Paper Training

 

Leaving your puppy alone can be worrying but one of the benefits of dog paper training is just that.

Organise a small room for your puppy to be in while you are away. The floor should be covered with paper and the room should have your puppies crate and some toys to keep him company. You could say that this room should be ‘Puppy-Proof’.

There are some core principles to follow when paper training:

1. Use repetition to show your dog where to go potty, in this case on papers.

2. Supervise your dog when you are in the house with him or her.

3. If you aren’t able to supervise, use a crate or confinement system initially to prevent your dog from “training” him/herself to go to the bathroom in the wrong spot.

In the beginning, your puppy will most likely eliminate anywhere within the room. In addition, your puppy will probably play with the papers, chew them, etc. This is perfectly normal during paper training your puppy and should not be grounds for punishment or distress.

During the time that your puppy is confined in its room, it will begin to develop the habit of eliminating on paper. After a while, your puppy will begin to exhibit a preferred place to eliminate. Once this happens, the area that is papered should be slowly diminished. The first papers to be removed should be those that are furthest away from the “toilet”. Eventually, you will have to lay down only a few papers.

If your puppy ever misses those papers, it means that the papered area has been reduced too much and too soon.

After your puppy is reliably doing its business only on the papers that have been left, the papers can be slowly and gradually moved to a location of your choice. The papers should be moved only gradually, as little as an inch a day. If the puppy misses the papers, again it means that they have been moved too soon and too far. In this case it will be necessary to go back a few steps and start over.

It is important not to become discouraged when paper training your dog. Your puppy will eventually understand the concept, and you will be able to choose your puppies toilet area.

There are a few important things which you must keep in mind when carrying out puppy paper training:

1. Make sure that the room where the papers are laid out is easily accessible to your pup.  We wouldn’t want your puppy bursting and finding he can’t reach his designated area, (and then getting told off!
2. Cleaning up each day should simply be part of the routine of living with a new puppy. Simply clean up the soiled papers and put down new ones each day.  Dogs will not want to keep going in an area that is covered by their own waste!
3. Even though it has just been said that the area must be cleaned it is a good idea to leave a small piece of soiled paper so that there will be a scent for your dog.  At least for the beginning stages of paper training.
   
   

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