House Training Your Dog

Housetraining

House Training Your Dog

What could be cuter than a little puppy bundle of love?  You’ve brought him home and he’s just the sweetest thing.  Until he piddles on your carpet.  Right?

Well, it happens to all of us.  Housetraining your puppy is just one of the responsibilities that goes along with owning a dog, like having him vaccinated and making sure you feed him good food.  With the right care and training you will have your dog for 10-15 years.  You will need to teach your dog many skills and behaviors to avoid, but the first, and one of the most important things you will teach your puppy are his housetraining skills.

Your puppy has lived the first few weeks of his life with his mother.  She took care of all of his potty needs for the first 3-4 weeks of his life while he was nursing.  After he started to eat solid foods the breeder had to start cleaning up after the little guy (mom knows when to stop).  But, if you’re getting your puppy around the age of 10 weeks, give or take, it’s likely that he has not been housetrained yet.  He’s under the impression that anywhere he goes is okay.  So, you have some things to teach him.  Don’t be mad at him when he goes someplace unacceptable.  Up until now it was okay for him to go anywhere.  He has to learn and he’s just a little guy.

When you first bring your new puppy home you should stop outside and let him relieve himself.  This should help prevent him having an accident in your house in the first five minutes.  After that you can get your puppy on a good schedule.  Take your puppy outside at the following times:

• When he first wakes up in the morning
• Right after he eats
• Right after he drinks
• Right after he plays
• Before he goes to bed at night

It’s also a good idea to put his water up about an hour or so before his bedtime.  This will help him make it through the night with fewer outside excursions needed.

But that’s not all!  Your puppy’s not on this nice schedule yet.  You will need to watch him for signs that he needs to go outside.  Remember that your puppy has been living with his mom and littermates.  He knows how to talk dog (barely).  He doesn’t know how to communicate with you.  That means that he can’t tell you when he needs to go outside to relieve himself yet.  He will learn to be able to tell you but that’s a little ways off.

Watch your puppy for the following signals:

• Sniffing the floor
• Wandering around like he’s looking for something
• Heading for corners and private areas
• Going back to places where he’s had an accident before
• Going to the door for a second and wandering away

These are signs that your puppy is thinking about relieving himself.  When you see him doing these things you should take him outside immediately.

When your puppy does go outside and relieves himself you should praise him warmly and give him some treats.  Play with him.  Tell him what a good boy he is.  If you are consistent it doesn’t usually take very long for most puppies to learn that this is where you want them to go.  Your puppy may start going to the door.  Watch for this sign.  He may not be certain that this is what he’s supposed to do so when you see this sign you should praise him and tell him what a good boy he is.  He may wander away before you get a chance to praise him or take him outside but keep watching for him to do it again.

That’s really all there is to housetraining your puppy.  The procedure is basically the same for an adult dog with the exception that they are able to go longer between potty breaks.  They won’t ask to go out as often or need to go so much.

Housetraining your puppy is one of the most important things you can teach him.  Every year many dogs are given away and lose their homes because their owners can’t teach them housetraining.  It’s not hard to teach them but it does take some patience and consistency.  You have to stick with it to make it work.  It really takes a commitment on the part of the owner.  And now that you’ve done this, your puppy will need you to teach him other ways that you want him to behave!