Housebreaking a puppy is by far one of the most frustrating of all the things you will encounter when get a new dog. House breaking puppies require a person to be patient and learn to be more consistent with their work. Most of the time because housebreaking a puppy is such a hard job most of the dogs end up inside the shelter because their owners simply don’t have the patience to put up with the dog going potty all over their house.
Dogs that have been well cared for by owners who have shown patience, love, and attention are usually well trained. You’ll find you get best results when training your puppy under these circumstances.
Upon discovering that your puppy has made a mess on the carpet, or somewhere else in the house – don’t yell at him. This is the last thing you should do. You also cannot let your dog get away with him mistake as this will leave your dog feeling like he’s the boss. One thing that can work well is to keep your dog inside a crate when you are not watching it. You’ll find that dogs hate to go to the toilet near where they sleep or eat, so in most cases your puppy will learn to wait till he’s outside to go to the toilet.
Crate training is the preferred method of housebreaking dogs by many leading dog trainers and dog owners. Crates provide just enough space for dogs to sleep and eat and over time will become one of your dog’s favourite places to just chill out.
Dogs usually need to go to the toilet first thing in the morning, after meals, and sometimes before going to bed. A good idea is to get into a good routine and give your dog a chance to go outside at these times. Try to give your dog plenty of time and don’t hurry him to go to the toilet. If you are late in letting your dog outside, you may quite likely find an accident waiting for you.
If you live in a small apartment that doesn’t have space outside for your dog to go to the toilet, you may find paper training a good alternative to crate training. Paper training involves teaching your puppy to go to the toilet on paper which is placed in an allocated “toilet” area. Using this method, each day you’ll need to put new paper down.
Once your dog is trained, he will let you know that he needs to go outside to pee. Dogs usually do this by circling, barking at the door, or scratching the door. When this happens you can let your dog out and then congratulate him by rewarding him with a treat.
