Tips To Help You Housebreak Your Puppy

Are you looking for advice on how to housebreak your puppy? You have heard of many different methods, but what really works? Here are a few tips to help you housebreak your puppy in no time with very little effort.

Why Crate Training Works

You have probably heard the phrase “crate training” mentioned in connection with housebreaking a puppy. Essentially, crate training is keeping your puppy confined to a small space or crate when you are not home or are too busy to watch them. The reason this method works is simple. Your puppy will come to think of the crate as their den. They will be reluctant to soil their den and will start to learn how to “hold it” until you take them to where you want them to go. A tip to help you housebreak your puppy using the crate training method: make sure the space is just big enough for them to turn around and lay down comfortably. If the space is too big, they will be able to choose a corner away from where they are laying for their toilet.

Connect Meals and “Potty Time”

Your puppy will need to go potty very soon after it eats. Use this to help you housebreak your puppy by taking them to the designated potty spot when they are done eating. Wait with them until they have done their business, give them a lot of praise and bring them back in. They will soon connect their meal time with their “potty time” and know to go to their potty spot when they are done eating and do their business.

Consistency

Your puppy will learn to connect certain behaviors with certain events. For example, if you take your puppy to their potty spot as soon as you get up in the morning, they will learn that they need to do their business when you get up. Try to set up a schedule for your potty breaks to help you housebreak your puppy. You do not necessarily need to rearrange your life to fit your puppy’s bladder, but you need to have a consistent schedule for everyone in your household to follow if you want to make housebreaking easy. For example, when we brought our new puppy home we made a schedule for potty breaks every 4-5 hours and fit that to our schedule. My decided that the kids would take him outside for a potty break before they left for school, I would take the puppy outside when I came home for lunch, and so on. This made housebreaking a breeze and took very little time!

Using Positive Reinforcement

When your puppy makes a mistake and leaves a puddle or pile for you on the floor, it is natural for you to get upset. Yelling at your dog or punishing them is not the answer! Keeping calm and using positive reinforcement will help you housebreak your puppy much easier than getting upset and yelling. Your puppy wants to please you and will learn very quickly what they need to do to make you happy. Downplay the negative by giving the correction, a quick “No” works well, and letting it go when then stop the unwanted behavior. When they do what you want them to do, be enthusiastic! Make a big deal out of it! Give them their favorite dog toy to play with! They will remember what they did right and want to repeat it.

Potty training can be a frustrating and difficult time, but if you following these tips will help you housebreak your puppy with less stress and less mess! Find the right dog crate to speed up the process and use positive reinforcement to teach your puppy what you want them to do. Be consistent and make sure your whole family is on board with the training process. Your puppy is a blessing and will grow up quickly so do not let potty training ruin this fun time!