Behaviour & training
Toilet training, crate training, socialising and litter trays. Step-by-step routines that say what to do and how long each stage takes.
Telling off a puppy or kitten teaches them to hide accidents.
A pet that's told off doesn't learn to stop. They learn to go somewhere you are not. Clean it up, then work out what caused it.
A puppy's crate is a bedroom, not a naughty step.
Conditioned properly, it becomes the place your puppy sleeps off a busy day, and puppies need far more sleep than most owners expect. Used as a punishment, it becomes the thing they fight.
Training starts the day your puppy or kitten comes home.
A good breeder will have started before that. The same goes for crate training a puppy and for socialising. There is no sign to wait for, so the only real mistake is starting late.
Behaviour & training articles
Behaviour & training
Puppy Crate Training: A Step-by-Step Guide
Puppy crate training works when the crate becomes the best place in the world for your puppy. It fails when it becomes a place they are simply put. Get the conditioning right and you accelerate toilet training, protect your puppy's sleep, and give them somewhere to switch off. Get it wrong and you have built a box your dog does not want to enter.
- Puppy
- Dog
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Behaviour & training
Puppy Toilet Training: A Step-by-Step Guide
Puppy toilet training starts the day your puppy arrives, and it lands on average somewhere between sixteen and twenty weeks. There are no fixed timings in between. Your job is not to run a schedule. It is to spot the moments your puppy is about to go, and to be there to reward them for getting it right outside.
- Puppy
- Dog
Behaviour & training
How to Litter Train a Kitten: A Step-by-Step Guide
To litter train a kitten, give them a large, open tray in a quiet spot away from their food and water. Keep it clean, and settle them near it after meals, naps and play. Kittens already have the instinct to dig and bury, so your job is mostly setup rather than teaching. Most kittens arrive already litter trained, and the rest usually pick it up quickly.
- Cat
- Kitten
Behaviour & training
When Can Kittens Go Outside? A UK Vet Nurse's Guide
Most kittens are ready to go outside about two weeks after their second vaccination, which usually lands at around fourteen weeks old. In practice, the date that matters more is neutering, and that is normally five to six months. Letting an unneutered kitten out is where the trouble starts.
- Cat
- Kitten
Behaviour & training
When Can Puppies Go Outside? A UK Vet-Backed Guide
Your puppy can go outside in public one to two weeks after their second vaccination. For a few weeks after that second jab, usually about three, keep to pavements and built-up areas while leptospirosis cover builds. Stay off farmland, woodland and standing water such as ponds and canals, and do not let them drink from puddles.
- Puppy
- Dog
Behaviour & training
Puppy Socialisation: The Window and How to Use It
Puppy socialisation is about building optimism in a safe and trusting manner. It is about building emotions, not behaviour, and it means exposing your puppy to the world rather than just to other dogs.
- Puppy
- Dog
Whether you're just starting out or working on one habit, take training one skill at a time and give each one the time it needs.
