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To Successful
Housetrain: The Key
Is
Prevention, Not Punishment
Veterinary Exam:
Your puppy's health will affect his ability to be
successfully housetrained (housebroken). Make sure your puppy is seen by a
vet within 48 hours of his or her coming home from the breeder or animal
shelter. If your puppy does not receive a "clean bill of health", it is
important that any physical conditions that can impede successful
housetraining. A fecal check will determine whether worms or
internal parasites are present. (There are several types of worms that are
not visible except under a microscope. Also, fleas can cause tapeworm.)
Close Supervision Is Essential:
Close supervision is essential any time your puppy is not
crated indoors (or confined to a small area covered with newspapers) . It
only takes a few seconds for your puppy to have a house soiling accident,
so watch for signs that your puppy may need to eliminate, such as sniffing
the floor, circling, or running out of sight suddenly.
Feed Your Puppy A High-Quality
Puppy Food:
A diet of a high-quality premium
brand dry (kibble) puppy food is recommended. Do not feed your puppy table
scraps or changing brands unnecessarily. If you should need to change your
puppy's food for any reason, do it gradually over a period of 4 to 7 days.
[Note: Feeding your puppy lots of canned dog food
can loosen his stool, making it harder to housebreak him, and is bad for
his or her teeth.]
Confinement When Puppy
Can't Be Supervised With Toys:
Crate training or area confinement are recommended for
puppies and most adolescent dogs when left unsupervised alone in the
house. If properly introduced and used appropriately, crate training is an
efficient and humane way to prevent housetraining accidents as well keep
your puppy safe when you can not watch him (or when you leave the
house/apartment without him). The crate should not be used for excessive
periods of time and should not be used as a punishment (although brief
"time outs" in the crate are fine). Sufficient daily companionship,
interactive playtime and exercise are very important to all puppies and
dogs.
[Note: Crate training and other forms of confinement must be
balanced with sufficient exercise and companionship. Excessive periods of
isolation can be very detrimental to your puppy, and can contribute to
numerous behavioral problems including hyperactivity, destructive
behavior, digging, self-mutilation, and excessive barking.]
Determine Puppy's Safety Zone, Grey Zone & Danger Zone:
Keep a diary of your puppy's urinating and defecating times for several
days or more. Determine the minimum interval between elimination. Subtract
15-30 minutes from this period of time and that will be your puppy's
temporary "Safety Zone". This is the duration of time he can generally be
trusted to hold his urine after he is taken for a walk or has "gone" on
his newspapers, provided he does not drink a ton of water during this
time. Make sure however, that he is still closely supervised any time he
is not confined to his crate or confinement area.
Frequent Access To Newspapers, Backyard, Or Taken For A Walk If Fully
Immunized:
Puppies need to urinate shortly
after the eat, drink water, play, chew, or sleep. For most puppies over 10
weeks of age, that means somewhere between 5 and 10 times a day!
Adolescent dogs (from 6 to 11 months. old) will need 4 to 6 walks a day.
Adult dogs need 3 to 4 walks a day, and elderly dogs need at least 3 to 4
walks daily (incontinent dogs will need more).
Do Not Return From A Walk Until Your Puppy Eliminates:
If your puppy has been confined overnight to a crate, take him outside
first thing in the morning (before he's had a chance to soil indoors.) Be
prepared to stay outdoors with him until he eliminates. (This could take
from a few minutes to as much as several hours!) As soon as your puppy
eliminates outdoors, offer him lavish praise and a treat. If you take your
puppy back inside the house before he's fully eliminated, he will surely
have an accident indoors!
| Note: If you absolutely have
to return home before your puppy does his "business", crate him, then
try taking him outside again every 15-30 minutes until he "goes".] |
Praise & Reward Your
Puppy For "Going" Outdoors:
Lavish paise, a trigger word (ie: "potty", "get busy",
"business", "bombs away", etc.) and a treat reward immediately following
his eliminating in the right place (newspapers, backyard, or outdoors)
will help you to communicate to your puppy that you are pleased with his
behavior. Delayed praise is not effective, so witnessing him going in the
right spot is important.
Never Discipline
A Dog For Submissive or Excitement Urination!
Submissive and excitement urination are completely involuntary, so never
discipline your puppy for this. Eye contact, verbal scolding, hovering
over, reaching out to pet your puppy's head, animated movements, talking
in an exciting or loud voice, as well as strangers/ visitors approaching
your puppy, may all potentially trigger your puppy to piddle. Disciplining
your puppy for involuntary piddling must be avoided or the problem will
simply get worse.
Neutralize Urine Odors With
Enzyme-Based Deodorizer:
Should your puppy
have a few house soiling accidents despite your best efforts to prevent
them, neutralize any soiled areas (carpet or floor surface) with an pet
odor neutralizer such as Nature's Miracle, Fresh 'n' Clean, or Outright
Pet Odor Eliminator. Do not use ammonia-based cleaners to clean up after
your puppy's urine, as ammonia breaks down to urea, which is a component
of urine, which will make it much harder to house break him or her.
Eliminate Worms and Parasites:
Contact your veterinarian if you suspect that your puppy has worms,
ticks, fleas, or other internal or external parasites.
No Water 1.5 Hours Before Bedtime :
Generally
speaking, it is advisable to take up your puppy's water
bowl 1.5 hours before bedtime, unless he seems very thirsty or weather
conditions are exceedingly hot.
Diarrhea Can Make
Housetraining Harder:
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