Housebreaking Older Lhasa Apsos

Whether you have a young pup or an older Lhasa Apsos one of the most important lessons to teach is house training.

Housebreaking puppy will take time, they are just a baby and have limited to no control over their bladder or bowels but this will improve as they start to mature. Start by taking them outside every 20-30mins to the same area and pick a word or phrase to encourage the task. In time they will understand that it抯 a toilet break and will go to the same spot. Repetition is the key to successful training. Praise them for their correct behavior. While going outside seems like fun to them and gets them all excited, avoid playing with them, that way they will eventually understand its not play time but potty time. If after some time they have not gone return them to their crate and bring them back out 10-15mins later. When they do finally show appropriate potty behavior lavishly praise them and make a big deal of it and reward them accordingly.

Crate or tether training is also important for any age Lhasa Apsos. Keeping them at close proximity you will learn when they require to go potty.

There will be times that accidents do happen but scolding or yelling at them whether young or old, after the event does not fix the problem. Instead you can say bad girl/boy and take them straight outside and encourage the right behavior outside. Clean up the messy quickly if possible. If they do relieve themselves outside praise them excitedly and give them a treat for correct behavior.

If you do yell at your Lhasa Apso for their accidents they generally taking it that its bad to go potty anywhere and you may find that they may secretly go potty else where in the house.

Some mistakes to be aware of while house training your dog are:

Allowing them access all areas of the house before they have been properly potty trained, and by not supervising them appropriately.

While accidents do happen, confining your Lhasa Apso to a confined area (gate/crate) as well as providing regular opportunities to go potty outside while supervised and displaying excitement for their behavior and receiving a treat you will achieve the ultimate goal of house training them.

Once your dog has finally figured out the appropriate behavior when needing to go potty you抣l only have to give a cue and they will know its time to go outside. And you抣l know the cues when they need to go.

Cues are also helpful when feeding. Having set times will aid in positive house training. Another thing that is common with males is marking by lightly urinating on things they pass. Neutering or spaying will usually eliminate this problem.

House training your Lhasa Apso requires repetition, consistency, routine, and positive reinforcement for correct behavior. Once they have achieved about 2 months of no accidents then it抯 safe to say they are successfully housebroken.