Dog Community

Praising

Posted : 6/30/2006 7:33:11 PM

I'm about a week into housetraining my puppy, and he's had a few accidents in the house (usually my fault for not keeping a constant eye on him). Anyways, I was wondering when exactly to praise him when he goes outside do I start telling him he's a goodboy while he's going or wait till he finishes? Probably an obviouse answer, but I just want to be sure.

Xeph

Posted : 7/1/2006 1:20:55 AM

While he's going. He needs to connect that going potty outside is the good thing. Once he's finished, he's no longer going potty outside, he's just....outside.

Also, always make sure to NAME the behavior you are praising (Or correcting) for. While he's going potty, "Good boy! Go potty!" And then it's a big party

Andrew Tatuaka

Posted : 7/1/2006 12:56:33 PM

allright, thanks for the help [

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spiritdogs

Posted : 7/1/2006 1:27:05 PM

Personally, I would wait until the millisecond he finishes. Some puppies will stop as soon as you praise, thus don't complete the task :-)

)

Julitza

Posted : 7/1/2006 1:39:51 PM

I agree with both, it really depends on the pup. If you see that he/she gets too excited when you praise during potty, then praise immediatly after.

What I do with Lizzie is that as soon as she starts to go I tell her in a hushed voice 'Good Girl' and immediatly after shes finished I throw a big party. If I praise her while shes going she will get too excited and stop

Roxie865

Posted : 7/1/2006 2:00:49 PM

With Roxie, I do wait until she's finished. I did start out with praising her in the act, but she stopped like the others mentioned. As soon as she finishes, I instantly praise her and give her a treat when we come back inside.

Some may not agree with the treat after it's over, but I think it helped her want to "go potty". When we're outside for a while and come back inside, she doesn't automatically assume she's getting a treat. She's learned that a treat is earned after "going potty" outside. I give her a variety of treats, though, so each one correlates with a particular "good deed". She's a fast learner, too.

Hope this helps and good luck! [

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astaracheetah

Posted : 7/1/2006 3:14:44 PM

I always praise Shippo while he's in the act... nothing super loud and exciting, but just a quiet, happy "yaaaaaaaaay" and then I praise more excited-like after he's done. >^^;<

Andrew Tatuaka

Posted : 7/1/2006 3:29:37 PM

Thanks for everyone's input. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong, I normally tell him goodboy quietly while he's going then pet and praise him after he's done and give him his treat.

inne

Posted : 7/1/2006 10:43:11 PM

This thread is really interesting to me because when we had our awful 'test walk' with a dog walker, she reprimanded me for praising while Louise was pooping (Louise was totally potty trained at the time, but I praise out of habit) because she said it would interrupt her (it never has). Anyway, that really annoyed me.

Minty_Pups

Posted : 7/2/2006 1:19:58 PM

My puppy had the same problem, he would get up mid-poop if I praised too loudly, so I had to keep my voice hushed until he was done. Also I had to hide the treats, 'cause if he knew I had treats, he would just hang around my legs and not even go potty.

bunni

Posted : 7/3/2006 5:59:29 PM

Praise with a treat will tremendously shorten training time compared to praise alone.

spiritdogs

Posted : 7/3/2006 9:02:17 PM

she reprimanded me for praising while Louise was pooping (Louise was totally potty trained at the time, but I praise out of habit) because she said it would interrupt her (it never has). Anyway, that really annoyed me.

innes, I can understand why it annoyed you if your dog is unaffected by mid-poop praise. The reason the advice is given, though, is that it does interrupt quite a few dogs (more problematic with urination usually). At any rate, the dog walker meant no harm, I'm sure, and only wanted to save you from having a dog that soiled inside. Perhaps he or she could have been nicer in the way they mentioned it to you.