Secondnature Dog Litter, 25-lb bag

1. Praise: A dog learns faster through positive encouragement, so praise him for a job well done!
2. Setting up: Select a confined area near family activity to place pups bed, food, water and litter pan.
3. Boundaries: Keep your pup crated or confined in the same place, with regular potty breaks.
4. Routine: Establish a food, water and exercise routine to help train the digestive system.
5. Using the Pan: Get off to a great start with adequate training and supervision.

How to train a puppy?

• Dog litter training a puppy is not unlike house training, with the exception of taking the puppy to the litter pan rather than outside.
• Housetraining is one the most important training efforts you'll ever make, but it does not have to be difficult. Purina's behaviorists recommend a five-step approach.
• First is to establish a routine. The first thing every morning and the last thing every night, take your puppy to the litter pan. Feed her at the same time every day and take her to the litter pan as soon after a meal as possible, usually within fifteen minutes. During housetraining when you're with your puppy, take her to the litter pan every hour. While fresh drinking water should be available at all times, you may want to time a very young puppy's drinks to just prior to her scheduled hourly potty breaks.
• Second, until she is trained keep a constant eye on your puppy. During housetraining, the only time your puppy should have the run of the house is when you are there to watch her.
• Third, is to crate-train your puppy. Puppies instinctively want to keep their sleeping space clean. Make the crate a happy place for your puppy. Encourage her to go into the crate by tossing a toy or kibble of food inside while commanding, "kennel". Once inside, praise her and close the door. After a moment, let your puppy back out of the crate. Repeat the exercise, gradually extending her time inside.
• Use the crate as a bed and as a safe place for your puppy whenever you are gone or cannot watch her. Try not to make a big deal out of opening the door to let her out; you want your puppy to know that praise follows the command to go inside the crate. When taking your puppy out of her crate during the first few weeks of the housebreaking period, put a leash on her and walk to her designated potty place as quickly as possible. This will lessen the chance of an accident.
• As a general rule, your puppy can safely be left in her crate the number of hours that equal her age in months plus one.
• Fourth is designating a potty area. Let your puppy know where she should go potty by taking her to the litter pan. Do this by consistently taking her to the litter pan and commanding "Go potty". When she does have an accident, wipe it up and put the rag of paper towel in the litter pan. The scent will help clue her in to your command. When she does potty in the proper place, reward your puppy with lavish praise and lots of petting. To avoid initial confusion, give your puppy the opportunity to eliminate in her pan before taking her outdoors for exercise or walks.
• Fifth is to correct your puppy's mistakes only when you catch her in the act. With a firm "NO!" pick up your puppy and take her to the litter pan. A puppy is a baby and you must expect some accidents. It's not her fault. Be patient. Clean up the area with an odor neutralizer to prevent further soiling in that place.
• Should your puppy continue to have problems with urinating, we would recommend that you continue to work with your veterinarian.

Can you train an adult dog?

Yes, you can train older puppies and adult dogs to successfully learn to use the secondnature brand Dog Litter Housetraining System. You would use the same techniques for training an adult dog as you would a puppy. Because a schedule is probably in place and the owner is able to anticipate when the dog will need to eliminate, it should make it easier to know when to take the dog to the litter pan. The same basics of training apply to training an adult dog as a puppy.

Can dog still go outside?

In-home studies has determined that almost all dogs have adapted well to using both the inside litter pan and the outdoors without any loss of housetraining behavior. However, while training to use the secondnature dog litter training system, we would not recommend taking the dog outside. Once the dog is consistently using the litter system, then you can incorporate eliminating indoors with outdoors.

How to stop from chewing/playing with litter? Will it hurt him?

• The secondnature brand Dog Litter is made of recycled newspaper and wood pulp. Please know that there is nothing in this product that would be harmful if a dog ate it.
• Always fill your dog's litter pan with secondnature Dog Litter in his absence. The sound of the Dog Litter hitting the pan may sound like the familiar sound of his favorite food kibble hitting his dish, and we do not want to confuse him about the purpose for which his Dog Litter is there.
• Chances are your dog has never seen anything that resembles the shape of secondnature; it is only natural that he should want to investigate it. Some smelling and tasting should be permitted, but if he grabs the litter in his mouth, redirect this behavior much like you would if he just grabbed your sock or shoe by taking the object and substituting the litter with an appropriate chew item.
• Remember, investigative behavior is normal for a puppy or dog in new surroundings. Always provide your dog with appropriate chew toys while you are away and make sure you interact with him as much as possible when you are home.

Puppy is going everywhere in the house. What do I do?

Confining the puppy to a small area is key to training, regardless of where the puppy is being trained to eliminate. When you confine the puppy, you reduce the choices of places where the puppy will go. Once the puppy is consistently using the litter system, then you can expand the confined area very gradually giving the puppy more and more freedom. You always want to make sure, as you are expanding the area, which the puppy is continuing to go back to the litter pan for elimination.

Help! My puppy is going outside the pan. What should I do?

• If you catch your dog in the act, in order to STOP the unwanted behavior - Use a low tone in combination with a distracting vocal cue like "AHHH!" to startle and distract your dog. If you are reacting in a loud, over excited state, the dog will not be able to relax and finish eliminating. (You will need to remain calm and directive like you are in control over the situation.)
• Nudge the dog into the pan. Then use the elimination command such as "Go Potty", wait, and offer encouragement by softly reassuring dog "goooood boy, go potty."
• If dog does eliminate, praise him softly, encourage a few more times if he does not eliminate immediately. Release him from the pan.
• If he does not eliminate, he will have to be supervised more carefully in the future.
• Make sure you are being calm and positive in regards to this whole situation because your dog will be very observant to your behavior. Body language, tone of voice and facial expressions can all be used for training cues.

How does this product work?

The highly absorbent litter material is made from paper and wood pulp products. Secondnature brand Dog Litter has unique properties, which actually absorb moisture from the bottom up, meaning that your dog's liquid waste will go to the bottom of the pan and then be drawn up through the litter.

Older dog is having accidents. Do you think I can train him to use litter?

• We believe that any dog can be trained to use the secondnature brand Dog Litter. Please know that it will take commitment on your part to confine the animals and monitor their feeding and water intake so that there is a routine schedule for taking the dog to the pan. This will ensure that the dog understands the appropriate place to eliminate.
• The key is to anticipate when the dog is going to have to go and take him to the pan. If you catch him in action, then there is a good possibility he will not finish when put in the pan. You might want to collect some of the urine from accidents on a piece of paper towel and put that under the litter as well as putting fecal matter in the pan so the dog gets the idea this is where that belongs.
• Also, if you confine to a small area with just the dog's crate, litter pan and food and water during meals, the dog will be limited in the areas where accidents can occur.

Dog is currently paper-trained, how can I get him to use the litter?

If your dog is currently paper (or potty pad) trained you can begin by putting that in the litter pan to allow the dog to get used to going in and out of the litter pan. Then gradually begin to put the litter under the material so the dog can adjust to the feel under their feet. Eventually you will want to cut away a portion of the original material and replace it with the dog litter. Once your dog is using the dog litter, then you can remove the old material entirely.

I have two dogs. Can they both use one pan?

Yes, if you have two dogs they can both use the same pan as long as they get along well with one another. One way to guarantee reliable pan use is to train each puppy to use an individual pan, and then remove one of the pans once they are both completely trained. Bear in mind that when two dogs are using the same pan, you will have to make an extra effort to keep the pan clean!

Does your litter have ink on the paper? If the litter is made of newspapers, I would think the ink from the newspapers could be very harmful to dogs?

Newspaper does contain ink. However, the inks used in newspaper and magazines are mainly soy based and any residual solvents are flashed off during the printing process. Our pelletizing process physically removes any "free" ink from the paper during the sizing procedure. The pellets are under high pressure and heat preventing any inks from bleeding onto carpets or cats paws. A pellet can be dropped into a glass of water and the ink will not bleed.

I have a "small" dog and using a "large" crate to confine him during the day......would it be okay to place the litter pan inside the crate?

While we do not recommend placing our litter pan inside crates.....yes, it would be okay to place the litter pan inside an "Extra-Large Crate or Enclosure". However, you must make sure the dog has enough room to lay down and play 2-3 feet away from the litter pan.