Leon the 7 Month Old Shih-Tzu
This is our new student Leon! He is a 7 month old, and quite the hyper Shih-Tzu. His owner came to Animal Plaza Puppy Kindergarten with the concern of his potty training. Ever since he was brought to the house, which was when he was 4 months of age, he had free roam of everything. This is also a common mistake that many owners tend to make. Giving your puppy free roam of your house creates the situation for them to make errors. With Leon’s 4 visits so far, he has accomplished 90% perfect potty training! He is definitely very social and energetic! He loves to be on the move, even inside of his crate. Although Leon may not always show it, he has a sweet and loving side as well.
In our previous post, we discussed on how to potty train for BUSY owners. In today’s post, we will be explaining how to potty train for owners who do have the time! This type of potty training is most recommended. It’ll make your puppy and or dog learn a lot quicker.
Things you need:
*NOTE* You need the exact same equipment as our previous post (http://torrancedogtraining.com/2011/12/23/our-brand-new-student-shou-his-potty-training-here-at-puppy-kindergarten-in-torrance/), but, we will copy & paste them once again.
1. Crate – A crate is one of the most important things to have while potty training your pup or dog! Potty training isn’t the only thing that it’s useful for. Having it generally makes things a lot easier for you and your dog. A crate is not considered to be a negative image for a dog, but, considered to be their house! You can fill their crates with towels, blankets, toys, anything to make it comfortable for them. A big mistake that many owners tend to do is buying a crate that is TOO big for their dog. Dogs do not need spacious crates as you may think. In the wild, dogs always cuddled with each other and slept in a small closed space, so they want to feel the same way inside their crate. Thus, buying a crate that is PERFECTLY their size is just what they need! One crate that we recommend is the Petmate Kennel Cab. http://www.petmate.com/kennel-cab-traditional They are easy to clean, to take apart, and not too heavy.
2. An Exercise Pen – Having an exercise pen, you can enlarge it, and minimize it by the size of your dog. Initially, you want to make it into a square. A picture will be shown below on how it should be set up. One exercise pen we recommend would be by the product of Precision Pet. http://www.precisionpet.com/detail.aspx?id=23 These are very easy to work with.
3. Pee pads – If you don’t have pee pads, then there is no potty training! Pee pads you can buy from any pet store.
4. A potty schedule – Having a potty schedule will help you out tremendously! This keeps you on track with everything potty. Puppies need 20 hours of sleep A DAY, so they do not have to be roaming around the house for long periods of time. Usually, puppies are able to hold their pee for half of their age. (Ex: 3 month old puppy can hold it for 1.5 hours. Leon’s case, he is 7 months old which means he can hold it for 3.5 hours.) In the potty schedule, include meal times, play time, etc. Remember to always praise and reward after every perfect pee!
These are a couple of pictues of how to properly set up everything.
- Potty set-up
- Potty set-up
When it’s time for your dog to pee, take them out of their crate and into the exercise pen with the pee-pad. As they start to get more familiar with it, you may extend the exercise pen more and more. Eventually you will take the exercise pen away, and use a leash to guide them to the designated area. Then they will be able to go potty by themselves! Also make a pee command for them! (Ex: Pee-pee, go pee, 1-2, etc)
- Crate
Above is a crate filled with towels. For comfort and also for the puppy and or dog to not be able to move around so much inside.
Good luck on potty training!
