Housetraining the dog

Elementary rules for housetraining the dog
The principal rule for obtaining good control of the dog is to establish your dominance over the dog. (Careful! In no way does this mean that you should confront your dog and be disproportionately authoritative. The intelligent method is sufficiently effective, whilst a violent method can have catastrophic results.) We mean that you should establish your position in the hierarchy over the dog. The following pointers will help you to achieve a correctly housetrained dog.

Separate mealtimes: The dog eats after its owners and strictly gets NOTHING from them during their meal. We often cede to the temptation or to the dog’s whines and its convincing look, but this behaviour will not help to train the dog at all.

Resting place: The dog sleeps in the place it has been assigned. Make sure that this is neither a necessary passageway, nor your own bed. When the dog behaves badly, take it to its place without aggression, but authoritatively, and without taking no for an answer.

Dominant communicator: To be perceived as dominant one must adopt a firm tone of voice, without shouting, using brief words (the more words that are used, the tone becomes more monotone, and the conviction is diminished). Lean towards the dog with your eyes fixed on its front or back, and not excessively on its eyes, as this can be interpreted as a provocation.

Collar from early on: Put a collar on your dog from a young age. In the beginning it will scratch its neck, and it will curl up in an attempt to free itself from it, but once it has understood that there is nothing it can do, it will end up accepting it. The next step consists of tying a light lead or a fine string to the collar (preferably of a substance that the puppy cannot chew through). Let the dog pull against this for a few minutes each day, until it forgets about it.

Then, take the lead and encourage it to follow you, talking to it all the while. If it struggles, wait until it calms down, and then encourage it to go with you, and praise it when it does so.

Commands: All puppies must know certain commands so as to learn how to obey. It is important to always use the same word (sound) for the same objective. In this way, we can understand why trainers use commands like “Heel”, “Basket”, “Sit”, “Down”, “Up”, “No”, “Stay”, “Come”.

How do I make my dog understand he should not jump on guests?
To teach your dog to correct its behaviour is going to take a little time. Leave discretely and return, entering the house through the front door. The dog has a poor understanding of time and does not understand that you have just left. It will receive you with its customary jump. Tell it off with a raised voice as soon as it jumps up. The “No” seen previously is an order which will be useful to you. If you have difficulty achieving this with your tone of voice alone, try a noisier way: Clap your hands in front of its face when it jumps.

When it is back on four legs, lean over and put it in the sitting position. Praise it conscientiously. Repeat this strategy several times. Do not forget that all learning is all about disapproval when behaviour is bad, but, above all, praise when it is good.

How do I make my dog understand not to bark when guests arrive?
The suggestions given in the last paragraph can also be used in this case. Here, if you have not got the dog to stop barking when guests arrive with your firm voice, you can punish it, confining it in its isolated resting place for a few moments. This step must be systematic.

If, in response to your punishment, you find a reduction on the volume of the barks whilst the guest is still in the hall, continue with the punishment until it quietens down (we are on the right track). Give it a lot of praise and be very nice to it when it has quietened down definitively...