Congratulations on your new puppy!

Housebreaking is usually on the top of the list of “things to teach the puppy”. It can usually be completed fairly quickly if you follow a few simple tasks, and put forth the effort it takes to train your puppy right. House breaking a puppy requires a combination of routine, management systems and supervision. The more consistent you follow these guidelines, the quicker your puppy will understand where to appropriately eliminate. This is the same for both puppies AND adult dogs who are not house trained.

Routine:
• Create a food and water schedule for your puppy to establish an elimination pattern. Free feeding and watering makes house breaking more difficult by unpredictable elimination.
• Take your puppy out regularly. He should be let out to eliminate when waking up, after eating or drinking, and after playing.
• At the beginning, be consistent with the location you want your dog to eliminate
• Tell your puppy to “go potty” or whatever command you want to use, while he is eliminating. The “go potty” phrase linked with the action of going to the bathroom will help him understand to eliminate on command later.
• Praise your puppy when he is done.

Supervision:
• Watch your puppy at all times.
• Look for your puppy’s elimination signs (sniffing, spinning, squatting, etc)
• If you catch your puppy in the act, startle him and bring him outside immediately and tell him to “go potty”.
• If you cannot watch your puppy closely, put him inside his crate. Most puppies will not eliminate in their crates, provided that the crate is not too large for the puppy.
• If you find an accident, that means you weren’t watching your puppy close enough. Do NOT rub his nose in the mess as he will not link the ACT of the elimination to the actual mess. He will only see the mess after the fact and become afraid. Be sure to clean the area thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaning solution.

Troubleshooting:
• Your puppy eliminates in his crate:
Make sure that the crate is not too large for the puppy. It should be large enough so that he can turn around , but not so large that he has roaming space.

• When catching the puppy “in the act” you take him outside and he will not eliminate:
Put your puppy back in his crate for a few minutes, then take him outside again and give him the command “go potty”. You may need to do this several times until he eliminates. Do NOT let your puppy play before eliminating – use play time as a reward for proper elimination.

• You find a mess on the carpet and your puppy looks as if he “did something wrong”
At this point it’s too late to show him where he should eliminate, so clean up the mess with a proper enzymatic solution. If you have scolded your puppy in the past for eliminating in the inappropriate place, he knows that the elimination itself is wrong, but does not know that the ACT of the elimination is the source of your disproval. Start over and keep an eye on your puppy for future “signs”.

• Teaching your dog to go within a boundary:
If you want your puppy to go to the bathroom in a certain spot in your yard, you must keep him on a leash and take him to the appropriate area that you want him to eliminate. Give him the command “go potty” and wait until he complies. If he does not eliminate, put him in his crate for a few minutes and try again. Be consistent and wait until he complies every time before removing the leash.

• Teaching your dog tell you when he has to go outside:
This one takes a bit of consistency, but can be very easy to teach. Hang something like a bell, on your door, and every time you take the pup outside to “go potty”, ring the bell as you open the door. Encourage the puppy to ring the bell himself before you take him outside. This associates the “need” to go outside with the bell, which is something that can be easily heard throughout the house.