How To House Train A Puppy
House training most definitely needs to start immediately the day the puppy is brought home. The best way to start your house training is to allow the puppy a confined space – whether it be a play pen, large crate or a room sectioned off with ‘baby doors’ – to prevent the puppy wandering all over the house. Initially, it is best to have the puppy in the same room with you which allows you to monitor your puppy’s behavior and take him outside every half an hour to an hour for a toileting session. Every time your puppy toilets outside, reward and praise that behavior, either with a treat, verbal praise or play session – or even all three! This house training is setting your puppy up for ongoing success and learning quickly. Once they get the idea that the toilet is in the yard they will start telling you they want to go out. Inevitably, there will be a mistake or two or three possibly. DO NOT under any circumstances rub the puppy’s nose into the mess!! The mistake is YOURS for not paying attention! Puppies will usually start sniffing around when they want to toilet. Keep an eye out for this and immediately take him outside. Always praise and reward in the beginning for the behavior you want.
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First of all – let’s make it clear that confinement is NOT punishment! Think of it as a den or lair, which is what a pack of dogs would have in the wild. Confinement is only appropriate until the puppy has learnt the rules of the house, which is – that the inside of the house is not the toilet area. As the puppy learns that the toilet area is outside then he is allowed the privileges of having access to greater areas of the inside of the house. Generally, a puppy could be pretty much house trained by the time he reaches 4 to 5 months of age. Every puppy is different and some may pick up the house training quicker than others.
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You might think confinement is cruel but consider this – if you allow your puppy to roam around every room in the house and you are too busy to keep an eye on him then what will happen? Your puppy will think it is ok to toilet in any spot he likes. Your puppy may also think that anything in the house is ok to chew on – see our page on How To Stop Your Dog From Chewing Everything. As you are too busy to pay attention, you then find out later that the puppy has toileted inside. You scold him/her and take him/her outside. At this point the puppy has no idea what he/she has done because he/she toileted an hour ago and you didn’t catch him/her in the act. So then this becomes the behaviour because the puppy doesn’t know any different. You decide that it is too difficult to house train your puppy and he/she is seconded to the outside yard only. You are then too busy to play with him/her, so he/she starts barking, there are chew toys but the reticulation is a better toy to play with. You get cross and start punishing him/her. The puppy then starts to dig in the garden, etc., etc. – do you see the pattern of behaviour?
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By commencing your house training in a crate (and this is only while the puppy is learning) for a short period of time with the chew toys (and treats) and some soft bedding and by taking him/her outside for toilet every half hour or so you are instigating a correct behaviour pattern which will set up the puppy for being a valuable member of the family and understanding the rules.If you need to go out and leave your puppy inside the home then the house training exercise should be confining him to an enclosed area or laundry, bathroom or suchlike. Make sure it is equipped with a bed or soft mat for him to sleep, a container of fresh water, some chew toys with treats in them and make a toilet out of a box with some soil or turf in it. This will need to be placed as far from the bedding as possible. Otherwise, fence off an area in the yard so the puppy has an area to play in while you are out. Make sure you leave water and toys for him/her in this area.
How To Set Up The Confinement Area
As mentioned above, confinement could be set up in a large crate, play pen, laundry area, bathroom area or even just have the puppy close to where you are working in an open room which has barriers to prevent wandering to other areas of the house. It is preferable to have the puppy somewhere where you can observe and he feels he is not left alone for long periods of time.
You will need at least 4 things:
- Comfortable bedding – Muttropolis.com have a fantastic range of designer indoor and outdoor bedding, orthopedic bedding and mats and blankets;
- Toilet mat or tray at the most diagonal and furthest position away from the bedding – fake grass is ideal because it resembles real grass and an association with that starts to take place;
- Bowl of water;
- Chew toys, preferably stuffed with the puppy’s meal or treats.
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If you set up the confinement area so that the puppy is aware of your presence nearby he will not feel so alone. Obviously, it is not appropriate to keep the puppy locked up for long periods of time so it is important that you take him outside very regularly. Ideally, if you can block off the room you are working in and have a crate within this area set up with the bedding, toilet mat, water and toys in it and leave the door open so that your puppy can enter and exit the crate at his pleasure and not feel that it is a punishment area. Your puppy, in this situation, will experience it as a place of his own and not build a negative association with this area. If your puppy is locked in a laundry or bathroom and is just left there where he does not see anyone for long periods of time then he may start to stress and suffer anxiety.
By taking your puppy outside every 1/2 hour to 1 hour and rewarding your puppy every time he toilets outside it means he is not making an error by toileting inside and you are establishing consistent and solid behavior patterns in the puppy’s head.
As the puppy becomes more reliable with toilet training then he is gradually allowed more access to more rooms in the house. Some puppies may take a little longer with toilet training than others – it is just a matter of being consistent and not getting upset if a mistake happens along the way. Your puppy will eventually learn where the toilet area is.
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You will find that house training your puppy will be successful through repetition and consistency with praise, treats and play!
