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The Struggles of Housebreaking

You should waste no time starting the process of housebreaking your new dog — once you have him home, you are ready to begin. One that can only lead to confusion for the dog later on is giving your new dog a little time to get to know the family and the house before laying down the law. Truthfully, you cannot expect a dog who has been allowed to have full run of the house to suddenly accept new rules and adapt quickly to housebreaking.

It’s Not Too Late

You can still get your dog to behave properly, even if your level of control has been low up to this point. It is never too late to start dog training your puppy, unlike the common belief out there. Whether your puppy is young or old you can still include housebreaking into his/her daily routine. Whether your problem is dog chewing, dog biting or dog growling, you need to focus on the unwanted behavior that is your highest concern. It is important to work on housebreaking these behaviors first, then move on to other things.

You have to start housebreaking as soon as possible to ensure that your puppy never develops into one of those aggressive dogs you hear about on the news. If your biggest worry at the moment is that your dog does not know where they are or are not allowed to go to toilet, you will need to address this first.

Housebreaking Tips

* Restrict food and water to the appropriate meal times

* Keep peed pads in one area

* You should praise your pet when it displays good behavior

* Never strike or slap the dog if it misses the pee pad

* Take the puppy to the pee pad within fifteen to twenty minutes of drinking or eating

A lot of people leave water and food out for their dog all day long. Puppies should not be expected to hold their bladder the way that older dogs can. Young puppies do not have the ability to hold their bladder for long periods of time. This will cause more accidents in the house that are not the fault of the puppy. Making food and water constantly available can be counter-productive to your housebreaking goal.

If the puppy goes to the bathroom in some other place in the house, the pee pad should be put there. At this stage, housebreaking is just acclimating the puppy to the pad with respect to going to the bathroom. You can then proceed with housebreaking by slowing moving the pee pad every couple of days towards the spot where you eventually want the pads to be.

Even though housebreaking can take a long time, it is very important. You definitely do not want your dog “going” everywhere. Your puppy can get discouraged if the housebreaking process is not easy to learn. Get outside help if you need it. No matter who does it, it takes time to housebreak.

Tags: animals, dog obedience, dog obedience training, dog training, dogs, home sweet home, housebreaking, obedience classes, pets