Trace and Maui
Since my last Puppy Training post, there have been a lot improvements when it came to potty training Maui. She is not fully trained yet but her success rate have increased to more than half. After a frustrating first week of having Maui, I decided to do research on how to potty train dogs, specifically Jack Russells. I googled different articles on how to potty train puppies and even watch YouTube vids. I definitely found them helpful. Initially, Trace and I would leave Maui in the house when we’re at work. Like our other dog Duke, she had the whole house at her leisure.
That was definitely not a good idea because as soon as we got home there would be pee spots all over the house…and of course….the dreaded puppy poo despite consistently making her pee on the pads when we’re at home. I don’t know if it’s because she hasn’t been spayed yet but I noticed she pees and poos A LOT. After doing research, I learned that CONSISTENCY, ASSOCIATION and TIME are the three main components to puppy training success.
CONSISTENCY
Although my main goal is to teach her how to pee in the backyard, training her to pee and poo on the pee pee pad would be my first step. The reason is because Trace and I may not always be there to take her to the backyard so having her do her thang on the pad is good enough.
The puppy training vids/articles said that the best time to take her out to go pee is when she wakes up, after she eats, and before she sleeps. Our schedule consists of taking her to the backyard as soon as she wakes up, which sucks because sometimes she’ll wake up in the middle of the night and I would have to take her out or else she’ll end up peeing on the bed. I’ve been pretty consistent about this. Sometimes I leave one of her used pads in the backyard so that she can associate the pad with peeing and pooing (and no, i do not leave the poo there).
ASSOCIATION
One of the things that became helpful in the training process was teaching her the word, “NO”. When she does something that she not supposed to do we always tell her no but she didn’t really know what it meant until I associate it with a clapping sound. Dogs do not like sudden bursts of sound. So every time she tried doing something bad like eating a plant at the backyard, I would clap my hands next to her while saying, “NO!!” I’ve done it to her so many times that all I have to do now is say NO and she’ll stop.
TIME
It’s frustrating when you think that she’s finally trained to pee on the pad, then all of a sudden she’ll make a mess on the carpet. But as time goes by I am starting to notice that she’s starting to do her thang on the pad more and more. Of course, she still needs hand holding, but I’m sure she’ll definitely pass that point.
Overall, she has improved a lot since we first got her. I am even able to “somewhat” train her how to sit:
Filed under: Pets | Tagged: Jack Russell, potty train, puppy, puppy training, toilet training
