Golden Retriever Puppies Housebreaking Tips and Guide
Housebreaking is an important part of having any animal live in your home. You definitely do not want a dog that is not housebroken! Fortunately, when you own a smart dog like a Golden Retriever, it is easier to train them because they are intelligent, eager to please puppies. Some Golden Retriever puppies begin as early as four weeks. But you should certainly start before they are eight weeks old to prevent bad habits from starting. Golden Retriever puppies have the mental capacity to control their bladders and start with potty training at this age. Some owners will follow the puppy around and use crates to help the puppy learn to not go on the floor. Others will paper train their dogs, which is not highly recommended. Paper training is when you put paper down if you think your pet is about to go to the bathroom. There are paper-like rugs which are made of odor-absorbent material and minimize smells. The dogs will learn to go on the carpet, which helps to save your rug, but it also builds a habit that it is okay to go in the house. Your dog might not recognize that you are putting paper underneath it and will just go on the carpet later in life. Once a dog goes to the bathroom in one area of the house, that is now his marked terrain. He will continue to go back there. If they miss the paper by a few inches during paper training, this can cause an unintentional marked spot that they will continue to go back to. Also, a big part of housebreaking is teaching the dog to go outside and let you know when they need to go outside. Paper training is a short-term solution that can have bigger problems. Golden Retrievers don’t need paper training. These dogs typically pick up house training very quickly. If you see your dog making the typical signs that they are about to relieve itself, quickly grab them and take them outside. Once they go outside, praise them frequently and loudly. Make a big deal out of it. Do not punish them for going inside. Do not push your dog’s nose in its feces if it goes to the bathroom in the house. Dogs, after all, often sniff each other to say hello, so they will not see anything wrong with this. Don’t press on your dog’s back legs to force them to squat either. They are prone to hip dysplasia and this can cause more pain than anything else for the dog. Most Golden Retriever puppies will learn to do this on their own and will only take a few days’ training before they understand. It will be a couple of weeks before they are consistent with the behavior. Still, if you leave a puppy inside for too long, they have small bladders and will have to relieve themselves, no matter how much they’d rather go outside. Good training will teach your puppy to go inside. You will not have to buy as much commercial rug cleaner in order to get the smell out of your carpet. If your dog does make a mess, be sure to clean it up very carefully in order to prevent his returning to that same spot again and again. More Articles on Golden Retriever Training: | 