House Training Puppies

Welcoming a new puppy into your home can be by turns a wonderful and frustrating experience and house training puppies as soon as possible will no doubt be high on your agenda. In order for the new arrival to settle in as soon as possible, and in order to minimize potential problems it is well worthwhile spending some time preparing things before the big day.

For first time owners in particular house training a puppy can be a major challenge. But If you learn a little about what to expect, how to react, and how to handle the likely problems that will arise and you maintain a positive attitude, you will discover that teaching your puppy to grow into a well behaved and clean adult dog is easier than many people seem to think.

Just as you and your family will be, your new pup will most likely be very excited, if not a little fearful, when they arrive at their new home. This can considerable increase the chance of early 'toilet related accidents occurring'. Therefore, as soon as you first arrive home, be sure to start by taking the pup outside.

It is to be hoped that you have made the journey back without a mishap, and especially if this is the case you new little pet will no doubt be desperate to 'go'. It will so much better if this happens in the area they will regularly be expected to use from the start. It is also to be considered that if the pup immediately 'blots its copybook' indoors, the resulting scents (no matter how well mopped up) will very much increase the chances of further mishaps.

Start The Way You Mean To Go On

Setting a precedent on arrival at its new home by getting the puppy to make its toilet in the garden area it will normally use will give you a great head start to a successful period of house training.

Let the pup have a chance to sniff around and explore the garden or external area that will become its toilet. Try and resist petting or stroking the pup whilst it makes itself familiar with the area. For if you are tempted to start playing with the pup it will not only prove distracting from the important business it must do but also start to make the pup associate the garden with 'play' instead of 'toilet'.

As soon as the pup starts to do its toilet, be sure to say, and repeat, the words you want the pup to learn indicates that you expect it to go to the toilet in the future. Maybe you will say 'Be quick now', or 'Go to toilet' -- depending on what you will feel comfortable with when faced with using the tactic publicly!

Whatever you decide to say it should be both short and clear, so that it is easily recognized by the pup. Try and ensure you use the same sort of inflection and rhythm as you repeat the phrase to make it even easier for pup to learn. As soon as the 'mission is accomplished' make sure you praise, pat and possibly give a small treat to your puppy, to show you are pleased with them.

After the 'homecoming' and, hopefully, a successful introduction to the outside toilet area, you will be taking your new puppy into your home. So it is important that things should have been made ready to start the house-training of your pup, in earnest, from the get-go.

Probably the most effective way to avoid mishaps in the house, and to begin to train your pup is to use what is called the 'crate method'. This may sound strange, but it refers to a wire cage that should be provided as the puppy's new bedroom.

Crate Training

You will need to obtain a 'crate' of the correct dimensions, and you will also need to be disciplined about putting the pup in its 'crate' whenever you are unable to be on hand to supervise its behaviour. It is important to start this regime as soon as the puppy arrives because it is the fairest way to help it to learn.

Obviously you won't be cooping the little thing up for hours at a time, but if the pup has a secure place that is all its own, where it has a comfy bed, it will soon learn to settle and sleep. More importantly, due to the natural instinct not to soil its own bedding, the puppy should remain clean until you come and take it out of the crate, and make a quick journey to the garden area!

Choosing a crate of the right size for the puppy is also important. If it is too small it will most likely quickly outgrow it and become cramped and uncomfortable. If it is too large, then the pup could begin to use one part of the crate as its bed and decide to do its toilet in the other side of the crate.

You'll need to estimate the final grown size of your puppy in order to make sure you obtain a crate that will let the adult dog both to stand up easily and to lie fully stretched out. As a dog crate can be an expensive item to buy you will not want to buy one that is soon redundant. So you should either buy the full-size crate to start with – and maybe put a 'temporary' barrier across part of it to keep the pup in the correct sized area to avoid 'toilet accidents'. Otherwise you might be able to make a cheap crate yourself just for the new pup and move them into the 'real thing' once they are a little older and larger.

How Crate Training Works

Using crate training for house training a puppy works through a combination of discipline and routine. Dogs love routine. They quickly learn what the household routine is -- IF you implement one! Having a dog as a pet can really help some humans become more self-disciplined too!

The puppy will therefore either be outside with you, or indoors playing and being supervised with you, or will be resting in its crate. It is often forgotten hat puppies, just like human babies and toddlers, whilst apparently having loads of energy to burn also need plenty of rest whilst they are growing, in order to remain fit and healthy.So whilst you will be enjoying play times with your pup, you need to allow the pup to learn that when you go to the garden, or otherwise outside the house, the priority is for it to 'do its business' quickly and efficiently. Similarly when the pup is put in its crate it will soon learn that it is then time to rest and even if it whines a little the first few times it will soon learn to settle quickly, and get forty-winks!

It really is important that you, and or other family members are keeping an eye on the behaviour and whereabouts of the pop at all times. You will soon spot the typical patterns of behaviour when it is getting ready to 'relieve itself'…So you'll need to be quick to scoop up your new pup and whisk it outside so that it has least chance of having a mishap.

Remember – if the puppy manages to urinate, or defecate in the house a first time, it is all the more likely to happen again. It may even become a pattern of activity that you will have to work even harder to break the pup from. You should take the view that if a pup begins to foul inside the home it is YOUR fault not the pups. So you should ensure that even though you might scold the puppy and show it where it should have gone, you need to consider what it was you failed to do that allowed an opportunity for the mishap occur in the first place. Most likely it will be a failure of observation/ supervision, or a failure to ensure the pup is taken out to the garden often enough!

(NOTE: If a pup is unable to control its bowels, and starts to suffer from diarrhoea then this could be indicative of a serious problem and may relate to dogs health issues which will be discussed in another article.)

More tips and advice about house training dogs and puppies effectively and quickly:

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