Puppy Housebreaking / Housetraining Procedures and Methods
Puppy housebreaking should start just as soon as you bring your new puppy home - and it is the best way to teach your purebred puppy to go outside when it has to relieve itself. How long does it take to do puppy housetraining?
The easiest answer is: as long as puppy housebreaking takes. I had one German Shepherd puppy that housetrained herself pretty much in just over 3 days, and I have had others that took closer to 2 weeks.
All puppies and breeds of puppies are different and not all can be housetrained in the same amount of time. Housebreaking can easily vary from puppy to puppy.
Additionally, keep in mind that eventhough this article deals primarily with purebred puppies (due to the focus of this web site) that many of these housetraining techniques can also be used with most any other puppy breeds- pure or mixed breed.
When you get your new puppy home the first day, start puppy housebreaking him /her immediately. After he has been briefly introduced to his home and new surroundings, give him a drink of water and immediately take him outside to relieve himself. Take the puppy to the housebreaking area that you chose before bringing him home.
Remember, choice of this housebreaking spot is crucial as it enhances the housetraining - so take careful consideration of where “the housebreaking spot” is before bringing your purebred puppy home. This is the spot where you want the puppy “to go”.
There is a direct correlation between the time you actually put into the puppy housebreaking process and the speed in which the housebreaking of the puppy successfully occurs.
This is a very crucial puppy housebreaking step so be patient and wait until the puppy relieves himself. It may take a while especially with all the new things happening to your new puppy, all the new smells, unfamiliar objects, etc. Do not play with the puppy however until after it has “done it’s business”. If you do it may make the puppy forget about going at all. Since housebreaking is all new to the pure bred puppy it doesn’t know what it’s purpose of being in “the housebreaking spot” is in the first place.
As soon as your puppy finishes, praise it excitedly and immediately take him inside. From that point on, take the puppy to the same housebreaking spot each time and encourage him with a command such as “go potty”, “hurry up” or whatever you choose.
Be consistent using this single command only with the process of puppy housebreaking so that the puppy will learn to associate this act with the command. This will be a huge help in the future, especially when in a new environment or location when traveling, visiting relatives/friends, etc. Being completely housebroken and completely reliable is the final outcome you are looking for.
You must watch them like a hawk at all times - in the beginning of housebreaking especially. If you can not keep an eye on your purebred puppy for some reason please put them in a safe and secure puppy proofed spot (such as a crate or some other small room with easy to clean floors, such as linoleum, closed off with a baby gate so you can peek in as needed). If you are consistent in your puppy housebreaking in the very beginning, ESPECIALLY when it is inconvenient to you (late at night, while you are watching your favorite TV show, etc.), you will actually help the new puppy housebreak itself to alert you when it “has to go”.
A puppy should be taken out immediately (to a prearranged housebreaking area outside): when it wakes up first thing in the morning (before if you manage to get up before the puppy),
after each and every meal,
after each and every nap,
and again before he goes to bed for the night.
Another good housebreaking tip is to take up the puppies water early in the evening and to not feed or water it after say, 6:00 at night, otherwise you may have to make more housebreaking potty trips than usual outside to let the puppy relieve itself. Keep the puppy on a strict housebreaking schedule, both feeding and elimination, and you will have puppy housebreaking success much sooner.
More Puppy Housebreaking and Housetraining Secrets: From Housebreaking to Housebroken
Know in advance that a very young puppy will probably not be able to go through the night without relieving itself so get used to taking it out during the middle of the night until it grows enough to sleep through the night.
You wouldn’t expect a young human baby to be toilet trained in a week, would you? Give the same consideration to your new purebred puppy. He will not be able to be considered reliable as far as housebreaking goes either after only a few days.
The puppy is a baby with a small bladder and weak sphincter muscles. Like human babies, your new puppy will be able to go longer between housebreaking breaks as it grows older and will soon become completely housebroken if your are vigilant in the housebreaking process.
Oops… found a mistake, now what?
If you find your puppy has made a mistake in the house and you did not catch it in the act, simply clean the spot without comment. Clean up all residue and clean the area with a bacteria/enzyme digester. These housetraining aids are available at your pet supply or grocery store. This will get rid of both the stain and the smell. And the smell is the most important part to get rid of. Even if you can’t smell the urine, believe me, your puppy can and he will be encouraged to go back to the same spot again unless you remove ALL urine odors. This is absolutely critical in housebreaking your puppy.
If you find the puppy “in the act”, scoop him up as quickly as possible with his tail between his legs (to help prevent spillage) and take him out asap. Say “out” or “quick” as you take him out but never NO. Since No is used for negative things you do not want your puppy to think that eliminating is wrong, no matter where he does it.
If the new puppy thinks that eliminating is bad he will probably start hiding it from you and you do not want that to happen. That is a whole other behavioral issue to contend with and believe me it’s much better and easier to prevent behavioral problems before they happen than having to deal with them later.
Generally speaking, most puppies are naturally clean dogs - assuming they had the right start clear from the beginning. Puppies raised in small runs or cages develop dirty habits right from the beginning making housebreaking harder. Since they are used to playing and sleeping in their own excrement they will not have any problem with continuing to do so. This is not the puppy’s fault, it’s just what they were accustomed to from an early age.
Keep in mind, housebreaking puppies raised in these type of situations can be much harder and more time consuming than usual but housetraining can still can be done.
Overall, puppy housebreaking problems are often more of a human problem than a puppy problem. If the new owner is steadfast in keeping a watch on the purebred puppy in the beginning of ownership, especially during the first 2 weeks of housetraining, then puppy housebreaking can accomplished and the new puppy will become a reliable member of the family as far as bathroom visits are concerned, and will soon be completely housebroken.
Remember, as the new owner you must be patient with the entire housebreaking process. Each puppy will housetrain at his own speed and with your help. Take him out religiously as outlined above, and keep him on a strict feeding/bathroom housebreaking schedule (as well as anytime the GSD puppy acts as though he has to “go out”). It is very important that you learn to read your puppies potty signals during the housebreaking process: sniffing out “a spot”, circling, whining, going to the door, etc.
Finally, think about how you would like to be housetrained if you were in the puppies place? The puppy won’t enjoy being yelled at, jerked around or frightened any better than you would. A kinder, gentler and more patient puppy housebreaking approach will yield much better results, help your bond with your new puppy and develop a more confident housebroken dog. And isn’t that what we all want as purebred dog owners in the first place?
Debbie Ray, owner of http://www.pedigreedpups.com and http://www.total-german-shepherd.com, is a lifelong animal lover and dog enthusiast. Interested in more dog information? Training and health tips? Thinking about getting a purebred dog? Interested in the German Shepherd Dog in particular? Need to promote your dog related website and get additional in bound links? Check out pedigreedpups.com, total-german-shepherd.com or http://www.canine-hotline.com (dog only products store) for more information.
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