT!! Every day that goes by is an opportunity of a lifetime that is lost forever. You can never get
these days back. If socialization does not happen now, it never will.
Pulling On Leash
copyright 1995 - 2002 Bohnenkamp, Perfect Paws
Train your puppy right now not to pull on leash as this habit is difficult to break in adolescent and adult dogs.
DO
-Use a body harness and teach your puppy to accept it the same way you teach puppy to accept a collar.
Check here if your pup is frightened or leary of the collar/harness or leash.
-Use lures and praise to keep her at your side.
-Keep the leash loose at all times. If you see your puppy starting to forge ahead, give a sharp tug on the
leash with lightening speed to bring the pup back to your side. Don't wait until the puppy is clear at the other
end of the leash, pulling ahead before you take action. The leash should always remain loose except for that
one split second it takes to bring the dog back into place. Do not drag your puppy back to your side. Use a
quick tug, then immediately release so the leash is slack again. If it doesn't all happen in 3/10ths of a second,
it's taking too long and your puppy will not learn to walk nicely on leash. Put another way: Instead of
correcting your dog after he is already pulling, do not give him the opportunity to pull. If he never pulls, he
will never learn to pull. You must correct him BEFORE he pulls!
-Practice now before your pup learns to pull. Since your pup is unable to walk the streets yet, begin teaching
him to walk around your house and yard. He should be taught not to pull before hitting the streets.
DON'T
-Do not let your puppy pull you around.
-If you cannot correct the puppy in time, do not reward his pulling by letting him continue on his way. Just
turn around and go the other way, or stop in your tracks and say, "We are not going one inch further until you
stop pulling." Then wait, it may take 30 seconds; it may take 20 minutes. Do not move until your puppy is in
control. Now you can start over and give the correction before he starts pulling again. If again you are too
late in your correction, start again.
-Do not yank and pull on your puppy's throat and neck. Use a soft, adjustable, non- restrictive harness. As
soon as your pup learns leash manners, you can switch to a regular collar for walking. Do not leave the
harness on your dog unattended. Use it only while you are practicing.
-Never use a choke collar on a puppy.
Winning Your Puppy's Trust, Respect and
Confidence
by Gwen Bohnenkamp, copyright 1995-2002
Many people try to win their new puppy's love by letting the puppy always have its way. The pup is showered
with affection and attention because he is so cute and cuddly. Buckets of affection is a wonderful thing for
most puppies, but it must be tempered with respect. If you give in to your puppy's every whim, your pup will
never learn self control and self discipline. Your puppy will never learn to respect you. If your puppy does not
respect you, it will have no reason to do anything for you. Your relationship will be like two 5 year olds bossing
each other around. Just as a child needs a caring parent; an athletic team needs a coach; your puppy needs a
leader. If you do not take up the role of leader, your dog will; and you will end up with an unruly, disobedient,
out of control, often aggressive monster of a dog. Most of these dogs end up living a life of isolation in the
back yard because no one can deal with it; or they end up dead - euthanized at the local animal shelter. They
end up at the shelter because either the owner can't live with the dog anymore, or a member of the public has
filed a complaint against the dog and government officials have taken the dog away from the owner. DON'T
LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU AND YOUR DOG!
Other people have an equally erroneous misconception of this issue. Instead of showering the dog with love
and affection, they think that to earn the dog's respect they must bully and terrorize the dog into submission.
A dog treated this way will eventually bite their owner. This is not respect. Respect is not something that is
forced. It is won. A dog will not respect someone it does not trust.
Submissive Urination
copyright 1995 - 2002 Bohnenkamp, Perfect Paws
It's normal for dogs to urinate when they want to demonstrate submission. Even a dog that is otherwise
housetrained may leave dribbles and puddles of urine at your feet and on the floor when greeting you.
Submissive urination is the ultimate show of respect and deference for higher rank. It occurs frequently with
young puppies who have not yet learned and perfected other social skills and means of showing respect.
Adult dogs that urinate submissively are insecure, often unsocialized, abused or simply have not been shown
that there are more acceptable ways to show respect, such as paw raising (shake hands) or hand licking (give
a kiss). Overly sensitive or mistreated dogs submissively urinate because they feel the need to constantly
apologize. This state is often caused by excessive or delayed punishment which frightens and confuses the
dog without teaching him how to make amends. The dog resorts to the only way he knows to show respect
and fear, by urinating.
When your dog urinates in this manner, it is best to just ignore him. If you try to reassure him, he will think
you are praising him for urinating and will urinate even more. If you scold him, he will feel an even greater
need to apologize by urinating.
Treatment must be directed towards building your dog's confidence and showing him other ways to
demonstrate respect. The quickest way to accomplish this is by teaching your dog a few basic obedience
exercises. A dog that can earn praise by obeying a simple routine of "Come here, sit, shake hands," will soon
develop self esteem and confidence. A confident dog who can say, "Hello, Boss" by sitting and shaking hands
does not feel the need to urinate at his owner's feet.
Excitement Urination
copyright 1995 - 2002 Bohnenkamp, Perfect Paws
It's normal for dogs to urinate when they become excited. Even a dog that is otherwise housetrained may
leave dribbles and puddles of urine at your feet and on the floor when greeting you.
Excitement urination usually occurs in puppies and is caused by lack of bladder control. The dog is not aware
that he is urinating, and any punishment will only confuse him. Since he does not know why you are angry, the
excitement urination will quickly become submissive urination in an attempt to appease you. As your puppy
matures and develops bladder control, the problem will usually disappear. However, in the mean time, it is
probably a good idea to do something to help keep your puppy dry.
The best treatment for excitement urination is to prevent your dog from becoming overly excited in the first
place. You can do this by exposing your dog to the stimulus that excites him, over and over until it no longer
excites him. Most likely, your dog gets excited and wets when you return home. If so, simply ignore him for
about 10 minutes. Don't even look at him.
Then leave again for a few minutes, return and ignore, leave, return and ignore. Keep doing this until you can
see that your dog is not only unexcited, but is actually getting bored with the whole thing. If your dog gets
overly excited when visitors arrive, have them do this too. When your dog has calmed down and is no longer
excited when you come in, then very quietly and gently say hello. If any signs of excitement appear, quickly
exit and repeat the coming-and-going routine. A rapid sequence of heel-sits will capture your dog's attention
and channel his excitement to the game of heeling and sitting. Remember to ignore all excitement urination
and never scold or get angry at your dog when it occurs.
For more information go to: http://www.perfectpaws.com/excur.html
