For newbie dog owners, the biggest headache is usually the issue of dog urination and defecation. So today I want to share with you how I "cruelly" trained my dog to urinate and defecate, hoping it can help all dog owners.

First, let me introduce my dog. Her name is Heng Heng, a little female puppy. She was about two and a half months old when she first came home (Image 1) and now she is already eight months old (Image 2). Both are no-makeup photos.

When a dog first arrives home, owners must remember not to play and frolic with the dog immediately but put it into the prepared cage right away because the dog will want to pee a lot in a new environment. So you must give it a place to pee. I directly prepared a cage, and as soon as Heng came home, I put her into the cage. Although this seems cruel, in hindsight, cruelty was necessary.

Within a minute of being locked in the cage, Heng peed. After she finished, I gave her a piece of puppy food as a reward but did not let her out because I live alone. I brought Heng home on a Friday afternoon, so I only had the weekend to accompany and properly guide her.

The dog will keep barking when locked in the cage - this is normal. Once you decide to use this method to train your dog to go to the toilet, you must become ruthless because only ruthlessness can raise a dog that will properly use the toilet.

From the moment Heng entered the cage, she kept whining (she wanted to get out, she wanted freedom). When I ignored her whining for a while, she began barking. It happened to be near dinner time after a while, so after feeding her, about twenty minutes later, she urinated and defecated (these were the third urination and the first defecation, all inside the cage). After that, you can place the cage within your sight. You both can glance at each other, but it’s best to avoid direct eye contact, especially when the dog is whining or barking. If she sees you watching, she will bark louder. If this happens, don't expect a peaceful night's sleep.

The first night was heartbreaking. I put the cage in the living room and went to my room to sleep. I had mentally prepared for a sleepless night because of her barking, but it didn’t happen. When I first entered my room, Heng did bark, but I restrained myself from attending to her as I couldn’t spoil this bad habit. Fortunately, Heng seemed to get tired of whining, and after about half an hour, she became quiet. However, she still woke up at night to continue whining before falling back asleep.

The next morning, after feeding her breakfast and confirming she had urinated and defecated and was no longer whining or barking, I let her out of the cage to play on the balcony for a short while. However, the time should not be too long. Each time I only let her out for about ten minutes because puppies cannot hold it for long and may urinate or defecate anytime.

Each day passed like this for three days. Although she still whined at night, the duration shortened, and her sleeping time increased. After I went back to work, I bought a playpen and fenced a space for her in the living room. Then I put the cage inside it with the door open so she could come and go freely.

The next morning brought a surprise. There was poop inside the cage, but also poop outside, and it was all over the floor. You have to bear the smell because you must educate her with different tones for scolding and praising. Tell her that pooping on the floor is wrong, and pooping inside the cage is right. This situation lasted about a week. Every morning she pooped inside the cage during the day. After about a week, she never pooped on the floor again. Gradually I even opened the playpen door so she had free run of the house, which then became her territory.

The above is how I trained Heng to urinate and defecate. From the beginning of training to being able to use the toilet herself took about 10 days. Maybe I said a lot, so bear with me!