Most people think that pad training your puppy is the same as teaching your cat how to use the litter box. Where as the two do have some similarities and common goals, they are quite different in a lot of ways. Trying to housebreak your puppy or dog can actually be a much more difficult challenge than housebreaking your kitten or cat. In this article you will learn about some of the key differences between housebreaking your kitten and puppy and also some tips to help make housebreaking your puppy easier.
The first difference in housebreaking your pet is that dogs have more of an urge to make lots of things where as cats tend to be alright with continually marking the same spot. Because of this, kittens tend to learn to start using their litter box a lot sooner than most puppies start learning to use their pads. -a puppy pad by the way usually looks like a flattened out diaper which has an odor seeped in to it which is meant to attract the dog. To help out with this I suggest putting a few puppy pads out around the house in various spots and then start weaning down the number of pads you have as the puppy becomes more competent about using them until you are left with just the one or two puppy pads in the spots that you want.
The second difference is that cats seem to be better marksmen. Although a cat may have problems with pushing litter out of their litter box, they still tend to be pretty good about going to the bathroom in the litter box. Puppies often have the problem with being able to go on the pad. They’ll often make their way over to the pad and sniff around but they often fall quite short and end up going to the bathroom on the outskirts of the pad. For this I suggest either leaving a thing layer of newspaper around the edge of the pad- this way when the scent stops they’ll go on the edge of the pad but still get newspaper- and that you also try to place your puppy pads on hard surfaces and not over carpeted areas.
Lastly, you will need to learn patience and rewarding and this is the same for housebreaking cats and dogs. If your puppy goes to the bathroom somewhere other than it’s pad, you want to show the puppy its accident, so no in a firm voice and then put your puppy on one of his potty pads. If you are able to catch the dog before he goes but you seem him about to, put him on his potty pad as soon as possible. When your dog uses the potty pad on its own, try to give your puppy lots of praise and attention and occasionally even give your puppy a treat.
