09/09/2016
by Jess Rollins
By Jess Rollins
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To teach your dog to use a litter box or
fake grass potty area, follow the steps below and continue on to the next step
once your dog uses the papers or pads two times in the previous step.
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Set up an
exercise pen and cover the floor inside the area with newspapers or potty
pads. Give your dog dog broth to drink in order to get lots of repetitions and begin work on this over the weekend.
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Crate your dog, and then every 30 minutes place him in the pen for 5 minutes (set a timer). If he "goes". he gets a big treat and
gets 30 minutes of freedom. If he doesn't "go", then back in the crate for another 30 minutes. Repeat!
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Continue to feed your dog broth. Once
your dog is pottying reliably on the papers or pads, reduce the area of the papers/pads until you are down to the final size
area that you wish to use.
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Once he is pottying on the smaller area of papers
or pads, transfer the papers or pads into the final potty area or "litter
box".
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If
your dog is comfortable now using the potty area, the next step is to leave the
exercise pen door open and after you take him out of his crate, encourage him to go in by himself to potty. You are almost there!
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Now you can remove the
exercise pen and take your dog out of the crate and watch carefully so that
you can encourage pottying in the
potty area.
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Now, move the potty area to it's final place and work on getting your dog
to use it in that location.
Once
your dog is going to the potty area and "going" with your guidance, you can remove the crate and simply supervise (of course
rewarding any breakthroughs). A
Male Wrap might be a helpful preventative
for your boy dogs at this stage. You may need to encourage
your dog to go to his potty area from areas in the house that are farther away. Continue
rewarding your dog for using the
potty area / litter box for a few weeks. If there are any accidents, you
will want to increase your supervision and decrease the amount of freedom your
dog has. You can decrease freedom by keeping your dog in a small area such as a
crate, pen or indoor tether.
View more housetraining supplies and articles.
Happy Training!
-Jess