Hi everyone,
So this week was all about consolidation with Muppet! I tried out the tips and tricks from the resources I found last week and now I am combining them with my own list of ideas. There are three major ideas that I believe are crucial for training a dog house manners. These include: consistency, reward and appropriate discipline!
1. Consistency: When house training a dog at any age it is all about consistency. All of the trainers need to be on the same page and consistent with the training. Time also goes with consistency, therefore your dog needs to be going out at the same time each day. For example, Muppet was on a consistent time table where she would be taken out in the morning, afternoon and evenings. She would also be taken out whenever I came home. Therefore, this created a routine for Muppet that she could count on and begin to remeber. As well, I found it key to keep Muppet in my bedroom at night. This eliminated her roaming the house and the chance of possible accidents because if she is with me she won't have an accident in front of me. This was key! Also, I found it was extremely important to take Muppet out as soon as she woke up! Whether I picked her up or she followed me downstairs it is crucial to let her out as soon as possible otherwise she wonders the house and will go to the bathroom as soon as she feels necessary.
2. Reward: When house training a dog reward is another key aspect to keep up the pups good behaviour. Reward helps to promote positive learning with dogs! If you enforce training with treats the dog will eventually associate the treats to what she is learning in her training. Therefore, the dog will know if they do that trick, or sit that way or go to the bathroom in the appropriate place they will get a treat. When I was house training Muppet I used treats, toys and positive reinforcement. So, if Muppet barked at the door to go out or sat at the door I would give her a pat or a treat. If she went outside and did her business on the grass I would get extremely happy and reward her. Along with rewards, dogs can understand the tones of your voice. Thus, if I have a higher pitched tone to my voice and say "good girl, good peepee" Muppet will know that she did something good. If I have a negative tone to my voice, where I make it deeper and change the expression on my face Muppet will pick up on that negativity and know shes done something wrong. It is important to reward your dog if they do something right during their training. It will help them grow and learn much faster.
3. Appropriate Discipline: In general no one ever wants to be the bad guy. Whether you are training your house pets or teaching your children, no one likes to be mean. However, if your dog is doing something it's not suppose to be doing or is misbehaving it is important to correct the animal otherwise it will never learn. Therefore, I do believe in disciplining your animals when it is appropriate. My experience discipling Muppet throughout my project happened whenever she had an accident in the house. If Muppet had an accident I would pat her on her bum or her head, change my tone of voice so she knew she did something bad and then remove her from the situation. Hence, if Muppet peed in front of me or I caught her in he act I would pick her up and immediately take her outside to where she is suppose to be going to the bathroom. Once outside I would put her on the grass and say the magic words, "go pee, go pee" in a higher pitched voice and she would usually finish her business and recognize that this was appropriate behaviour. This was our routine! As well, it is extremely important that you do not discipline your dog if you do not catch them in the act because they do not remember or can associate with what they did if it's been too long. Also, you should NEVER put your dog's nose in their accident! This is extremely negative for the dog and the dog thinks that if they go to the bathroom at all it is bad and this will cause greater issues.
While I was training muppet this week I focused on these three major ideas and I saw tremendous improvemet with her! It will be interesting to see how much more Muppet will learn as I continue this process.
Below is a home video of my training with Muppet, she is learning to go pee after I consistently say it and encourage her!
Till next time,
Cheers, Courtney!
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