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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Ev lives the Lower Mainland of Beautiful British Columbia, Canada where she has been training dogs since 1969. She is experienced in many methods including clicker and motivational training. Ev is an original Superdog Performance Team member and her own dogs have travelled and performed with the Canadian SuperDogs since 1984. She has also served as an A.A.C. judge ans is an original Member/Trainer with the Dogwood Pacesetters Agility Club.
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11/15/2005
We recently bought an Airedale Terrier pup, he is now 13 weeks old (we got him a week ago). We are trying to housetrain him, and we need some help. We take him out and will sit with him for 15-20 minutes, and he does nothing...as soon as we bring him in he goes on the carpet. We take him for walks daily, but he doesn't go then either. I know he is still very young, but how can we move the process along? What do we do when he goes in the house? We are trying to do everything the correct way, so we have a lovable guardian when he gets older. Also which kind of crate should we get for him? All wire? Or a plastic Kennel type? Thanks for all of your help. Jenny and Stephen (REGANSHAW, Pennsylvania)
Housebreaking seems to be a 'hot' issue these days and I'm not sure why, other than perhaps people are just too busy and do not take the proper time to learn to read their dog's body language.
Crate-Training usually saves a good 80% of these problems as most puppies will not soil their den/bed and will scream to get out. The trick here is to listen and learn the different screams so you are not taking them out because they have caught on to your routine.
Fibre-Glass or hard-plastic kennels/crates are the best - less drafts, more portable, easier to clean, etc.. Depending on the size of your dog will depend on the crate size you obtain. An Airedale would probably do comfortable in a 400 series.
Also 'outings' should not be rushed and should not be anything else but for what it is meant for. What this means is when you take your puppy out to pee, do not just sit like a bump somewhere and
cross your fingers that the pup will go. Motoring helps stimulate the kidneys and bowels and therefore a slow walk in circles would help that. You also don't want to distract the pup from the purpose of the outing by playing, talking too much, petting him or being distracted yourself (rose bush needs trimming, etc.).
There are some basic Guidelines below that will help you to determine when your pup may need an 'outing'. If your pup is taken out and really doesn't need to go then it is hard to determine how long you should wait. If you don't wait long enough, you'll have an accident once he moves to come inside and if you wait too long then the return from cooler outdoor weather to inside warmer weather will activate a need to piddle (like putting your hands in dishwater).
Many dogs/puppies will not go on their walks for several reasons but the two main ones are - the distractions keeping them from concentrating on what they need to do & it is neutral territory and they'd prefer to be at their own home to go. Keeping this in mind, either make your walks longer and in quieter areas to allow enough time for the pup to concentrate and perhaps be stimulated by the movement of the walk, OR make the walks shorter and for a separate purpose like training.
Like children, puppies mature at different rates and acquire different skills. Some children potty train at an early age but have problems learning how to tie their shoes while other children may take forever to potty train but can wrap a present like a pro. Puppies are not much different. He may have to be watched for months to make sure the guidelines are followed or he could pick it up in a few days. Depending on how he is taught will also effect how fast he learns.
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