Question:

Hi I would like to know what is the best way to go about house training by dog.

ANSWER:

Hi Cynthia,

Housetraining – every puppy owner’s favorite past time! And if you believe that, I have a bridge for sale…

Some dogs are easy to housetrain while others seem to take forever and a handful never truly get it quite fully figured out. These are strictly generalizations but small dogs are harder to train, males take longer then females and there are certain breeds that tend to be ‘dirtier’ then others.

The key to housetraining is consistency – make sure your pup’s schedule does not change from day to day and that everyone in the house that has any housetraining duties is performing them exactly the same way.

Puppies have a simple and consistent elimination system:

• They wake up, they have to pee and, if they have been asleep for a while, poop
• They eat, within 15 minutes they will need to poop
• They drink, they will need to go pee within about 5 minutes
• They play, they forget about everything and pee when the action slows down for a second

With this information in mind, and an eagle eye for the signs of them looking for a place to eliminate, you can usually stop an accident before it happens and housetraining becomes easier.

The first trick is to buy a dog crate or kennel and crate the pup at night. Crate training is the dog owner’s salvation – the ability to put your pup some place safe and out of the way when you cannot keep an eye on them makes puppy rearing much more relaxing. We can’t always be 100% attentive to our pups. All it takes is our attention to be diverted for a few minutes and the pup finds something they shouldn’t eat, has had an accident or has wandered off into another room. Crates keep pups safe at night, when we are at work or at times when you are not able to give them the attention they need and it is easiest to crate them for the five minutes you need to complete your task.

For more information on crate training, click here.

With the pup in the crate at night, while you are at work or those odd times where you need a moment to yourself, housetraining will become much easier. As soon as you take them out of the crate, take them immediately outside and I mean immediately! If it is a little or young puppy, pick them up and carry them out – if they have to go badly, they will not wait to get outside before peeing. Once they start to pee, calmly say ‘good puppy, good pee’ or ‘good puppy, good poop’ in a soft voice. You do not want to distract them but it is the beginning of teaching them the word ‘pee’ which they will learn to do on command as they age (let me know if you, or anyone else, would like more information on this).

As soon as they finish eliminating, give them a huge ‘good puppy’ and let them know they are wonderful!

The same goes for after a meal or a big drink of water. Within five minutes of them finishing, get them outside and plan on staying out there until they have done their business – guaranteed it will not be long.

Play sessions are hard to monitor and a busy puppy is like a busy kid – they ignore the initial warnings signs until it is too late and they have to go now! A pup will stop for two seconds and squat just about anywhere before you even have a second to react. So what is the best course of action? Every fifteen to twenty minutes stop the play session and take them outside for a break. This usually works best if you do not take the other pup or kids your pup was playing with as the distraction will make it harder for the pup to do their business. Keep it simple – quick outside and as soon as they finish, big congratulations and back inside for more playing.

The remainder of the time, the pup will give signals that nature is calling – shuffling off on their own, sniffing around and possibly pacing. If you see any these actions, whip them outside and give the usual ‘good puppy!’ when they relieve themselves.

Now you just have to get the kids and husband on board with this plan and you will have a housetrained pup in a matter of weeks versus the more usual months!

The hardest part is not scolding them if they do eliminate inside. Our natural response is to scold them when they have an accident and, if you catch them mid-pee, a stern look and a sharp ‘no’ is fine. However, puppies have a short attention span and unless you catch them in the act, they are not going to know what you are talking about so the correction is useless. And the old training method of showing the pup their mess and scolding them really does not work.

When housetraining pups, it is easier and more productive to praise the positive, not allowing accidents to happen by being diligent and using the crate when you are unable to monitor their behavior. This system works – I have had huge success with this training method with fully housetrained pups within a couple of weeks.