Golden Retriever Training: Jun 14, Paper Training Puppies -- Tips and Techniques

Golden Retriever Puppy Many trainers advise against paper training puppies at all.

That's because you're giving your puppy permission to relieve himself inside the house.

Of course, that's the very thing you don't ever want him to do.

I totally agree with this excellent advice.

I'm only including this section in case it's the only way you can have a young puppy at all.

The Number One Problem is pretty obvious: Big dogs make big messes. For that reason, paper training dogs as large as Golden Retrievers is just not a good idea.

Paper training puppies can also create a big problem later on.

That's because some grown-up paper trained dogs actually refuse to relieve themselves outside at all.

They'll wait for hours to get home to the good old newspaper, or the place where the newspaper used to be.

While paper training small puppies may be helpful for a short period of time, a problem with using papers throughout a dog's life is that it's rarely 100 percent effective.

It also makes you really nervous when visiting in other people's homes, as your dog may easily mistake your friend's habit of setting the daily paper beside his lounge chair, for a flashing neon "Restroom" sign just for him.

Do you live on the fifth floor of an apartment building?

Will there be times when no one is available to take the puppy outside every hour?

In your situation, it may be justifiable for you to paper train your puppy as a temporary measure.

Paper training puppies can work in cases like this, if you combine using a crate with taking the puppy outside, to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation.

If you decide that paper training puppies is your best option, given your circumstances, you need to decide where to set up the "Puppy Bathroom."

Choose an enclosed area in the kitchen, utility room or bathroom.

Having an easily cleaned floor, like linoleum or tile, will be a great time-saver.

Use newspapers to cover the floor of the entire room.

It makes a cheap (or free) way to soak up the puddles and to wrap up and dispose of the puppy piles.

The big thing to remember when you put those papers down for the first time is that they'll be removed for good--soon.

The shorter the time the puppy is relieving himself inside the house, the better it will be for everyone.

Golden Retriever Puppy Put your puppy's crate (with the door open) at one end of the room.

This arrangement will reinforce his natural instinct to sleep in one place and dirty in another.

It's also a good way to combine crate training with paper training, eventually leading to having a fully crate-trained, housebroken dog.

Basically, paper training puppies follows the same rules as housebreaking puppies, but you'll take your pup to papers instead of outside.

As far as the actual training is concerned, here's the best way to go about it: Begin the first minute you bring a puppy home. Put some newspapers down where you want the puppy to go and show him where they are. Before long, your puppy will start to sniff and circle, or start to squat. Be ready. Pick him up and gently put him down on the papers, praising him with "Gooood dog!" Every time he starts to relieve himself, even if you're a little late, gently put him on the papers with "Gooood dog!" It won't be long before he goes over and eliminates on the papers all by himself. When he's made it to the papers on his own steam, and been praised for it consistently, you can start getting a little tough. Tell him "No!" when he starts to go on the bare floor, and "Gooood dog!" after you've put him gently on the papers. He'll catch on quickly.
Golden Retriever Puppy

Change the papers after each use. Put a slightly soiled paper underneath the fresh ones. Your puppy's keen sense of smell will zero in on the "bathroom smell," encouraging him to use this spot for his business. Wipe under papers with pet odor eliminators daily. This keeps the smell off the floor, discouraging the pup from sniffing the edge of the paper but actually going off of it. Putting waxed paper or plastic under the papers can save your floor from staining or long-term odor. Don't leave the papers in the same spot for too long. You don't want the puppy to get the idea that it's the location rather than the papers that makes it OK to eliminate there. Gradually move the papers closer and closer to the door the puppy will be using to go outside. This starts him on the way toward going to the door to tell you that he needs to be emptied.

Golden Retriever Puppy By the way, paper training puppies--except maybe for a sickly puppy or for the very first few days--is not a substitute for housebreaking a puppy to the outdoors.