Tips for Housebreaking Your Puppy

Housetraining Tips for Your Puppy

                We have been loving all the new puppies at Patton lately! With a new puppy comes the sometimes frustrating responsibility of teaching your pup to potty outside.  Let’s discuss some tips to set your pup up for success!

1. Bring your patience:  Teaching a pup to go to the bathroom outside is a learning process.  Some pick it up very quickly, others are slow to learn.  In general, most puppies are fully house trained by six months of age.  Consider yourself lucky if it happens sooner and don’t fret if your pup is taking a bit longer to learn good bathroom habits. Puppies are not trained overnight—it takes work, patience and lots of cleaning supplies! There will be accidents.  It’s part of the process.
2. Do establish a routine and use positive reinforcement.  Dogs are all about the routine. Establishing a schedule helps ensure your dog stays on track with training. Take your pup outside as soon as he wakes up and after meals (Extra tip:  Feeding puppies meals on a schedule can also aid in house training).  Puppies can be expected to hold their bladders about one hour per month of age, but try to take them out at least every two hours at any age.  Take your puppy to a designated “toilet” area outside.  You may need to have your dog on a leash or at least go out with him to supervise.  Reward your puppy with praise and/or small training treats if he does go and try saying a term like “do your business” or “go potty” when your pup goes.  Remember to give that treat as soon as he goes, not after he comes inside.
3. Don’t punish your puppy if he or she has an accident.  Puppies aren’t perfect and there WILL be accidents. Don’t yell, rub her nose it her waste or banish your pup if she has an accident, especially if you don’t witness it. Your puppy knows your upset, but probably doesn’t know why.  NEVER physically punish a dog for an accident. Punishments only tend to frighten and can make training more difficult. You do have permission to make a loud noise to interrupt the pup and take her outside immediately if caught in the act.  Make sure to clean the stain thoroughly with a product made to clean pet urine so your dog is not attracted back to the soiled area.
4. Do confine your puppy when you can’t supervise. Crating or confining a pup to a small room, or, better yet, a crate just large enough for him to stand up and turn around in keeps messes to a minimum and keeps pups out of trouble!
5. Help her signal you that she needs to go—This is often the last thing dogs learn which can make training frustrating, but watch for natural signals like barking or going to the door and reinforce those behaviors by taking outside and saying the “potty” word (no, not that potty word!). If your pup is a bit more clueless, help him succeed by teaching her to ring a bell to go outside.

A word about pee pad: I am not a fan.I think they confuse pups and make it more difficult to train them to go outside.That being said, in some cases they can be helpful if your pup needs to be left alone for a long time or can’t be confined, they may save your carpet--Just use with caution.

Hopefully, these tips will help to make house training run a little smoother and have your pup peeing and pooping outside like a champ in no time!

This blog brought to you by the Patton Veterinary Hospital serving York, Red Lion and the surrounding communities.

Sources:

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/housetraining_puppies.htmlhttps://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/teach-pup-ring-bell-to-go-outside/