Tilly Talks – toilet training Our very own Tilly Saunders has been training dogs for over 4 years and is highly experienced in dog training and socialisation! In the piece below, Tilly shares in her own words, the importance of toilet training your pooch in the right way… The number one bug bear for many owners are dogs that are not fully house trained. Dog’s may have accidents in the home for many reasons, stress, illness or poor misunderstanding of where they can and can’t go to the toilet. Many owners opt for puppy pads when toilet training their dog or puppy, however, what many do not understand is that you’re inadvertently reinforcing (rewarding or teaching) your dog to go to the toilet in the house. It is also difficult for owners to eventually wean the dogs off the puppy pads and put them out into the garden. From a training point of view, it is much less confusing to the dog and easier for the owner to teach the dog to go to the toilet outside from day one it is a much quicker process and much less confusing for your little friend. Letting your dog outside multiple times per day, after meal times, after play-time, when they wake up and if you start to notice them wandering around sniffing the floor, let them outside. When your dog goes outside and does go to the toilet, reward, reward, reward! It is common place for owners to name the toileting activity, such as “business” that way your dog is clear when you let them out, what you want from them. This doesn’t work for all dogs, if this is the case, then learning what your dog’s indicators are, such as standing by the door, will help you and your dog. If you need any more training tips, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Enterprise Trainer, Rachel. Rachel: 07464 490201 / [email protected]