Apr 19, 2024
Apr 19, 2024
Ever played with a tightly filled water balloon? Just try and in next moment your fingers, clothes or even the carpet will be wet with water. The balloon bursts at the slightest pressure.
The bladder of the puppies is almost like a water balloon. As soon as they reach their new house they start making puddles. People generally do not know this fact. The breeder also never hares this information, because in his home the puppies are usually confined in an area, which is cleaned up every day. The ignorant new owner thinks that like his well trained kids the pup will do his job at the place specified. But here one must realize that a dog is not a human being. He does his ‘jobs’ as per body needs and also for leaving a mark of his presence at the spot.
In the new house generally owners do not plan in advance and they do not have arrangement to confine the pup. As a result the pup makes a puddle at the first opportunity. He is ignorant of the fact that carpet in the drawing room cost a fortune! He just likes the cozy feel of the wooly carpet and pees.
Soon your house is ‘marked’ by him at any and every place he roams around. You get disgusted. The neighbors tell that their aunt had a puppy making puddles all over and one day she rubbed the nose of the pup over that. From that day he stopped peeing in the house. Well firstly this is all cock and bull story and do not pay any heed to such stuff. Puppies are living being and defecation is requirement of their system, so they must. Only thing is that if you get a forewarning or inkling, you can save your stuff.
Please also note that in doggy society peeing is not just a biological necessity, it is their way of saying Hi. Electric poles are like their Face Book, where they come one after another and leave their ‘statuses! Yes, it is amusing to know that their urine being highly acidic, corrodes the metal of the pole and smell of urine remain intact (for the super-sensitive nose of a dog) in the depressions. Consequently dog after dog goes on marking the spot and picks up the smell of his predecessors. It is an intricate process but dog knows who visited the place before him.
Not only electric poles, puppies mark places in the house too. Especially a new puppy does it more. Often when a new dog is introduced the older and senior one also starts behaving strange and makes puddles to show his superiority.
Apart from marking territories urination of course is a biological necessity. Their urine is highly acidic and once a patch dries up on a cemented floor one can see the uric acid crystals in the patch. The problem of patches is not confined indoors. If you have a lawn your dog will lift a leg whenever and wherever he feels like. Bitches are somewhat discreet about their elimination behavior but they too leave large patches on the lawn. Due to high acid content these patches turn brown and finally bald patches on green lawn are left.
There are ways and means to stop this nuisance inside the house and outside as well. In earlier blogs I have stated that dogs live in lairs. They never soil their lair. Thus the trick to house train (Often called as ‘House Breaking the pup’) is to let him realize that your house is his lair. For this first create a lair for him (please refer the blog: ‘Home for Your Puppy’). Second step is to lay a strict time schedule for the pup. The biological clock of dogs is quite precise. Therefore decide in advance about the feeding schedule and stick to it. You should set the schedule as per your convenience and thereafter ensure that he gets his food at the same time every day.
Puppies normally eliminate after meals, after each bout of play and each time after they get up from sleep. The advantage of rearing a pup in a Pen comes handy for this house breaking. Firstly the Pen being comparatively confined area gives him the feeling of living in a lair and he avoids soiling it. Per chance if there is a mishap, it can be easily cleaned.
After his meal confine the pup for a few minutes in his box in the Pen. The moment he starts whimpering pick him and take him out and place him on the spot where you want him to do his ‘job’. As soon as he does he job, sit on your haunches and with all the honey in your voice praise him for being a good boy. Remember he does not understand whatever you say, but the look in your eyes and your tone tell him that you are happy. Thereafter pick him and carry him back to his Pen. Generally after meals puppies like to play. Thus no harm playing with him for a while, but after that do to repeat the procedure of taking him out to his spot. In all probability a pup around two months will again eliminate. Thereafter the pup may be placed back in his box and he will sleep. You have to be alert and the moment he gets up, he would like to evacuate his bladder again.
In case the pup does nothing at the spot earmarked by you and instead eliminates on the floor in your bedroom. Do not panic. Just cover the mess with a wad of newspapers. Let the mess be absorbed. A moist patch will be left on the floor. Keep the newspaper on the spot where you want him to do his ‘job’ next time. Meanwhile put about five milliliter vinegar on the moist patch and rub it in a circular fashion with a rag. Vinegar or acetic acid has more acid content than urine of a dog. The smell makes him imagine that some other more powerful dog had visited the spot. He avoids marking the spot again. After you have wiped the spot with vinegar you may wipe clean it with a floor cleaner.
Normally dog owners do the mistake of washing the whole area with buckets of water and some or other floor cleaner. This may eliminate the odor for our nose and may also disinfect the place, but for the super sharp nose a dog you have enlarged the area marked by him.
Meanwhile as the pup understands that trips to the newspaper outside bring lot of happiness on your face, he tries to use that only. He starts indicating his need to go out. Once he starts doing that you can, instead of carrying him to the spot call him to accompany you there. Also gradually keep on reducing the size of the newspaper. I have seen dogs are so accurate in their aims that if I reduced the newspaper to a penny size a three moth old pup would aim on that only. And one fine day even the penny size newspaper vanishes and pup understands the significance of the ritual of going to the desired spot.
Carpets are often targeted by pups. In case a pup soils a carpet in your absence then it becomes very difficult to locate the spot after a few hours. Urine gets soaked in the wool of the carpet and smell is retained for long. Get a torch and attach a dark blue glass piece in front. Urine spots on the carpet are easily visible in this ‘black light’. You can rub vinegar but the smell may be obnoxious for you. Therefore for removing that you may have to go for odor remover available in Pet shops.
In order to save your lawn from turning bald; you may add yeast in the diet of the pup. Yeast changes the constitution of the urine and makes it less acidic. In addition you may treat the bald patches with lime thereafter wet them well.
But nothing can beat a nicely house broken puppy, the secret of which lies in the use of a Play Pen and hard work on your part. It takes lot of time and labor to house train the pup and make him worth living in human company. But all that labor is worth it considering the cost of your goods and the mess a pup can create.
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Thank you Ravindra. |
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very correct.we had been eye witness to these activities while we were having puppy. |