What if your dog could poop on cue?

“Hurry Up and POOP!

I know you’ve experienced this: You have dogs that need to go to the bathroom.

And it’s pouring rain outside.

Maybe it’s snowing or icy or the temperature is hovering near zero degrees. 

And your dogs do not want to go outside. You don’t either, because your dogs take FOREVER to poop. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to wave a wand and bellow out, “I command you to poop!” Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get your dogs to poop outside faster?

I know the struggle! My dogs want to hold it for as long as they possibly can and I surely don’t want to bundle up and go outside myself only to have my dog stand there and do nothing while I look at them and say, “poop, already, eh?”

Did you know you can teach your dogs to poop on cue?

Carter can poop on cue in under a minute! 

My foster dog Carter spent quite a few months in a boarding facility waiting for a foster home to accept him and during that time, the staff conditioned Carter to poop on cue (or, poop on command). As I’ve gotten to know Carter over the past year, I can understand why they needed to train this dog to poop on cue: he is easily distracted and prefers to follow his nose. With a dog like that, one could be waiting for him to poop for a while.

When I give Carter his cue (command) word, he poops in under a minute. It’s amazing! 

My father taught me this technique nearly 40 years ago. I’ve since conditioned many dogs to poop on cue and it is a game-changer! Especially during inclement weather or when you are traveling. It’s especially handy when you don’t have a fenced yard and have to leash walk for potty breaks. 

Life Gets Better When You Train Your Dog To Poop On Command

• First, once successfully conditioned, your dog will poop rather quickly when you begin to utter the cue word. No more frustration or angst because your dog is doing everything else but squatting to poop.
  
• Second, you can use this technique to help regulate your dog’s bowels so that your dog poops on a more predictable schedule. I know my dogs poop in the morning, and at night before bed, unless they pooped during the evening walk.
  
• Third, when you incorporate this conditioning training into a house-breaking protocol, house -training moves along at a faster pace.  This is especially true for house-training puppies! 

How to House-Train Your Dog: A Plan That Works

Choose your potty cue or command word – an important first step!

Before we get started, you need to choose a cue (command) word. This is a word you will say over and over and over again. 

Give this some thought! What word do you want your neighbor to hear you say?

 I’m not one to repeat the words “poo-poo” over and over. But, there’s nothing wrong with that cue word! You could use “hibachi” as your cue word and you’d get the same result. I’ve just given you permission to have a little bit of fun choosing your poop on command word. HeHe!

Steps in training a dog to poop on command: You have to watch your dog poop. Mkay? 

Head to the poop spot!

In order to train your dog to poop on cue, you have to watch them poop. So, leash up a dog, put on your shoes and head out to the pre-selected potty spot in your yard.

I’m not sure if this is a Boston terrier trait or if other breeds do this, but my dogs poop in the far corners of my back yard, so this is the area I keep as the potty spot when training a dog to poop on command. I keep the poop picked up so that dogs will continue to come to this spot. (If you don’t clean it, they will eventually declare a spot “full” and will select a new poop spot.) 

Be quiet, watch, and wait. It’s not time for the cue word, yet.

OK. You are outside with your dog whose leash you are holding. Now you watch. Don’t say a word. 

Wait for it.

Say the cue word when your dog postures to poop. Then, keep talking like a broken record.

Only when your dog postures to poop, begin saying your cue word in a low, repetitive fashion as the poop passes. 

“hurry up. hurry up. hurry up. hurry up. hurry up.” in one-second intervals. 

Continue saying this as long as poop is passing.  When the dog is finished, you can offer your high praises of “good job!” along with petting and maybe even a quick game. 

If I’m house-training at the same time as I’m conditioning a poop response, my cues might go something like this: “hurry up. hurry up. good job. hurry up. hurry up. But, my praise for pottying outside is loaded after the dog finishes going potty. 

What are each dog’s pre-poop behaviors? 

Do this for about a week or so. While you are waiting for your dog to posture to poop, make some mental notes about observations you see in your dog before it positions to poop.  

My dog’s pre-poop behaviors:

• Carter zigzags back and forth, three steps right, three steps left. 
• Sassy first puts her nose to the ground as she walks a couple of yards, then she walks in a circle. 
• Otis starts to walk faster. 

Why Is My Dog Such A Picky Pooper? 

Introduce The Cue Word During Pre-Poop Behaviors

After about a week of saying the cue word during the passing of stool, begin to introduce the cue word as your dog is doing their pre-poop behaviors. 

As Carter zig-zags and before he postures, I start saying “hurry up” every second. As Otis picks up the pace of his walk, I introduce the cue word at one-second intervals. Every dog has a pre-poop behavior, and you want to add that potty word during these behaviors. 

Finally, Add The Cue Word As You Are Walking To The Poop Area

After another week or so of saying the cue word during the prepping-to-poop behaviors, start introducing the cue word as you approach the poop area. Your dog probably is not doing any pre-poop behaviors, but just strolling and smelling things. Say the cue word once. 

Wait a few seconds, like 3-5 seconds, maybe, and say the cue word again. In 3-5 second increments, say the cue word until you begin to see the dog engage in pre-poop behaviors, at which time you will increase the pace of your cue word. 

Keep Up The Conditioned Response

Within a few weeks, you’ll find that you don’t need to be quite so repetitive with your cue word, rather your dog (or your dog’s body!) responds to your verbal cue to “hurry up.” 

These days, Sassy and Otis don’t need cue words as they potty pretty quickly most days. I still use my poop on command words. I do try and keep them familiar with the cue and I’m always using it during inclement weather, and grateful for the training. 

Carter has the attention span of a flea, so I help him most days get his duties (<— see what I did there) out of the way so he’s then free to follow his nose for the remainder of his morning walk. 

Every time it’s pouring rain or it’s freezing cold outside, I’m so grateful my dogs (and my foster dogs!) can poop on cue! 

Can your dog poop on cue? What’s your cue word? Share in comments!  If you decide to condition your dog to poop on cue, let me know how it goes!