Dog Potty, Toilet & Loo | Puppy Training

How Dogs Improve Human Life

9/27/2017

28 September 2017 by Iqa

Wondering what difference a pet pooch could bring to your family and home? Ask any dog owner this, and they’d give you a long list of ways their furry friend has made their homes and lives much better.

Physiological Effects

Companionship
Ever felt lonely at home, but not exactly in the mood for human interaction? Dogs are a sure cure for loneliness – they’re affectionate, loyal, and don’t talk back! Some popular companion breeds are the Labrador Retriever, Affepinscher, Pug, and Boxer – known for their even temperament, affectionate, and playful nature.
Dogs are great stress-busters and mood-lifters! Contact time with our canine buddies can increase levels of the stress-reducing hormone oxytocin and lower the production of cortisol - the stress hormone. A study in 2001 found that patients with high blood pressure who owned pets were able to maintain lower blood pressure during moments of mental stress more so than those without pets.

Keep calm and pet me, human!

PTSD Cure
Dogs are also known to be effective in lessening symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a psychological condition that may arise as an after-effect of serious injury or abuse, or from witnessing a traumatic event. Dogs help PTSD sufferers rebuild trust and confidence through their inherently trustworthy nature. They respond well to authoritative relationships, allowing those with PTSD to regain a sense of control and self-worth.

Mental Health
Families with members who have physiological or psychological disorders may benefit from having a service dog that can help guide them through their daily routines. Other than emotional support dogs who help with those psychologically-affected, service dogs are great for the elderly as well as those on medication and can be trained to guide disoriented or distressed handlers.
A dog can do wonders in building better connections between people. A family with a pet dog will have a common factor of care and will more likely cooperate and communicate better with each other. As they become a key part of the family, it’s no wonder that an estimate of 1 million dogs in the US have been named as the primary beneficiaries of their owner’s will!

Friends for life wearing matching wrinkles

Childhood Development
There have been positive associations found between having a pet dog and children’s behavioral and emotional development. A friendly doggy can help kids learn empathy and improve their social interaction skills, as well as cultivate a good sense of responsibility through the role of care-taker. It’s always a joy to watch a child and puppy grow up together!
Breeds famous for their friendly, lovable, patient and protective nature include the Beagle, Bulldog, and Golden Retriever.

Physical Health

Dog slobber could do us all a healthy favour by helping our bodies develop healthy bacteria that boost our immune systems - meaning you’ll probably fall ill a lot less with a dog at home. According to a 2004 study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, dogs also lower a child’s chance of becoming allergic to pets by up to 33%, so your kids will develop better resilience against allergies as they grow up with their puppy pal.
Did you know that a dog’s sense of smell is 100,000 times stronger than a human’s? For example, the human nose has an average of around 5 million scent receptors while a Dachshund has about 125 million. This is how they can actually sniff out certain types of cancer and even blood sugar crashes in humans!
Need to lose that beer belly? Regular walks and runs in the park are excellent ways to both bond with your canine companion and keep your physical health in check. Just don’t try racing a Greyhound on foot – at top speed, they can run up to 43 mph (For scale, Usain Bolt’s world record speed clocks in at 28mph).

Walking the dog also increases likelihood of social interaction, helping those with social anxiety overcome this difficulty with the pup as the star of the conversation. Try getting the kids in on walking the dog and you’ll see them develop a love for the outdoors and physical activity.

Now, before you run out and find your very own furry addition to the family, do consider adopting from animal shelters or from overcrowded homes. Be sure you’ll be able to look after them properly and fairly, as you would your human family members.

Safety

Dogs are famous for being crime deterrents and means to alert humans of intrusion and oncoming danger. They can hear 4 times as far as humans, making them excellent sensors of unusual movement outside your home. Common watch dog breeds include the brave and vigilant German Shepherd, Rottweiler, and Doberman Pinscher.

Did you know that the Doberman is a relatively new breed that was bred by a German tax collector named Herr Karl Louis Dobermann? The Doberman was specifically bred as a canine companion to protect him as he went about shady parts of town for work.

Sources:

In Doberman we trust

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5 Key Factors in Potty Training Your Puppy Dog

9/11/2017

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Are you going to get a puppy for the family? Or maybe you are the impulsive guy, how gets a puppy dog first, and starts the research and equipment buying later?
I know there is so much information already on the net about how to house train or potty train your dog. This article is focusing on puppy potty training tips. Some tips are the same as for potty training of adult dogs but I recommend you to read a more specialized article for grown-up dogs.

You should start your potty training when you puppy is at least 10-12 weeks old. Before that age, the puppy is physically not able to control the bladder and any training would be a waste of time. So before you go crazy and wonder why your training shows no signs of improvement, wait until your puppy actually has control over his/her body.

So here we go.

1. Schedule your training

Stick to the same times

Scheduling refers to time of the day. The best time to potty train is when your dog actually needs to pee or poo. Now, to make sure you dog pees and poos almost always at the same time, it's best to feed the dog always at the same time of the day. A puppy should be fed 3 times a day, e.g. morning, lunch, dinner. Try to stick to the same times every day as much as possible - this will make your training easier.
Once you know the pee and poo times of your dog - usually early morning when waking up, and evenings after eating - you should focus your training on those times. Because it's best to train when they are about to or just in the middle of peeing/pooing.

2. Be emotional

Puppy potty training is not about modern parenting methods where you are trying to be very wise, tempered, slow-talking and patient. Dogs learn not through words but through body language incl. the emotional sound of your words. What I mean is, dogs know when you are angry or happy. So if you don't show this, then the dog won't learn from you. The more clearer you can show your emotions to the puppy, the quicker it will learn.
I don't what type of person you are but here are some examples for showing emotions.

Angry (when the puppy peed/pooped in the house or not on the dog toilet):

Shout! Talk loud and fast like "What is this?! Why did you pee here?! Didn't I tell you now to do that... etc" - you get the drift. Important is not what you say but that you say something in an angry manner
Point at the spot where the pee/poo is (while you shout) and take aggressive body stand. If your puppy runs away, you tell him/her to come back or carry/pull him back to the spot of guilt. Do this for 2-3 minutes. Don't fall for the puppy sad face! Yes, the dog is not enjoying being yelt at and feeling guilty but this is the time they learn it! So stay strong and pull it through. Do not give love to the dog shortly after you "anger show"!

Show emotions with body language

Give physical punishment. No everybody likes this advice but it is effective. Certainly, don't seriously hit the dog but a clap on it's backside, or a pinch below it hips can do wonders. Usually this is only necessary for mid/large dogs who have a strong personality. Just being angry doesn't work some dogs, so you need to go a step further to make the feel a punishment. Instead of slapping your dog, I find it better to take their nose/schnauz and push it into the pee or poo on the floor. The puppy will to resist but you have to hold them strong and then dip the nose briefly into the accident. This has proven to be very effective! But these physical measure are not for everyone. It may require physical and mental strength. Do this as a last measure only.

Happy (when the puppy peed/pooped on the dog toilet):

Sing / talk in a high happy voice saying something like "Good girl/boy", clap your hands like you are applouding
Give a treat/cookie (always make sure you already have a treat in your pocket, so that when she/he does the job well you can give the reward immediately!)

3. Grass helps

Artificial grass helps

Grass (real or artificial) is a great helper to tell your dog what is safe to pee on. So for example, when you take your dog by the leash outside onto the yard or park, and your dog pees you can give the happy treatment as above.
Grass is a surface which is easy for dogs to recognize (color, texture, feeling).
And when you have a dog toilet with artificial grass, then dogs can quickly learn the association of "on this surface I am allowed to pee and poo on".
If you don't want to your front or backyard to get spoiled by dog pee or poo, then get a dog toilet with artificial grass - it will make it a lot faster to train.

4. Only the alpha does the training

It's important that you keep the training method/style the same and consistent. Use the same words, the same reaction to angry and happy, etc. But it is even more important that the alpha of the house is doing the training i.e. showing the emotions. Because the puppy looks up more to the alpha in the house. If there are 2 (maybe you and your spouse), then the training will take a bit longer because the dog has to learn both your reactions.
Your puppy learns first from the alpha. So if you are a family, then you should decide who is the dog's alpha... have fun on that! :-)

5. Be patient

I know that's easy to say. But don't get frustrated because you think you are not making any progress. A house trained dog is not something that becomes better over time - it usually happens from one day to another. So you really won't see progress. Once your puppy has used the dog loo on its own, you have made it. Yes, there will be setbacks but they will become less and less.
So until your dog's first voluntary dog loo, you just have to repeat and repeat your training and don't give up or don't get frustrated. It is working! Remain consistent in your training. Don't change the approach half way because you became not confident in making progress! Just be patient.

Be patient!

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How Dogs Improve Human Life

Physiological Effects

Physical Health

Safety

5 Key Factors in Potty Training Your Puppy Dog

1. Schedule your training

2. Be emotional

3. Grass helps

4. Only the alpha does the training

5. Be patient

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