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 new 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 it 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 1 - 2 weeks.
All puppies and all different breeds of puppies are different. Not all puppies can be housetrained in the same amount of time and housebreaking times can easily vary from puppy to puppy.
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.
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.
This choice of this housebreaking spot is crucial as it enhances the overall housetraining procedure - so take careful consideration of where "the housebreaking spot" is before bringing your purebred puppy home. This is a very crucial puppy housebreaking step so be patient and wait until the puppy relieves himself. This is the spot where you'll want the puppy "to go" from now on.
It may take a while especially with all the new things happening to your new puppy, all the new smells, unfamiliar objects, new people, etc. Do not play with the puppy 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 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. This will be a huge help in the future, especially when in a new
environment or location when traveling, visiting relatives/friends,
etc. 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 new command.
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". You must watch them like a hawk at all times, especially in the beginning of the housebreaking process. If you can not keep an eye on your new 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).
A puppy should be taken out immediately (to the prearranged housebreaking spot): 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 it goes to bed for the night.
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 puppy. He
will not be able to be considered reliable as far as housebreaking goes
after only a few days.
Keep the puppy on a strict housebreaking schedule, both feeding and
elimination, and you will have puppy housebreaking success much sooner. 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.
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?
This is absolutely critical in housebreaking your puppy. 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, available at your local 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.
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 comes to think 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 dog owners in the first place? Being completely housebroken and completely reliable is the final
outcome you are looking for - right?
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
