How to Potty Train a Dalmatian
Introduction
Dalmatians are striking looking, intelligent, and occasionally stubborn dogs. Originally bred as a coach dog, they are high energy dogs that were bred to run for miles alongside coaches. While potty training your Dalmatian, it is good to keep his origins in mind. Your Dalmatian may need a lot of exercise to burn off energy and get everything, including his intestinal tract, “moving”. Long walks will keep your Dalmatian well exercised and prevent boredom that may contribute to difficulties with potty training. Also, the exercise will give your Dalmatian plenty of opportunity to do his business outside rather than inside. Many athletic dogs are more likely to go to the bathroom, especially to have a bowel movement, after some exercise so incorporating this into your potty training regime for your Dalmatian is a good idea. Using positive reinforcement rather than punishment is also a good strategy for Dalmations, who can be sensitive dogs that are confused or upset by punishment.
Defining Tasks
Remember, all dogs, including Dalmatians, are creatures of habit. If your dog goes potty in your house, the smell where he relieved himself can cause him to use that location again for a bathroom spot. If your Dalmatian has an accident in the house, be sure to clean the area well with enzyme cleaners to remove odor and discourage your dog from using that location again.
Getting Started
The Potty Opportunities Method
The Use a Crate Method
The Prevent Accidents Method
Written by Laurie Haggart
Published: 02/13/2018, edited: 01/08/2021
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Success Stories and Training Questions
Training Questions and Answers
duggee
trying to understand and successfully potty traning at 9 weeks old and
842 Dog owners recommended
Hello Jodie, 9 weeks is a great age to start, but also know that the process will probably take at least a couple of months and pup's bladder capacity is really small right now, 3 hours max while in a crate during the day. Pup will probably need trips outside once or twice during the night too for a little while longer. I suggest crating pup at night and waiting until puppy wakes up crying to take him outside, rather than setting an alarm though. The crate can either be in your room or in another room with an audio baby monitor set up so that you will hear pup's nightly wakings. Keep night trips outside very calm, boring, and to the point, then straight back into the crate, without playing, treats, or lots of petting - so that pup will only wake up at night when he really needs to go potty and not for other reasons - and will thus start sleeping through the night sooner when his bladder capacity grows enough to be able to. Check out the crate training method from the article linked below. You can also follow the Tethering method found in that article but the crate training method tends to be the quickest way to train with the fewest amounts of accidents if you can follow it closely. It takes a lot of work at first but in the end can actually be the easiest, with fewer setbacks. Take pup out as often as is recommended in the article while you are home. When you are not home and pup is in the crate someone will still need to take pup out at least every 3 hours at this age too due to his age. That time will increase by one hour each month - so at 3 months of age pup can hold it for a maximum of 4 hours, 4 months = 5 hours, ect... Until 8 hours at 8 months as the maximum time for an adult dog. Crate Training method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-german-shepherd-puppy-to-poop-outside Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
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