at Take Care of Your Dog.com

"Keeping the Puddles Outdoors Not on the Floors."

Dogs are naturally very clean and tidy housekeepers. They keep their immediate area or " den area" clean and unsoiled, but this is usually only a small space. The goal, we are aiming for, is to teach the puppy that the entire house, and every single room in it, is "our den" and the same rules apply.

The first order of business is to remove any odors that may have been left by "accidents" from a previous pet or from the current one you are trying to house-train. These smells can easily confuse your puppy and make the house-training task more difficult. A solution of ten parts water and one part bleach is very good to use on floors you can mop. Carpets can be more difficult, and may take cleaning several times with a good odor eliminating product. Be careful of the cleaning supplies you use, make sure they are safe for use around your pets, and be kind to the environment by disposing of excess properly.

The house-training method I recommend is crate-training. There are other methods available that work well also, but I am the most familiar and have had the best success with crate-training. Dogs do not like to eliminate where they sleep. Regardless of your dog's breed or size, crate-training is one of the best tools I have encountered to help with house-training and managing other training challenges. Starting early on is the key to success, and will make the experience easier and more beneficial to you and your new puppy.

Find a crate big enough for the puppy to turn around and lie down in, with some room for future growth. Basically, place your puppy in the crate. At first, when left alone, he is going to whine.... and yelp... rather loudly at times, so making a decision where to place the crate inside your house needs to be selected accordingly. Don't let the puppy out just to keep him quiet. Otherwise, he will perceive this as his reward for loud yelping. Do the opposite, and only let him out after he is quiet for at least fifteen minutes or so. Gradually increase the time you leave him in the crate, and always praise him greatly and reward him for good behavior. Benefits of the crate while house-training are two-fold. It decreases the time you spend cleaning up after your puppy, and encourages bladder control when you aren't able to keep an eye on your puppy's activities.

At first, you can line the crate with puppy pads or newspapers in case the puppy has an accident. This makes it a little easier to clean up. Ideally, food and water should not be put in the crate at first, though this will depend on how often you are able to take the puppy out. Younger puppies, and especially smaller breeds like Chihuahuas and other teacup varieties, have extremely small bladders and cannot hold it for more than a couple of hours. Taking your new puppy out to potty every two to three hours, around the clock, is the most effective and quickest way to achieve the house-training goal. If this is not possible for your situation, make sure to put in some fresh water and food for the puppy, and take him out of the crate as often as you can. Try to be consistent with the times. Leaving the puppy, over the recommended two to three hours, may result in the crate being messy at first, until his system gets adjusted to the routine. The less accidents in the crate, means less time you have to spend cleaning it up, and your puppy gets more experience learning where he is supposed to go.

In just a few weeks ... three at the most, the puppy should be able to stay in the crate overnight, or up to eight hours without an accident.

Timing is very important when beginning a new puppy to a house-training regimen. A dog's digestive system moves quickly and is easily activated. For this training period, you should avoid leaving food out all the time for your puppy. Feed him twice a day, leaving the food out for only a limited time. After your puppy eats, wait about fifteen minutes and then take him outside to the designated area to walk around. The exercise of walking will help stimulate the urge for a bowel movement, and along with the smell of other dogs leaving their mark, will encourage him to do his business in the right spot. This should be immediately followed by you praising him and telling him what a wonderful and good dog he is.

Water tends to be a little more difficult as it needs to be more freely available, goes in easier and comes out faster, but can be managed easily with a few simple steps. Take some of the towels or pads that was used to clean up the first couple of puddles left by your puppy, and mark the area where you want him to learn to leave his future puddles. Then, during the time you have the puppy out playing with him, offer him a drink of water about once an hour, and then immediately take him out to the spot designated. Always give him lots of praise when he goes in the right spot.

There are also puppy house-training products available, with this same concept, that you can buy at the pet store or most any store that has a pet department. You just sprinkle the contents where you want the puppy to go.

Setting a schedule and sticking to it is very important when house training your new puppy. If it is a family affair, writing out and posting a schedule works well. That way everyone knows what, where, and how the order of things should go. In the beginning, the puppy will need more frequent potty trips. As he gets older you can decrease them. Take your puppy out first thing in the morning. Don't give him a chance to make a mess inside the house. Schedule his potty times after eating, naps, and playing. By limiting the amount of time your puppy has to go without a bathroom break, the less chance of accidents in the house. Bring your puppy to the same place outside each time you want him to potty. You may want to use a command like "Potty time", or "Go potty" spoken in a gentle encouraging voice. Just keep your commands in short one or two words, and use it consistently. Don't let him play, sniff around other places, or explore anything else outside until he has finished the business at hand. This sends a clear message "when we go outside, business comes first and this is where you do it."

Your puppy needs structure and going to the potty at the same time and in the same place is a great start. Always reward immediately. As soon as your puppy does his potty job, give him great and wonderful praise with an excited voice and lots of petting. Having a small treat ready to give him right then reinforces his good behavior too, but the tone of your voice and the petting is what most well nourished, healthy dogs look forward to more than an eatable treat. You are the leader of his pack, and your praise and acceptance of his behavior is an important factor in his health and well-being.

Have an emergency plan for when you aren't able to be home for a long period of time. Have a family member or neighbor familiar with your puppy's potty schedule on standby for those occasions. Keeping accidents from happening, improves and speeds up the success of your house-training endeavor. If your puppy strains to urinate or have a bowel movement, or if you see blood in either, consult your veterinarian as soon as possible. This is also the case if you notice any sudden changes in his potty habits. Like humans, puppies can have bladder infections and conditions that require antibiotics or other medications.

Remember, your puppy is still a baby, and all of this is new to him. He will have accidents at first. If he makes a mistake, and ONLY if you catch him in the act, say "NO" sharply, but without anger, and take him to the designated area. If he goes there, praise him , if not, put him back in the crate, and take him outside again in fifteen minutes. As your puppy becomes accustomed to the crate, it is his own person space or "den", and he will not want to use it as his bathroom too. Be consistent with the crate-training, use it to your advantage, and do not set your puppy up for failure by leaving him unattended, running loose inside the house. You need to be there to discourage undesirable behavior and to reinforce the good. Scolding your puppy for an accident that you didn't see him do, will not help in house-training, and may even cause him to start hiding his puddles and piles in different places. Finding these little surprises can be unpleasant, and quite embarrassing at times. Paying attention, learning your puppy's body language and acting quickly, can prevent most accidents most of the time.

As you continue this method of house-training, and the puppy gets older, he will be able to stay outside of the crate for longer periods. Always keep a good watch on the newly house-trained or training-in-progress puppy so you can take him out when he needs to go. Don't forget the command words and always praise, praise, praise! You will start to see some major progress in just a few weeks, but do not let up on your training schedule yet. On average, it takes four to six months to complete house-training on most puppies, and be able to fully trust them not to potty inside. Some can be more stubborn, and on rare occasions, take up to a year to train. Just be patient and your puppy house-training will be a great success, and your puppy a great companion for years to come.

I would like to dispel a few of the most common house-training myths:

1. A dog will poop and urinate on your bed or clothes when you are gone because he is mad at you for leaving him alone. Your dog might get lonely and get into a little mischief when you aren't there. Sure, he misses you, but dogs aren't spiteful. Actually, in this case, you have left your dog for too long. He is going to where your scent is the strongest, to try and alert you that he needs to go outside, really bad. He has held it as long as he can, and finally has no other choice. Choosing to "go potty" where he smells your scent the strongest...like the bedroom, or some clothes you may have left in the floor, seems natural to your dog. Since you are the one in control of letting him in and out, and he can't find you...he did find where you were last.

2. A dog knows he did something wrong because of the way he acts when you come home. Being social animals with a limited verbal vocabulary, dogs are excellent at recognizing posture or body language. Chances are, you have left your dog again for too long, and going to the bathroom eventually becomes a have-to situation. When you come home and find the mess, your body language alerts the dog right away that you are angry...... and the way he acts is only his response to your anger. He doesn't understand that he has done something wrong, only that you are mad.

3. This one is really one of my pet peeves - Rubbing a dog's nose in his urine and feces will break him from going to the bathroom where he isn't supposed to. I don't know where this actually came from, but other than being very gross and unhygienic, I doubt it does much for the bonding process between you and your new puppy. Even though dogs do find some unpleasant smells to their liking, I don't think they would care much for having their own waste products shoved up their nose. A dog's nose has literally hundreds more scent receptors than a human's. I don't know about you, but I have smelled some pretty rank bathroom odors, and if that smell was intensified several hundred times and rubbed on my face, I might be tempted to bite someone myself.

Thank you all for stopping by to participate in this training class. I hope that it is helpful in house-training your new puppy. I look forward to the following weeks and sharing more insight and information on obedience training your dog. I do not claim to be an expert, but I do love animals, especially dogs, and I have quite a few years of experience training them.

A special thanks to our web site host, Jeanette, who has given us the time and space to do this class. Be sure and look over all the neat stuff and heart-felt stories here at Take care of your dog.com. It is pretty awesome !!!.

Feel free to contact me at my e-mail address:

easttxnurse320@aol.com

for any questions you might have. I will try to answer you myself, or point you in the right direction to find what you are looking for. Please try to keep your questions on the current class subject matter. Thanks, and "Take Care of Your Dog."

Rhonda Erickson

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