Three ways to use clicker training to house train your dog

No matter how much we love our puppy, we hate to clean up its poop. A new puppy has no idea about picking a place to “go.” No matter what, dogs are on your side in house training, because they don’t want to live in their own waste. Here are three tips to use clicker training to make dog house training go as quickly as possible.

First, take your puppy to his potty area right after naps and meals. These are the times when the puppy is most likely to have to go. Stay with your puppy and reward him when he goes where you want him to. If you’re using clicker training, click when he squats and reward when he’s done.

If he’s not ready to go just yet, give him some more time. But always watch for signs — walking in circles, a certain kind of sniffing around — that it’s time. You’ll recognize the signs as you get to know your dog’s behavior. And then always click when he does a behavior you want him to repeat and use a reward of a happy voice and perhaps a treat.

Next, designate a place for the dog to urinate and defecate. If your dog will use the back yard, you might want to teach it to use one confined area. You’ll want to pick up the waste often, because they don’t like to walk through their waste, but it’s one way to narrow the area that needs to be cleaned.

If the potty place is inside, tape down an oven liner or a pet training pad on an easily cleaned space of floor and reward your puppy for going there. As the dog gets older and is more able to control his bladder and and bowel movements, you can move the potty place outside. You can put away the clicker when your dog learns a behavior and begin clicker training again when you want to teach a new behavior.

The last point is not to punish the dog for getting it wrong. Just help them get it right. Once upon a time, the common wisdom advised dog owners to rub the dog’s nose in his excrement. This is cruel and pointless. By the time he is finished with his bowel movement, he has no clue why you’re doing this to him.

If you just help them get it right, they will succeed much sooner. Dogs are creatures of habit, and if you can get them to succeed — and reward their success — they’ll be more than happy to get it right in the future. Clicker training helps the dog understand exactly what you want him to do and know exactly what he’s being rewarded for.

Your dog is on your side in this process. He shares with his brothers, the wolves, an instinctive desire to keep waste out of his living area. The dog also wants to please you. You can use clicker training to help make your dog a welcome companion around your house.

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Tags: dog house training, dog obedience training, free dog training tips