 What's
paper training?
Paper training is a specific form of house training for your
Afghan Hound: you're teaching her where in the house is appropriate
for her to eliminate (pee or poop). When you paper train your
Afghan Hound, you teach her to only eliminate on newspapers (chosen
for their absorbency, ready availability, and cheap cost) which
you gather up and throw away after each use.
What options
other than paper training do I have?
There are two ways of effectively, efficiently, and rapidly
house training your Afghan Hound. Paper training is one; the other
is something called "cage training" or "crate
training".
Cage or crate training is based on a dog's basic dislike of
soiling where she sleeps, and involves restricting the dog's
movement, by putting her in a cage, crate, or small indoor kennel,
whenever she cannot be actively supervised.
The difference
between cage training and house training?
Paper training and cage/crate training aren't the same thing.
Cage or crate training is where you train your Afghan Hound to
only go outside; paper training is where you train your Afghan Hound
to only go on newspapers.
You cannot train your Afghan Hound to do both at the same time
-- the two are mutually exclusive. She'll get confused, and you'll
only prolong the training process.
You can choose to use paper training as an intermediary step
for eventually only eliminating outside (although not everyone
recommends this: it's easier on the dog, and more effective all
round, to choose one method and stick with it.)
Why should I
choose paper training instead of cage training?
Cage/crate training and paper training are both effective
ways to house train your Afghan Hound.
In general, it's accepted (by most dog trainers and vets)
that cage/crate training is the fastest method of house training
your Afghan Hound; but it requires a considerable investment of
time and effort, which is not an option for everyone.
Paper training is the best option for you if:
- You don't have easy access to a yard (for example, you live
in a hi-rise apartment block)
- It's not easy for you to take your Afghan Hound outside for
any other reason (for example, elderly or unwell people)
- You have a full-time job, or other time-consuming commitment
which can't be worked around (meaning that you're not able to
spend the large amounts of time supervising your Afghan Hound
that cage/crate training requires)
- You're planning on training your Afghan Hound to go outside
the house eventually, but not just yet (for example, it's the
dead of winter with four-foot snow drifts outside)
Cage/crate training is the best option for you if:
- You have a medium to large dog
- You are able to spend a lot of time during your puppy's first
weeks of house training in actively supervising her, and are
available during the day to let her out of the crate at two-
or three-hour intervals
- You want to train your Afghan Hound to go outside the house
right from the start
Paper training isn't suitable for all dogs: it really only
works for small males and small-to-medium females, since a dog
larger than these just produces too much waste for the newspaper
(and you!) to handle.
How to paper
train your Afghan Hound?
 First,
pick a convenient area of the house for your Afghan Hound to use
as the elimination area. Because she's going to be peeing and
pooping in this area, it's best if you can choose somewhere without
carpet: most people choose a corner of the kitchen or laundry
(since these rooms usually have tiled or linoleum floors, making
hygiene a non-issue.)
Spread newspaper thickly in a corner of this room. At first,
you'll need to make the newspaper area pretty big, since your
pup has no idea that she's meant to go on the paper at all.
To make sure that she's able to eliminate only on the paper,
you'll either need to restrict her movements to the papered area
of the floor (which you can do by erecting barriers to keep her
in -- if the room you've chosen is large or busy, this is probably
the most user-friendly option for you), or paper the whole floor
(which is a viable option if the paper-room is small and there's
not much thoroughfare).
At first, your puppy will eliminate pretty much at random
on the paper. It's important for the paper-training process that
she only gets to go on the paper -- you need her to form a strong
association between the feeling of paper under her toes, and
relieving herself.
After a week or two, you can begin to shrink the papered area
of the floor, allowing her more access to unpapered surfaces.
Leave the barriers where they are for now so she doesn't get
the chance to eliminate anywhere else.
Do this gradually, a couple of sheets at a time. If you've
given her enough time to get used to the paper, she should naturally
restrict her elimination areas as the papered area shrinks.
NOTE: If at any time she begins to eliminate off the paper,
then increase the size of the papered floor surface to the size
it was when she was still eliminating only on the paper, and
give her more time to get used to it before beginning to reduce
the papered area again.
There's no need to panic: this doesn't mean that the paper
training isn't working, it just means you're moving a bit too
fast for your puppy's capabilities.
Most dogs take a couple of months (eight to twelve weeks)
to get used to the paper training method. Until she's reliably
going on the papers only, you should restrict her access to the
rest of the house unless you're actively supervising her- which
means 100% of your attention is focused on the pup.
In general, a good rule of thumb is that your puppy is confined
to the papered area unless she's sleeping, eating, or being played
with or actively supervised.
Things you should do are
- Praise her effusively whenever you see her eliminating on
the paper. Wait until she's done (so you don't distract her!)
and praise her, pet her, and give her a treat.
- If you catch her in the act of eliminating off-paper, this
is actually a great opportunity for training development. Interrupt
her with a clap, loud verbalization ("Ah-ah-aaaah!"),
or slap your open palm loudly on the wall. This will startle
her -- in most cases, she'll actually stop mid-toilet and hunch
down. Scoop her up immediately and put her on the paper. When
she finishes, praise her hugely and give her a treat.
- If you come across an accident after the fact (a wet spot
or pile on the unpapered floor), you've missed your window of
opportunity to teach her not to do this. You can't tell her off
in this case, because she won't understand what she's done wrong;
all you can do is clean it up and supervise her more carefully.
If this is happening a lot, you've given her too much freedom
in the house and not enough supervision: restrict her access
to the unpapered floor, and step up the supervision.
- Feed her at specific, scheduled times (for example, a meal
at 8 am, 1 pm, and 7 pm) to encourage her to develop an "elimination
timetable".
For more information on how to successfully house train your
Afghan Hound, as well as a whole bunch of in-depth information
on house training troubleshooting and related issues, you'll
probably want to check out The Ultimate House Training Guide, which
comes highly recommended. |
Ultimate
House Training Guide
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immediate download |
Ultimate
Guide to Dog Health
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immediate download |
101 Home Uses
of
Hydrogen Peroxide
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