Dogs are clean by nature. Their instinct tells them not to soil the “Den Area”.
Housetraining your dog is possible and quit simple if you follow a few essentials:
• Be patient.
There will be accidents, especially in the beginning of housetraining
• Provide supervision
Do not let your dog out of sight for about 7 days
• Leash your dog
This helps you to get your dog very fast outside.
• Schedule your dog’s day
Feed your dog at set mealtimes
• Have tasty treats always ready
Successful housetraining requires many rewards
Leash your dog
First, keep your dog with you wherever you go in the house. Clip a 2-meter leash to
your dog’s collar, and tie the other end to your belt! In this way, you have him
constantly under control. Your hands are free, so you can do your daily housework.
Do not make a big fuss of it; just have your dog in tow.
You go to the kitchen your dog must follow. You dust clean the apartment your dog
is with you. You watch TV your dog waits beside you.
The leash makes it easy for you constantly to have an eye at him!
Puppies have their bladder not yet under control. But they show us certain behaviors
if they have to eliminate. Watch your dog! You will see the signals:
• An abrupt stop of play
• Restless circling
• Sniffing around
• A sudden desire to run away
Get familiar with these "warning signals"!
Emergency
If you realize such warning behavior, bring your dog outside immediately! If he is too
small to run with you, carry him at your arms. Go straight to the place where you
want him to eliminate. Wait there, with your dog on leash. Give him time to
understand the situation.
He might be surprised about your rush to outside. Let him sniff and move around a
little, but keep him in the general area. The leash helps keeping him close to you,
and away from distractions.
Go potty
When your dog eliminates, say in a happy, soft tone "Go potty, go potty". You also
can use any other phrase as "hurry up", "get busy", "let's go", "do it", etc. However,
this verbal praise must always happen during the act, not after! Always be careful
not to interrupt his act. After your dog finished you can pat him, and give him a
treat. Leave at least one poop at this spot. The heap will remind him the next time
what for he comes to this place.
Usually puppies urinate first, before defecating. So wait until all is done.
Provide supervision
For fast, successful housetraining you should take one week holiday from your job or
business. Seven complete supervised days are enough to get your dog “clean”.
During this week your dog is never out of your sight. Even outside in a fenced yard
your new puppy should be on leash. It prevents that he “does it” at the wrong place.
For one week, you have to put your entire life on your dog’s housetraining issue.
Schedule the day
Feed 3-5 times a day at scheduled mealtimes. Remove the food bowl after 15
minutes. This will create a natural eliminating cycle. After feeding go with your puppy
to the potty place. If he does not eliminate within 10 minutes, go back inside. As
soon as you see “alarming behavior” go outside again.
Every hour you go with your dog to the potty spot to do at least a pee. Praise and
reward him for eliminating now and here. Very soon, he will understand that
eliminating when you want where you want, brings him a treat. It establishes an
association to the behavior.
Head to the same potty place after playing, after sleeping, after feeding –
consistently.
During the night
Leash your dog during the night beside your bed, or confine him to a crate. Dogs do
not like to eliminate at their sleeping place. If using a crate, take one that is just big
enough for your puppy to lay down. Otherwise, he might eliminate at one edge, and
sleep at the other edge.
If your dog gets nervous in the night, is whining, or squeaking – get up and go with
him to the poo spot! Sorry, you have to do it.
Prevent water drinking after 7 PM may help your puppy to sleep through the night
without waking you up for a pee.
Take the dog outside to the poop spot FIRST THING every morning. Do this before
you have shower, and before you prepare your breakfast!
An accident – be patient!
Accidents will happen during the housetraining process. Do not punish your puppy
for doing wrong. It is your responsibility to take him to the poop area as frequently
as he needs to go.
Punishment will cause that your dog does not eliminate in front of you anymore. He
will then leave surprises the very moment you are distracted.
If you catch him in the act, take him immediately outside. Say “No” with a deep, firm
voice. Clap your hands, or make any other abrupt voice to interrupt the eliminating
process.
Already a few moments later, it is too late for disciplining him. If you find any time a
“mistake” in your house do not rub your dog’s nose in it!
Put your dog to another room when you clean up the mess. Because, if he sees you
cleaning it he thinks you are stealing his poop! This encourages him to leave another
one…
Treat the spots found indoors with undiluted white vinegar. This will neutralize the
odor, and discourages your dog from using the spot again.
Some additional tips
If you buy a dog from a breeder, take a puppy that is born in summertime
and had access to outside. This increases the chance that the puppies could
be in the garden. If so, they already could copy their mother, and eliminate in
the grass.
Puppies raised up inside the house or in a cage are very difficult to
housetrain!
Only buy a dog that was at least 8 weeks with the mother.
Do not buy a puppy from a pet shop! The long period in a cage damages the
natural instinct to keep the living area clean. It may take months up to years
to get such a dog housetrained.