Feb 26 2010
Secrets To Training A Dog To Pee On Command
An Example Of How To Potty Train A Puppy
You can teach your dog a lot of different commands. Some of these are very useful, like “stay”, and some of them are potentially life saving, like “come”. There are some other commands that are not as important, but they are very convenient. My very favorite is to teach my dog to pee on command.
Why would I want to do that? I used to participate in agility and obedience competitions, and if my dog urinated in the ring, we were heavily penalized. I taught my dog to urinate on command, and before we went in the competition ring, I’d take him for a walk, ask him to pee, and I’d be confident he’d not cost us points by doing it at the wrong time.
There are also some other times it is useful. For example, late at night, when you’re tired, the last thing you want to do is wait for your dog to eventually empty his bladder. If your dog can pee on command, you will be back inside and in your bed very quickly.
You could be visiting your vet, and your vet may need a urine sample. No problem here, take your dog outside and commans it to pee, and come back in with a freshly voided sample for testing. It really is a useful behavior for your dog to learn.
While your dog may not always pee immediately on command, he’ll go to the toilet quicker than if he hadn’t been trained.
You can train your dog to urinate when you ask him to at the same time as you are toilet training him. It’s easier for him to learn at the same time as he learns where his toileting area is when you’re potty training a puppy. However, older dogs are also capable of learning to pee on command.
Take your dog outside to it's potty area, and as he pees, give it whatever command you’ve chosen - it could be “toilet” or “pee” or even “tinkle”. It will not matter as long as you’re consistent and you use the same command each and every time.
When your dog urinates, give it lots of praise and cuddles. Because of this, when dog s learning where it’s ok to pee, he’s also linking it with your command.
You must give your dog this same command every time it pees, and reward him when he gets it right. This means you’ll have to do it while you’re out walking, or at the beach. You could get some odd looks from some people, but don not let a chance go by to reinforce what your command means.
Unlike commands like “sit” or “drop”, which can be very quick to teach using food, training your dog to pee on command is a slow process. It will take time, repetition and a lot of patience, and in some cases, dogs do not ever “get it”. Dogs are clever though, and in most cases, they eventually learn. When your dog does figure it out. providing he has something in his bladder, he’ll be very willing to do as you ask. Taking him to the toilet last thing at night will be so much more convenient.
