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E-mail received at dog fun on 22/05/01.

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Hi I have just read your articles on toilet training and waking up to early. I have both problems, is it best to get the toilet habits established before trying to have a lie in.

At the moment I ignore him for a few minutes , sometimes he has already gone, other times I take him outside and he doesn't want to go! What do you recommend

Many thanks Jessica C

Jade's reply.

Dear Jessica,
House training your dog should be a priority for obvious reasons but it is the routines that you establish whilst house training your dog that could create problems when you would like to have a lie in. The point that I wanted to make in the article on toilet training is that dogs live by routine.

In general when it gets light in a morning your dog will wake and will want to go to the toilet, you will want to teach your dog that it should never go to the toilet inside the house and that it should always wait to be let out into the garden. So far so good but if for example every time that he barks, because it is light and 'time to get up', you immediately appear on the scene like room service you will be establishing this as a routine. Your dog will think that it has given you fair warning and if you do not appear within a couple of minutes, will not make the effort to wait to be let out into the garden. That is why it is helpful if you can vary your response times this will teach your dog that you will come and let it out but not
immediately and that it will have to wait (if it can). Also if you are awake just before your dog normally barks take this opportunity to let it out before it barks as this all helps to avoid the routine of an alarm call from your dog. As he gets older this will give you the opportunity to have that extra half hour but this will take some time. Be realistic, don't expect you dog to last until 10 o'clock, all you should aim for is avoiding having to get up at 7.00 o'clock but perhaps waiting until 8.00 o'clock.

You should also consider working on putting your dog back to bed for another half hour after it has been let out. This will teach it that it doesn't control when everyone starts their day and that being let out for the toilet and having your company are two different things. Part of the reason for the early barking will be the fact that your dog is awake and would like to be with the rest of the pack (you), the toilet side of things might not always be the main reason for the barking.

As far as him not going to toilet when you let him out you will have to teach him a definite command for this. Just as with any other command like fetch or sit this will need to be learned by your dog and once you achieve this he will be in no doubt as to what is expected of him when you let him out. You should choose a command like "be quick" and stick to this always. To make your dog associate this with going to the toilet you should catch him in the act and repeat the command as he goes I.E. "be quick good boy be quick that's it be quick" etc. You should then start to say "be quick" as you let him out and always give him lots of praise
when he has been. He will soon get into the habit. This applies to lots of
commands like sit or down, while your dog is sitting repeat the command "sit", over time your dog will associate this command with this action and sit on command.

I hope that this is of some help to you, good luck

All the best, Jade the Doberman

As with the rest of Dog Fun we are only offering advice, we have learned a lot through our own experience and would like to further that knowledge with your help. If you have any good tips or advice that would help dog owners drop us a line to jade@dogfun.co.uk and we will display your advice and give you credit for your help!