There Is No Secret About Housebreaking A Puppy, It’s All About Putting Out The Effort

If you think training a pup is about yelling at them and/or hitting them with papers, you’re completely wrong. It isn’t even about trying to rub their nose in it when they potty on the rug. It’s about helping them to understand that they’re only supposed to potty outdoors. You really have to really teach them this… just telling them (and yelling at them) doesn’t work. Being positive with a brand new pup gets the job done much, much faster than the old fashioned negative reinforcement does. You may think that I only believe this since I’m a puppy and I do not like to get hit with a newspaper, but that is incorrect. If you ever ask anyone who really understands how to train a dog they will validate this. Everyone else only THINKS they understand exactly how to train a puppy. They’re giving you bad advice.

Use A Crate

Like it or not you ‘must’ have one, you need to use it and the new dog truly doesn’t detest it. The puppy will need to go potty the moment they get out of the kennel and right after they play. If you take them outdoors right after these two events, the housebreaking thing is going to be much easier. When the evil pup first came home, she generally went potty on the way to the doorway.

After you or the kids play with the new puppy, immediately carry them outside… yes… again. Then the pup will be worn out so put them in their kennel. Follow a routine with the pup. Crate, potty, play, potty, crate, potty, play, etc. Whenever you take them outdoors to potty, take them to the area you want them to use and say whatever key phrase you’re planning to use until they go. When they do potty outside where they are supposed to, you’re supposed to make a fool of yourself. This means the puppy will relate peeing outside together with you being really happy… which is good.

Our evil puppy Scout pee’d in her actual dog kennel a handful of times, we did two things that stopped it: Made her kennel smaller (by putting a box in the crate) so she didn’t have as much extra space. “Caught” her in the act so she could be corrected right away. This is pretty important when learning how to house break a puppy.

Towels

The clean up got a lot easier for us once we chose to utilize towels. The boss gathered up all the ratty white towels and set them on the kitchen countertop. As soon as the evil pup pee’d on the carpet, we soaked it up with a bath towel, sprayed the floor with a vinegar/water mix and chucked the towel in to the bathroom sink. Any time the sink got full, we threw the bath towels in the washing machine. Working with the same shade of bath towel made the washing easier. It also works best if you do not utilize fabric softener with the towels since it helps them take in the bad stuff better. Then the boss ran the vacuum style carpet cleaner on the soiled places once a week until the evil pup finally learned not to pee inside the house. It took longer than it should have but it is because we don’t have the smartest pup in the world.. but I usually get in trouble when I say that.

Seriously… learning how to house break a pup isn’t the hard part. The tough part is the hard work it takes. Teach the puppy to potty outside. When they come out of their crate, IMMEDIATELY take them outside. Do the same thing right after they play… and eat, etc. Take them to their specific potty area. The only hard part of housebreaking a puppy is to complete all of these actions every time until the pup is trained. The harder you work on it and the more attention you give to the pup, the sooner they will quit going potty on the floor.

Living together with dogs can be wonderful. Living with multiple dogs can be even better. if you fully understand how to manage the issues you are going to encounter. TwoDogTownhouse will help you prepare yourself for and solve all of the issues involved in apartment dogs