~1. Before training, you should understand the dog's habits. My experience is as follows:
1. Dogs naturally dislike soiling where they sleep and eat. Never feed them or place their bed in their bathroom area. Keep their sleeping and eating places fixed and do not change them.
2. Observe and grasp the dog's bathroom schedule. Puppies usually go after eating, playing, or just waking up, so puppies should develop a habit of eating regularly (3 times a day).
Observe the dog's preparatory actions before elimination. My dog sniffs the ground then squats to urinate; spins quickly sniffing the ground to defecate. Puppies' elimination systems are not mature, so they go more frequently. Always watch carefully to seize training opportunities.
3. Once the dog has defecated, clean it immediately, isolate the little rascal to another room so it doesn't see the cleaning process, mop several times, and finally cover the odor completely with a scented liquid.
Dogs dislike eliminating where there is poop, so clean feces promptly. For urine, you can be a bit more relaxed but do not let it spread like a river; the dog won’t urinate where they can’t stand.
4. Initially use small treats as rewards, puppies are very greedy. But this could cause issues later, which will be addressed. For now, just teach them to go to the bathroom first, then handle other problems.
5. The command for the dog to eliminate should be simple and consistent. I usually say “on the newspaper” or “toilet” or “pee pee” etc.; when praising, use an exaggerated, cheerful tone and accompany it with petting. My dog happily runs to tell me every time after going to the bathroom, as if having done something great.
2. Training process:
1. First, reduce the dog's activity range to where you want them to eliminate, I initially kept mine in the bathroom.
Then cover the activity area with newspapers. If placing water bowls and beds, put them in corners far from the bathroom area, avoid placing on the newspaper. If you find the dog urinates on the paper, reward with food and praise loudly, such as: “Urinated on the newspaper, well done!”
Immediate reward after urinating works best. If delayed, keep pointing to the newspaper for the dog to smell (do not force the head down). Praise repeatedly with simple phrases (do not change words later).
2. After two days, reduce the newspaper area. When replacing newspapers, keep a piece with urine marks. Continue to reward heavily only if elimination is on the newspaper.
3. Once the dog eliminates mostly on the newspaper, reduce the newspaper area gradually and expand the activity area. I open the bathroom door and close other doors if possible. Continue to reward elimination on paper.
If they eliminate elsewhere, be alert. This is the key to success or failure. It’s best to train on a weekend when home all day to catch them onsite. If you notice the dog is about to misbehave, loudly remind them with usual phrases like “on the newspaper” or “toilet” while pointing to the toilet and leading them there. I think carrying them to the toilet is not very effective because they get distracted or scared and don’t urinate there; then they misbehave once released.
If caught too late, severely scold the dog pointing to the urine marks and take it to the toilet repeating “on the newspaper.” If they don’t know their mistake, push their head down on the spot.
4. Once the puppy is used to solving tasks on newspaper, you can take it outdoors. Put newspaper where you want the dog to urinate outdoors, and continue the consistent reward. Around four months old, the dog can have a regular bowel movement about three times a day, so take it out at proper times.
3. What if the dog refuses to go in the toilet?
1. Be tough and keep it locked in. Eventually, it won't be able to hold it and will go, then release it.
2. Accommodate it by moving the newspaper to where it urinates frequently, first teaching it that defecating on paper gets treats. Then move the paper little by little towards the toilet day by day. My dog learned to urinate on the paper immediately but took a few more days to understand to go to the toilet, since our toilet is relatively hidden and out of sight from usual activity areas.
At my sister's house, the toilet is directly visible, so there are fewer mistakes.
3. Move the food and dog bed to the spots where the dog often makes mistakes or press heavy objects there; usually the dog will change places.
~~If this helped you, please leave a good review~ Feel free to ask more questions~~~.