Dog Nature Setting Up For Success Establish the Living Area Try to spend as much time as possible with your dog in her den. It is important to play
with her in this area as well as let her eat and sleep here. Give your dog a special bed; this
can be anything from an open crate to a beach towel. In the beginning, she may eliminate
in here but once she realizes that this is her special den, she will try to avoid soiling it.
Once your dog gets used to sleeping on her very own bed, you can move it around your
house from room to room, where ever you go. Confine your dog to her bed when ever
you are somewhere other than her den. If her bed is a crate, simply close the door. If her
bed is a towel or blanket, place it next to a piece of furniture and leash your dog so she
can't get out of her bed.
Since you should never leave your dog unattended while leashed, it's an even better idea to
leash your dog to yourself! Tie one end of the leash around your waist or belt loop. Now
your dog can accompany you around your home and you can monitor her behavior.
Establish the Toilet Area To make things easier on both yourself and your dog, you should put your dog on a
regular feeding schedule. What goes in on a regular schedule will come out on a regular
schedule. If you know when your dog needs to empty out, then you'll know when to take
her to her toilet area. Healthy adult dogs should be able to control their bladder and bowel
for eight hours.
It's important that you do not confine your dog without access to her toilet are for too
long. If she can't hold it, she will be forced to soil herself, her bed or her den. If this
happens, it may become a habit and will take much longer to housetrain her.
Bringing It All Together Speeding Up the Natural Process Problems * If she soils her bed, then you probably confined her there too long and she couldn't help
herself; or she doesn't understand yet that this is her bed. Urinary tract problems and
medical conditions can cause your dog to soil her bed while she is sleeping.
* Some dogs drink excessive amounts of water out of boredom or habit and therefore
have to urinate too frequently. If this is your dog, limit her water, take her to her toilet
area more frequently and give her activities to do so she isn't bored.
* If the den is not properly introduced, your dog may feel as if it is a prison and show
signs of anxiety, barking, chewing, whining, etc. Make sure your dog enjoys being in her
den.
Check here for information on Housetraining a Young Puppy.
Dogs are instinctively clean animals. If they can avoid it, they would rather not soil
themselves or their usual eating and sleeping areas. Dogs also naturally develop habits of
where they would like to eliminate. For example, dogs that have a habit of eliminating on
grass or dirt would rather not eliminate on concrete or gravel. You can use these natural
tendencies to quickly housetrain your dog.
There are two things you can do to set your dog up for success. First, establish your dog's
living area (we will call it 'den' from here out) in a small confined space such as a
bathroom, part of the kitchen or garage.
Second, establish your dog's toilet area. Every time your dog needs to eliminate be sure
she has access to this place. Until she develops a strong habit of eliminating here, it is
important that your accompany her every time. If she eliminates some where else, then
she'll be establishing a habit of eliminating there.
Once your dog consistently eliminates in her toilet area and stops soiling her den, then you
can start extending her den to the rest of your house. Begin by giving her access to one
room at a time, but only when you know without a doubt that her bladder and bowels are
completely empty. Let her eat, sleep and play in this room but only when she can be
supervised. When you cannot supervise her, either confine her to her bed in that room, or
put her back in her den. Once she accepts this room as an extension of her den, then go on
to the next room.
If you follow the instructions so far, your dog will be housetrained in due time. One way
to speed up the process is to praise and reward your dog each and every time she
eliminates in her toilet area. It is equally as important not to reprimand your dog for
accidents and mistakes. Reprimand usually confuses the dog and slows down the training
process.
* If your dog continues to soil her den, either you have left her there too long or the den
may be too large an area for her. Take her to her toilet area more frequently or establish
her den in an even smaller area.
Check here for training tips for new puppy owners.