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Tips for Housebreaking a Puppy
Housebreaking a puppy requires a lot of patience and dedication. But patience and dedication alone are not enough.
You need to know how to avoid common puppy housebreaking mistakes. You also need to know about the techniques that work.
To help you get started quicker, I created a list of the most valuable housebreaking tips.
Before we proceed, I want to remind you that some breeds take longer to train to eliminate outdoors. Individual puppies within the same breed also housebreak at different rates.
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The tips I provide below apply to all breeds. They are all battle tested and they all work.
Housebreaking A Puppy
- When is a good age to start housebreaking a puppy? Start it immediately after you bring him home. If the puppy is younger than eight weeks, wait until he reaches that age. He is too young now.
- Establish a feeding schedule and try to follow it. Don't overfeed your puppy, especially in the evening.
- Give your puppy his last meal of the day about 90 minutes before he goes to sleep. And don't forget to take him outside to relieve himself.
- Crate training is the most effective method for housebreaking a puppy.
A good source of information on crate training is this housebreaking guide. It's over 100 pages long and offers 10 pages of solid information on how you can use a crate to housebreak your puppy. - Young puppies can't control their bladder for more than two to three hours. At a minimum, take your puppy outside after each meal. To complete puppy housebreaking in the shortest period of time, take him outside every two hours.
- Learn to notice the clues that your puppy needs to go. These include restlessness, sniffing the floor or returning to a previously soiled spot.
- Establish an outdoor area for your puppy to relieve himself. Always take him there first and stay there until he does his business.
- Establish a command (ex: "Do it", "Get busy") and use it while waiting for him to eliminate. Repeat it every time he eliminates. Eventually, just saying the command will encourage him to action!
- Praise is very important in reinforcing any positive behavior. Every time your puppy eliminates outside, praise him. But only if he eliminates.
- Every time your puppy has an accident in the house, reprimand him. But do it only if you caught him in the act, and do it immediately. When you reprimand your puppy, don't be too harsh and never hit him.
- If you must leave your puppy for extended period of time (or just can't supervise him), confine him to a dog pen. Crate is OK too but unless it's nighttime, don't leave your puppy confined in a crate for more than 4 hours straight.
- Paper training has its drawbacks and I don't recommend it. Use it only as a last resort. Read more about paper training.
- Instead of paper training, teach your puppy to eliminate in a dog litter box. Visit litter box training for dogs to learn how to teach your puppy to eliminate in a litter box.
- Be patient and understanding. Screaming will not make training any faster or easier.
- Housebreaking a puppy is a long process. Don't get discouraged if there is an occasional setback.
Here are some additional tips on housebreaking puppies...
Learn more about How to Housebreak a Puppy
And as a special bonus, here is another tip: Get a good pet stain remover, because you will need it! It will not make housebreaking a puppy any quicker or easier, but it will make it a lot less destructive.
There are a lot of good products, and you will need to find what works for you.
Personally, I stopped experimenting with various products when I stumbled upon GET SERiOUS! Pet Stain, Odor and Pheromone Extractor.
If you want to find out why I like this product so much and what to look for when you buy any dog urine remover, visit dog urine remover page.
I'll also show you what types of products to stay away from.
Like I already mentioned earlier, this is just an introduction to housebreaking a puppy. It's a good place to start, but for more detailed information, you will need to explore this site further.
For more information on housebreaking a puppy, visit...
You may also want to explore this Ultimate Housetraining Guide. It's full of practical advice and covers all aspects of housebreaking a puppy. But what I like about it the most is that it offers several training methods and lets you choose the one that works best for you and your puppy.
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