Tips for housebreaking
at some point every puppy will be house trained!
Quick tips
- Remove all carpets and rugs in your home if possible. Puppies tend to use them as a perfect place for a loo.
- Always have an eye on the puppy. Inattention usually leads to a mishap.
- Use an SOS toilet with wooden pellets (which the puppy knows from us). It can happen that the puppy shows a sing already to go out but we don't act quick enough. After a while you can remove the toilet box.
How often a puppy needs to go?
- Up to 2 months = (at the latest) every 2 hours - but this is our job, since the puppy can leave us only from the 9th week of life.
- You can adjust the time between loo breaks 1 hour for each additional month, i.e. 3 months = 3 hours
- From 6 months = maximum 6h, later it depends.
When to take out your puppy?
- Right after sleeping! It does mean there is no time to dress yourself or take a coffee - just pick up the puppy and go!
- Sleep next to the puppy in the first time and take him out soon as possible after sleeping or when he gives a sign. Leave the collar on the puppy as you will have again no time!
- After each feeding, the puppy has to defecate no later than 20 minutes, but often the poop comes up much faster.
- After playing or even during it, get the puppy out. Increased activity boosts metabolism.
How does the puppy signalize if he has to go?
- The puppy starts to turn on the spot and sniff the ground on a hectically.
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Excited running back and forth
- Gives a sound
- Runs to the door or towards a corner
- Scratches on the door
How to act if a puppy does it on the right spot?
When your puppy has done its job properly outside, give it plenty of praise. Do if it were the best thing in the world that your dog got loose outside! If you innerly feel like a fool and hope no neighbor is watching you - this is the right way!You can also treat your puppy, but be aware you need to use treat randomly with time not by each happening unless your dog will get fix conditioned that pee & poop means a treat!But you can start using a command - go pee/poo - or whatever works for you.
It can happen, that a puppy seems not doing anything even if you walk him literally hours, but it happens immediately when you get home. This is normal. The puppy can be irritated by other dog's smell outside and doesn't wan to leave a track for the "predators" by leaving his scent marks. You better go up and down the same area, so that the puppy can smell himself after a while and don't go further and further.
In the daytime you better don't turn towards home immediately when the puppy has done his business, but walk a bit so that he don't thinks, doing a pee or a poo means going home immediately so he will learn to delay doing his business longer.
Otherwise at night you should go back as quickly as possible, without big excitement otherwise you will play catch with the dog at night in the future and it will be difficult for him to calm down!
Oops happens!
If you catch the puppy doing his business indoors, feel free to be angry, and carry the puppy outside even if he's in the middle of it. So the dog learns that it is not comfortable for him to do his business indoors. If he finishes outside, then you can praise him!
Remember! Don't scold the puppy if you find the puddle later, dogs generally must be praised or scolded within three seconds so that they associate the consequence with the behavior,
The puppy shouldn't necessarily look when you are cleaning away, since dogs take this as recognition when a fellow dog is busy with their pee or poop. Since this cannot always be avoided in everyday life, this is just to know.
It is important to clean the place properly. If it continues to smell of urine or faeces, then he will do his business there again, so it is best to use chlorine cleaners or enzyme cleaners.
What to do if you are not around or nights?
If you can't supervise your puppy, because you're in the shower or because you're going to take out the bins or only go out of the room for a short time, you can use a crate for the puppy. You can also decide after a while not to sleep anymore next to the puppy. Puppies don't usually do their business where they sleep. This means puppies will get up, walk a few steps, do their business, and then go back to sleep in their original place. Attention: A box that is too big can be enough for the dog not to give a sign and simply go into a corner of the box, so adjust the box size to the dog or let the box grow with it.
You can find a separate article for the crate training, too.