House Training Your Pet: Toilet Training

House training your pet should begin, (1) as soon as it is weaned from its mother (refers to the offspring of your pet), and (2) when you arrive home with a new pet from the pet store. House training your pet the earliest possible time is far more effective than allowing your pet to keep its unruly behavior (which it deems normal) without intervention and then correcting that later.

A rule of thumb when house training your pet is consistency and reward. This applies to majority of trainable pets such as dogs, cats, birds, rodents, etc. House training your pet doesn’t have to be complicated as long as you’re sure of what things you want the pet to learn. It could be basic manners like toilet training, behaving with strangers and family guests, or respond to one-word commands like sit, wait, off, out, etc.

Of course, it would be unfair to expect one pet to learn as quickly as another pet of the same or different specie, and you certainly have to employ various methods of house training your pet. Dogs and cats are probably easier to train than smaller pets. It’s important to take close scrutiny of a pet’s natural behavior and specific personality.

Litter-box/toilet training
Besides house training your pet to follow a feeding schedule, the litter-box training should be your next priority. You need to provide a specific location where your pet could eliminate or place paper and pads where he could relieve himself. Your pet would probably ignore the paper or pads at first, but always show him the right place to eliminate even when he slips.

Placing papers all over the room or cage may be helpful so that your pet will get used to eliminating on them. Then, reduce the number of sheets gradually and observe where you pet goes. Provide more than one litter-boxes for cats/kittens if your house has two floors.

When you’re just starting with house training your pet, it’s advisable to confine pets in a smaller room to limit his space. Puppies may be kept in a crate, while smaller pets may be left in their cage as usual until they’ve grown to adapt the routine.

Always use words when giving commands for a specific situation to improve association. For instance, say no or any other similar command when your pet chews on your shoes. This can be hard at first especially with young pets but reassured that your pet will eventually pick up on it.

Lastly, never be harsh on young pets because you’ll only get the opposite of what you’re hoping for when house training your pet.