HOUSE TRAIN YOUR PUPPY OR ADULT DOG

House Training

by

Ken Araujo

Copyright 2004 (all rights reserved)

Taken  from Know Your Dog Vol.1

 

Two fundamental elements of house training involve having  patience and NOT blaming the dog or puppy for “mistakes”. We should always look at our behavior as the cause of the dog soiling in the house.  

First,  we must accept responsibility for the dog’s “accidents”.  We should ask ourselves, have we been faithful to the schedule established for housetraining? Have we paid attention to the sometimes-subtle signs the adult dog or puppy gives us? Have we become lax in providing ample opportunity for our dog or puppy to access his outdoor area? Have we taken time to adequately continue reinforcing our dog’s behavior when using this area by giving him some freedom or a short walk after he has used his “potty” area,   or have we,  after experiencing a little success,  assumed he is housetrained and paid too little attention to the ongoing process of reinforcement?

 

Immediately  begin crate training your puppy or dog  when you get him. See our 10 day crate- training program . Use of the crate will be extremely helpful to you with house-training problems.

 
You must use a schedule if you want to house train your dog in the shortest time possible.  You want to be able to track when your dog goes outside and whether he eliminates at that time.  On a yellow pad, write down the time in 20 minute intervals. Put this schedule on a clipboard in a place you will see it,  and take the dog outside. Check off each time you take your puppy out to the designated “spot”. Make a note of the time when he pees or eliminates. This  will show you what patterns he develops. Writing this down  makes you much more aware of the dog's body schedule, and puts you in control of the house training. This keeps you honest and lets you see that frequently accidents are a consequence of missing scheduled breaks. 
 

 As soon as you get up in the morning take your dog out to his bathroom spot. Dogs can often “hold it” for a long period of time when they are sleeping or at rest but the minute they become active they need to relieve themselves .Immediately upon arising ,  get your dog out on lead to his potty place.

 

If he doesn’t go,  take him back into the house and put him immediately his crate.  On occasion with difficult doggie cases,  I have suggested using two crates: one in the house and one outside by the door. Once the dog is taken outside to his “spot” and he does not eliminate place the dog in his outside crate by the door. Look at your watch,  go about your morning chores and return 15 or 20 minutes later. Take him again to his “spot” and see if he will eliminate. If not repeat this process until you have some success. Then,  as usual,  take the dog for a short walk as a reward.

If your dog  is not crate trained then you must watch him like a hawk. Make no mistake, it is up to you to keep him under observation and make sure he does not have an opportunity to relieve himself in the house.  Wait 15 or 20 minutes and repeat the process again. You need to be as consistent as possible with this process. 

If you can be home with your dog it is better. Initially take your dog out every 20 or 30 minutes to the  same spot and encourage him to “go potty”.

Remember if you can take time to devote to  this process utilizing a long weekend off or time home you will speed up the process and help the dog learn more quickly to do his business outside at his assigned area. 
 
Exercise your dog before bed time,  and take away all  water  and  food a set amount of time before bedtime.   

 

For more information  read Know Your Dog Vol. 1

 

You can Purchase Know Your Dog. Vol 1. click on the book below:

 

 

 

 

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