House Train Your Puppy
New puppies are a real delight. Anyone who has brought a new puppy home knows how much fun that is. Along with playing and taking care of your new puppy, one of the major events in your new relationship will be a little less fun-namely learning the best way to house train your puppy, which is of course, also the easiest and most effective way possible. The puppy will need to learn that the best place for potty is outside, and it’s up to you to make that happen in the least stressful way possible for the both of you.
The Crate Method has become accepted as the best way to house train your puppy, and is a lot easier on you and the carpets than the old-fashioned Paper Method. The crate, also called a kennel, is usually a metal or plastic kennel sold for house training or transportation of your pet. You can find them in any pet store. It should be just big enough for your pet to be able to stand and turn around in and lay down in when he is full grown. If it’s too spacious, the puppy may not mind using a section of it as a toilet. To avoid that, you can reduce the amount of space by placing a partition in the crate while the puppy is still very small. The whole idea of using the Crate Method to house train your puppy is based on the fact that dogs don’t like to soil their homes. Thank God for that. Nevertheless, your puppy will need to learn that only outside the house, not just anywhere outside his kennel, is permissible for potty purposes. The theory works best if you are really consistent about keeping your puppy inside his crate except for when you are feeding him, actively playing and/or supervising him, or have brought him outside to his “special spot” for taking care of his potty business. Have a spot for him to always use and get used to for taking care of business. When the puppy goes potty in his spot, you should give him a lot of praise with your happy voice. Offering the puppy a tasty treat is recommended, too. He’ll realize that you get pretty excited when he takes a leak in this place, and being smart, he’ll soon figure out all he has to do is something he wants to do anyway, and here comes a reward. Your house’s floors will become safe a lot quicker if you follow this advice.
When you house train your puppy you will need to give him very frequent opportunities to go potty outside. This is because his bladder is still pretty tiny. It is suggested that for each month of age you can add an hour to come up with a maximum limit on holding it in. For example, a 2-month old puppy should wait no longer than a maximum of 3 hours before being brought outside to relieve himself. From my experience I’d recommend trying for only a couple hours at a time at that age. I think at that age your puppy will appreciate a pee break every two hours if you can manage it. To have a little empathy with this, imagine yourself stuck somewhere and it’s just not possible to relieve yourself-it’s not a good feeling. A puppy will want to go potty each time it wakes up and shortly after he eats and drinks. Be ready to take him outside right away after he wakes from a nice nap. For the best results when house training your puppy, try to create a routine for your pet.
Starting with wake up time in the morning, you should take the puppy outside right away. Bring him in for some breakfast (he’ll need an outdoor break in a while after this, so keep your eye on him) and a fun play period. After an hour or two, you can put him back in the crate, where he’ll probably take a nice nap after all the fun he’s just had playing with you. He’ll probably sleep a couple hours. When he wakes up, be sure to take him out again for relief. The best way to house train your puppy is to get to him before he has to go in his crate. Remember, puppies can’t hold it for very long at all. Be sure to keep an eye on him when he’s out of the crate. When house training your puppy, be sure to watch for any circling and sniffing around the floor-these are the warning signs he needs to relieve himself.
It’s a good idea to keep his crate in an active part of the house, where you can keep an eye on him, and he can also feel like he’s part of the family. I’ve noticed if I take a pup out every couple hours that’s usually works out good- except for at night. Well, that would still work well for the pup, just not so much for me. Knowing the pup will need his breaks, I don’t sleep soundly all night through anyway. For sure, if I hear the pup whining at night, I’ll get up and take him out. (Hopefully, he’s whining to get out and pee- otherwise, if you respond to whining due to loneliness or boredom, you are training him that all he has to do is whine for attention and that’s not what you want at all). You want to stop dog whining problems before they get habituated, as whining can become quite an annoyance. He can’t be expected to hold it all night till he’s quite a bit older, but don’t worry, before long he’ll be holding it longer and longer and your sleep will get better, too.
So, house train your puppy the easiest and best way by being consistent with the Crate Training method. It is a good idea to do this right, because let’s face it, it’s not one of the most fun things about being a puppy owner, and the sooner you house train your puppy to let you know he has to go outside, the better. So, except when you are actively playing with your puppy, or feeding him, or have him out to his spot for a poop or pee break, he must be confined to the crate. If not, he’s an accident waiting to happen. If your puppy has an accident, and then a couple more, pretty soon it’s as if you are reinforcing his using your home for his toilet. In case of an “accident” you should chastise your puppy verbally only if you catch him in the act of going potty. If you find a vile pile of poop or a warm puddle of pee after the crime has been committed, it does no good to berate the puppy at that point. He won’t understand and it will only make him feel insecure and confused. Remember, the best way to house train your puppy is to use positive reinforcement in the form of praise when the pup does it right outside will work-whereas punishing the puppy won’t. Don’t hit or yell at the puppy if he relieves himself inside. It’s only because you weren’t paying attention. He doesn’t know better. Stay positive! Crate training is the best way to house train your puppy because it uses the dog’s natural instinct to not soil its own quarters as the basic idea behind the system. By the way, if the puppy does soil his crate, be sure to clean it up right away. Not only is it nasty for you and your puppy, you don’t want him to get used to living like that and be lax about holding it in. If you want to house train your puppy with the least amount of mess and stress, and in the shortest amount of time, you should try the Crate Method.
If you are at work all day and no one else is able to be home to let the puppy out of his crate you might have to resort to the Paper Method to house train your puppy. This is the old fashioned system where you spread open newspaper pages across an area, or in a dog potty, you’ve chosen as the “toilet” area. I used to do this years ago by putting the paper by my back door, where it was less obtrusive. Putting the newspaper near the door that you use to take the puppy out to pee is a step towards getting the puppy to let you know when he has to go outside. If you see him heading over in that direction, be sure to go over and take him right on outside to reinforce the right place to go.You hope and pray your dog uses the paper wisely in your absence, and then gradually start to spread the paper over a smaller and smaller area till the puppy goes just on one sheet. Obviously, this is better than free range pooping and peeing all over the place, but still not the most desirable way to house train your puppy. This should probably only be used by people who are going to be gone all day and cannot bring the puppy outside for house training. Of course, you can’t leave your puppy all day in a crate, so this would be a default method to use when you house train your puppy.
To learn heaps of good information on how to house train a puppy or dog, I want to refer you to a great reference book called The Ultimate House Training Guide. Click here to read my review of The Ultimate House Training Guide. If you purchase this really well-done and informative book, in addition to some great bonus materials, the folks there even have an active email support team and Forum to answer any questions you might come up with.
Click here and check out The Ultimate House Training Guide.