Train My Saint Bernard
16 Feb 2009
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Train My Saint Bernard Videos
me and the st. bernard puppy
A few training tips: Starring Yoshi the Saint puppy
Train My Saint Bernard Q&A
What's a SUCCESSFUL way to potty train a puppy?
I'm getting my new Saint Bernard puppy in a few weeks, and I just want to know some SUCESSFUL potty training tecniques.
I have a 7 month old Saint Bernard /Chesapeake Bay Retriever mix. We tried the potty pads but he destroyed them the second they hit the floor despite our trying to keep him from doing that by distracting him with toys or using the spray bottle. So we gave up and tried crate training which has BY FAR been the most successful for us.
First, make sure when you go to put puppy in the crate that he's fresh from a play time, and then a potty break and is tired enough to want to lay down for a bit. Puppies don't develop the muscle control needed to "hold it" until they're 5 - 6 months old. Our little guy needed to have a potty break about every 45 minutes, more often if he was playing/excited. It was exhausting.
Now pick a word you want to use for the command to go in the crate. We use "kennel."
We used treats and toys to lure our puppy into his crate. We'd show him the treats/toys, then throw them into the crate and as soon as he went in after them we'd say "Kennel!" We tried to make it a fun experience for him every time he went in there, I've even laid down at the opening and played with him while he was in there. You want your puppy to always have a have positive association with his crate.
We repeated the luring with treats/toys several times until he showed no hesitation to go in his crate. That's when we started closing the door for a few seconds at a time. We'd keep the door closed a little longer each time. This helps the dog understand that you'll always let him out, that he's not getting shut in there for good.
Put a couple of his favorite chew toys in there with him (make sure they're safe for puppy to chew on when he's unsupervised) in case he gets bored.
It took a few weeks for our dog to really embrace the crate idea but now when he's tired he puts himself to bed!
I found a lot of great tips on the perfectpaws.com site. Another good read is a book called "The Puppy Whisperer" by Paul Owens, Terence Cranendonk and Norma Eckroate
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No items matching your keywords were found.
Train My Saint Bernard Videos
me and the st. bernard puppy
A few training tips: Starring Yoshi the Saint puppy
Train My Saint Bernard Q&A
Train my dog to play and be kind to people and animals?
No items matching your keywords were found.
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