House Training Your Puppy

In order for you and your new puppy to reside happily under the same roof, it is critical that good house training habits be learned as early as possible with your dog.

Just as a woman can't be "a little bit pregnant" a dog is either house trained or he is not. A truly house trained dog will not have "accidents" in your home unless there is an outside illness or he is confined inside to the point he cannot hold the urge to eliminate any longer.

Establishing good elimination habits in a dog early on isn't hard but you must be consistent and remember most puppies aren't reliably house trained until they are around six months old.

In the beginning, take your puppy to the designated spot outside to eliminate and go about every 45 minutes and within 5 minutes after a meal. If you cannot be home, you must set up a place in the home so he can't eliminate randomly around your home. This will send confusing signals to him as you want him to go one place when you're home yet he wanders freely in your house and then gets scolded when he "goes" wherever he happens to be. The best option is to gate off a small area with a tiled floor such as a bathroom and line the floor with papers so if he needs to eliminate in your absence, he can. Then the minute you get home, take him outside and then continue to do so every 45 minutes. Never leave your puppy on just a tile floor. You will teach him it's okay to eliminate on tile. Always line with paper so he understands that is the place he needs to do his business.

There are a few things you shouldn't do when house training your dog. Don't scold him when he makes a mistake. Don't give your puppy unattended run of the house. If your puppy is sniffing and circling, those are signs he's ready to go, don't ignore the signals, this will lead to accidents.

Other ways you can insure your puppy catches on to the house training routine quickly is to praise him greatly when he eliminates as he is supposed to. Also by feeding your puppy at designated times, you will quickly learn his elimination schedule and it will make house training him even easier. You can also use a pheromone laced stake to entice him to eliminate in the same place outside. Above all, be patient.
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