House Breaking

The following article was composed by Ellen Morris.

Editor's note: The first part of this article is very similar to the Crate Training article... But please read on!

The crate is a prime tool in house training your pup because feral instincts teach a dog that soiling the crate is dangerous, as it gives predators the location of the den. So, as soon as they have the musculature, the pups will do their best to avoid soiling their home. You should do your best to keep the crate clean, with a product like Nature's Miracle or other enzymatic cleaner. Don't put newspaper in the crate for several reasons. The newsprint will come off on the dog's pads and get tracked through the house. You do not want to teach your dog that the daily paper, which invariably ends up on the floor, is a toilet.

House training depends on the dog. There are several things you can do to help matters along. The crate should be where your dog feels safe, protected and sheltered! (Please take a look at our article on crate training) If, when you take your dog outside and you don't think he has done his thing yet, you can put him in his crate with a treat for a few minutes and then take him outside again. If you want to be sure he will go in a limited amount of time, take him into the yard and play a game which will get him moving around, as exercise will often bring on what you are hoping for.

In the house, have a good supply of Nature's Miracle because as the pup runs around, they will pass places which will remind them, "HEY, this place has been used as a toilet!" Their noses are a lot keener than ours and also a lot lower to the ground than ours. We may think we have the odor out, but dogs are far keener than ours in the sniff department. For those newbies who haven't found out about Nature's Miracle, you have a treat coming as it removes a lot more than just urine with little to no work. It works on vomit, blood, dead fish, grass stains, magic marker and lots of other things. It also works for people "mistakes" when they are babies or ill or injured (with blood)!

As far as how long housetraining should take, the answer stinks. It varies and depends on your dog. If the dogs know that these mistakes do not please you, they are often motivated to find what does. Just grab the Nature's Miracle and clean up mistakes and make absolutely no notice of the "sin" at all. BUT when they go where you want to or when, make a HUGE fuss, lots of praise, pats and terrific treats. Then the dog will want to "go" where all these good things happen. It can take anywhere from no time at all to 3 or 4 months. The longest time I have spent housetraining a dog is about 12 weeks and he was sick with Coccidia. It usually takes a lot of MY TIME and about 2 to 3 weeks with about 4 month of age when I consider the dogs reliable. Some pups NEVER make in the house. Remember that younger dogs do not have the sophisticated musculature and have got to go outside more often, too! When they are tiny, take them out about every 45 minutes to an hour. Gradually increase the increments of time until they learn to ask to go outside.

Unfortunately, dogs ask to go outside in different ways. They may come to you and act restless, they may bark, they may scratch at the door and you wouldn't hear that if you are in another room. Some people hang a bell on the door and shake it when they open the door to go out. The problem there is that some dogs just like to ring the bell! Your best bet it to crate your pup whenever you cannot watch them because, in the crate, the pup will wait as long as it can before making a mistake and it will do its best to let you know that a sin is about to occur unless they get outside.

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