Successful Housetraining

The key to successfully housetraining your puppy is proper management. Housetraining mostly depends on you being observant and consistent with your puppy and rewarding him for what you want him to do.

In The House

Your puppy should be crated when you cannot watch him. This prevents him from having accidents which will slow the housetraining process (not to mention it keeps him from chewing your couch!). Dogs have an instinctive sense of cleanliness about their sleeping and eating areas. Your puppy will want to keep his bed clean and dry if physically possible. If your puppy has an accident in his crate, it is likely because you left him too long without taking him outside. Young puppies can only be expected to “hold it” for a few hours at first. This means if you are away for more then a few hours, you will need to have someone come to your home and take your puppy out.

Do not expect your puppy to tell you when he needs to go outside. It is up to you to predict when you should take him outside. Take your puppy outside whenever he wakes up, when he is excited, after a play session, after eating, right before you go to bed and as soon as you wake up. Circling, smelling the floor and  becoming distracted from play are signals which may mean it is time for a trip outside. It is far better to take your puppy out too often than not often enough.

Taking Your Puppy Outside

When you take your puppy outside give consistent signals to him as to what this trip outside is for. You will want to take him to the same area of the yard each time you go out. Be boring until he is done, so that he knows this is not play time or time for a walk. It is helpful to use a cue for elimination as an additional signal to let your puppy know what he should be doing. An elimination cue will remain useful throughout your dog’s life for times when you need your dog to keep the trip outside quick such as when traveling or in bad weather. Teaching your puppy to eliminate on cue is surprisingly easy. Choose the word or phrase you will use. Some suggestions are “Hurry Up”, “Get To It” and “Quickly”. Now all you have to do is predict when your puppy is about to eliminate, say the word right before he does and reward him right after he does.

Once your puppy eliminates outside overreact with joy - “wow! What a GOOD DOG!” in a happy voice. Be silly, make him think that eliminating outside is the best thing he has ever done. Give him a treat and play with him. As your puppy grows up he will remember to eliminate outside, before he does anything else.

Accidents

It is likely, at some point in housetraining your puppy will have an accident in the house. When your puppy has an accident in the house, it is probably due to a lack of observation on your part. If you catch your puppy in the act a quick, loud “NO!” is all the punishment you should use. This may startle him causing him to stop before he is finished- take him outside to an appropriate area and praise him if he eliminates there. If you don’t find out until after the fact that your puppy has had an accident, it is unfair to punish him. Simply clean it up and remember to watch your puppy more closely in the future. 

Teach your puppy that nothing good happens unless he says “Please”, which means he must sit and look at you until you give him permission. Your puppy should sit before being fed any of his meals.  Hand feed at least one meal a day, broken into portions. Your puppy will have to say “please” for each portion.  
When your puppy wants to be petted, he must sit to be petted each and every time. Never pet your puppy when he jumps up and don’t allow other people to do so. Ignore, rather then push away your puppy when he demands attention by jumping up on you or nudging your hand.

If you allow your puppy on the furniture, teach him to get off when asked. If he wants to lie on the couch or bed with you don’t allow him up until he is invited.

Having your puppy say “please” before going out doors, prevents him from bolting out open doors.

Toys and Raising A Polite Puppy

Provide your puppy with chew toys that he can have free access to (we use and recommend Kong toys). Keep a separate set of toys put away for interactive play between you and your puppy. These are toys you and your puppy can play with together, such as balls and tug toys. Despite what you may have heard, playing Tug Of War with your puppy can actually help teach him good manners, providing some simple rules are followed. First, your puppy should be taught to let go on command. Teaching your dog to let go when you ask him gives you control over the game by being able to end it when you want. Second, your puppy must say “please” by sitting to start the game. Both of these things allow you, not your dog to control the game. Third, you must have no tolerance for accidents. When taking the tug toy or adjusting their grip, dogs will sometimes make contact with your body by mistake. Don’t let this go unnoticed. Even if it did not hurt, say “ouch!” and abruptly end the game, ignoring your puppy. This reminds puppies that human skin is sensitive and they must remember this even when they are excited by a game.

Dogs Do What Works

Remember when raising your puppy not to allow behaviors that you won’t want your adult dog to do. The more frequently your puppy gets to do an undesirable behavior the better he learns it. Find out what is rewarding him for the behavior you don’t like and remove it. Don’t let your puppy practice bad behaviors!