House Breaking a New Puppy

Housebreaking a new puppy will play an important part in bonding with the newest member of your family. It will teach you patience and leave you with a better understanding of what your puppy wants once he has learned. In addition, he will learn acceptable behaviors and exactly what is expected of him to live happily and comfortably in his new home.

A puppy’s attention span is very short so training sessions should be kept short and end on a positive note. Repetition and consistency is also important when housebreaking your dog. In addition, when housebreaking your puppy, keep in mind that he is not intentionally being a bad dog; he just has not yet learned what behaviors are acceptable! During the process, do not forget that full control of the bladder and bowels may not happen until 16 weeks of age, so do not expect too much from your puppy in the beginning.

Start housebreaking your puppy with a simple feeding schedule to help him become regular with his bowel movements. Once he has eaten, wait a few minutes and then take him outside. Watch how long it takes before he is able to void. This will give you an idea of how long to wait the next time you take him out. (Within about a week, you should have his schedule down.) We trained our dogs to sit by the door before they went out and in time, they would sit in front of the door, indicating to us that they needed to go out. Some people place a bell by the door and have the dog hit it before they go out and dog learns to hit the bell to go out.

Despite the old rules of training a puppy, you should never hit, rub his nose in his messes, or yell at your puppy. By doing this, you are telling him it is bad to relieve himself at all. In addition, most dogs respond negatively to aggressive and mean behavior and it has the opposite effect—they regress in their training rather than advance. Instead, while housebreaking your puppy take him straight outside when he has an accident. In addition, do not forget the praise every time he “goes” where he is supposed to, praise him. In addition, a dog must receive consequences for undesirable behaviors or praise for desired behaviors immediately to be effective. If you come home from a long day of work and see the dog has had an accident, it is too late to correct that behavior. Many people think the dog knows it did something wrong but they are very in tune to their owners and are reacting to you not going to the bathroom inside.

Also helpful in housebreaking a new puppy is to buy a stain remover/ odor relief spray. Household cleaners and sprays cannot be smelled by dogs; only those made for animals will work. When an accident happens, clean the mess and spray immediately. This will cover the odor left and your puppy will not try to mark his territory there again.

Remember that housebreaking a puppy is a big responsibility that can lead to you and your puppy sharing a special bond. Giving encouragement and lots of love will make all the time spent worth your while!