Learn everything you need to know about Puppy Potty Training.
here have been thousands of puppy training articles published on the
internet about puppy potty training. And if you took the time to read
them all you would soon discover that almost all of them lead to one
word; CRATE. Crate training is without a doubt the most effective way to
housebreak a puppy. It is easy, safe and will keep your house clean.
A crate is a small cage that your puppy lives in when you are not able
to supervise it. The premise of crate training is simple;
puppies are naturally clean animals and most puppies will not go to the
bathroom where they sleep. Crate training is a nifty way to keep your
puppy on its bed. First you buy the crate, then you put a bed in the
crate, then you put the puppy in the crate and close the crate door.
These four simple steps create a situation where your puppy cannot leave its bedroom
area. And because it cannot leave where it sleeps, it will do its best
not to pee or poo until you take it outside.
Of course a crate unto itself cannot housebreak your puppy. When your
puppy is not in the crate you must be forever diligent to keep it in
sight, then, when you see it about to make a mistake, quickly rush it
outside and praise it lavishly when it eliminates outdoors.
The key to successfully housebreaking a puppy is to avoid as many
mistakes as you can. Often, more often than you would imagine, people
who know their dogs have housebreaking problems continue to let their
dogs roam around the house unsupervised. This is a mistake that will
make a smelly mess of your house. If you don't trust your puppy to
control itself, then do not let it out of your sight.
It is also important to understand that few puppies are able to control
their bladder for a full eight or nine hours. So if you leave them in a
crate too long they will have no choice other than to urinate and
defecate where they sleep. Should this happen you will need to bath your
puppy right away, wash its bed with a good disinfecting soap and clean
out the crate. Moreover you will need to take steps to ensure that your
puppy is not left alone in its crate for too long.
●
How Long Can A Puppy Stay In A Crate?
The answer; not long! As a rule your puppy will want to go to the
bathroom as soon as it wakes up from a nap. If your puppy is very young,
8 to 16 weeks, this could be every three to four hours.
Yikes! So you
must ask yourself, if you are going to use a crate to housebreak a young puppy, how on earth are you going to get home from work every two to
three hours?
Now, stop here! Lets think on this. It is time to plan your
puppy's puppyhood.
You have just learned that your new puppy will need to go to the
bathroom every two to three hours, or, every time it wakes up from a
nap. You also know that you need to go to work on Monday morning and you
will not be back for eight hours. If you leave your puppy in the crate
it will have gone to the bathroom twice before you get home.
Yikes! It will
have spent half of the day laying in urine and may start to eat its own feces.
Clearly, you have some serious choices to make. Lets examine these
choices now.
● Can you take your puppy to work with you?
For most people the answer to this is an overwhelming "NO", but if this
is an option, take your crate and your puppy to work with you (note: you
can buy crates that fold up like luggage so they are easy to move
around). Set the crate up in an inconspicuous area and keep your eye on
your puppy. When you see it needs to go outside, quickly take it out for
a fast bathroom break and then put it back in the crate.
Taking your puppy to work may also present a noise problem. Most puppies
do not take kindly to the crate the first time they are locked up and
they scream and bark to be let out. Yikes! Your boss may not mind the
puppy, but I am sure she will mind the noise. If your puppy barks and screams
whenever you put him into his crate, Yikes!, you have another problem,
unwanted barking and screaming. Click here for help with UNWANTED
BARKING.
● Can you afford to hire a professional dog
walker?
Professional dog walking is big business in most major cities. It is
easy to find someone who will come to your house and take your puppy
outside when you need to be away. If you can afford to do this, by all
means, do it!
Make no mistakes, professional dog walkers take their jobs very
seriously and many of them really care about the well being of your
puppy.
In many cities dog walkers are well organized,
they even have official
associations that set standards for people who wish to walk and care for
dogs. The cost of a good dog walker will range from $15 a walk, to $30 a
walk in some cities. Some services offer great discounts for people who
want to sign up for one walk every day of the month.
In the case of a very young puppy that has not received all of its
vaccinations you may not want it taken out for an extended walk, just
the same, an expert dog walker can come to your house and take your
puppy out for a bathroom break, play a while in your home, give it fresh
water and food, and then put it back in the crate. This is an excellent
way to break up your puppy's day and help you housebreak your dog.
While on the topic of dog walkers I have some good advice. Don't hire a
child or trust a neighbor to do this simple task for you. Why? Dog
owners often become hyper sensitive when it comes to the well being of
their dogs. If you ask a friend to look after your puppy and something
goes wrong you could end up fighting with people you care about. When
you hire an expert to do the job you can rest assured that you have a
paid employee working in your best interest. Then, if something goes
wrong, fire that expert and hire new help. Simple. However, you cannot
simply fire friends, and if you do, you could very well be burning
bridges that are best left undamaged.
Bad news, you may find that even with a dog walker on your side your puppy still can't 'hold it' for long. What do you do then?
● Puppy Day Care
Another popular service in most major cities is doggy day care. These
are places where you drop your puppy off in the morning and then pick it
up after work. The cost may be slightly greater than most dog walkers,
but your puppy will be looked after all day. There is, however, the risk
of a young puppy getting sick in the company of other dogs. To avoid
this you are well advised to ask any puppy day care how they keep their
building clean, and what are the minimum required health checks for the
dogs. With a little research you should be able to find someone who can
help you.
● Paper Training
For whatever reason, you may choose not to hire a dog walker or take
your puppy to a day care center. Very well. If you do not have a
reliable way to get your young puppy out of its crate every day then do
not use a crate until your puppy is four to five months old. Older
puppies are often able to 'hold it' for a full eight hours, so a crate
can be used then. But in the meantime, while your puppy is still under
four months
of age, do not leave it in a crate for extended periods of time.
Gwen Bohnenkamp of Perfect Paws is one of the few popular puppy trainers
that advocates the use of paper training. She writes on her website:
"Confine your puppy to a small, 'puppy-proofed'
room and paper the entire floor. Put his bed, toys and food/water bowls
there. At first there will be no rhyme or reason to where your pup
eliminates. He will go every where and any where. He will also probably
play with the papers, chew on them, and drag them around his little den.
Most puppies do this and you just have to live with it. Don't get upset;
just accept it as life with a young puppy. The important thing is that
when you get home, clean up the mess and lay down fresh papers."
If you have a large breed puppy this can be an awful mess, so much so
that it should not even seriously be considered. Should this be your
case, you need to resign yourself to some great truths. 1) You need a
crate, and, 2) you need to find someone to take your dog out while you
are at work. There is one other option, and we will examine that a
little later.
If your puppy is small to medium size (example; a Miniature Poodle or a
Sheltie) you may be able to use Gwen's advice and paper train your
puppy. The goal of paper training is to completely cover the whole floor
with paper, then, slowly, day by day, remove the paper until it covers
only a corner of the room. As you remove the paper you will notice that
your puppy only goes to the bathroom on the paper. Presumably this is
because the puppy has made the connection that newsprint = toilet. It
makes this connection because whenever it has gone to the bathroom it
has been on newspaper. When the newspaper starts to shrink it reveals a
vinyl floor, your puppy will come to see the vinyl floor as clean space
and the papered floor as bathroom space. Before you know it you have a
paper trained puppy.
Paper training should only be used an a temporary solution while your
puppy is still too young to 'hold it' for a full work day. Although you
may wish to paper train your puppy you should still buy a crate, and
train your puppy to rest in its crate comfortably. A good combination of
paper training and crate training is this; use the paper when you must
be away for more than five hours, however, at night, when you are home,
crate your puppy at night. When you hear the puppy cry to be let
outside, get out of bed, take it outside, and after it has gone to the
bathroom, put it back in the crate until morning.
Many trainers report that once your puppy has been paper trained it will
simply pee or poo on paper for the rest of its life. Double Yikes! Let's
not forget that the TV Guide is paper, and where do you often keep that?
On a sofa or chair. Hummmm? And lets not forget your kids school books,
or your new Ikea catalog. If you must paper train your puppy, we do
understand that some circumstances leave you little choice, but be aware
that paper training is not a widely expectable form of modern training,
and in the end you may fall short of reaching the kind of success that
you are aiming towards.
● The Back Yard
If you are lucky enough to have a secure, puppy proof, back yard then
you can use your yard as a helpful crate alternative. When you cannot be
home to watch your puppy simple leave it in the back yard. Make sure
that you purchases a quality dog house and a good water dish that your
puppy will not be able to tip over. Should you leave your puppy in the
yard it must have good shelter, plenty of food and water, and a number
of toys to keep it occupied.
While this may seem like a perfectly sensible thing to do, leaving your
puppy alone in the back yard makes it susceptible to a number of social
problems. Theft is one. Your puppy may also fall victim to children
teasing it, which can lead to unwanted shyness and or aggression. If you
have a chain link fence then I strong suggest that you do not leave your
puppy alone in the yard. People have a terrible habit of poking through
chain link fences at puppies. Your puppy may also be tormented by all
the people walking by and leaving. Puppies are social animals and they
want to be close to a family unit. When they are all alone they will be
drawn to people. If these people simply walk by your puppy may start to
bark, howl and try to escape the yard. A three month old puppy can dig
its way under a fence in less than one hour. And a six month old puppy
can learn to climb a fence in an equally short period of time.
Then there is the problem of digging holes and chewing apart bushes and
little trees.
If you are going to leave your puppy in a back yard make sure that you
make the yard appealing enough for a puppy. Lots of safe toys are a
must, as well as a solid wooden fence. It is also advisable that you
have a good amount of property around your yard that is not generally
used by the public.
Important Information About Outdoor Dogs
With all of this information being given you may have forgotten what
this web page is about, puppy potty training, or housebreaking. If you
must leave your dog in the back yard while you are at work it is
important to understand that your dog is still a house pet and it should
be allowed to live with you, inside the house when you return home. The
Humane Society of Silicon Valley writes:
"BACKYARD DOGS HAVE MORE BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS.
Since all your dog's instincts are telling him it is not good to be left
alone or isolated from his pack, your dog can become very stressed or
anxious. A dog exhibits stress by digging, barking, howling or whining,
chewing, escaping, and exhibiting hyperactivity. These problems can
become so troublesome that your neighbors may complain about the
barking, howling, property destruction, or your dog escaping."
The above quote is very true and you must be careful not to abandon your
puppy in the back yard. If you must use your yard, only use it as a
temporary training aid. When your puppy reaches five months of age you
should be able to use a crate for longer periods of time.
Final Thoughts
You have just been provided with all of the essential information needed
to housebreak your puppy. Consider this information carefully, print it
out, read it twice and then come up with an effective training plan for
your puppy.
However careful we have
been to give you a complete overview, it is not possible to detail everything you need to know on a web page. For that reason we
strongly suggest that you download a copy of our
"Housebreaking" e-book. This digital
book is beautifully presented and packed full of helpful information,
information that could mean the difference between a clean dog and a
dirty mess.
Click Here
To Download Our Complete Housebreaking Manual For Only $6.95
This E-book Is Available For PC users
only. Not for "Mac" users.
We use one of the internet's most respected and secure credit
card processing companies: ClickBank. We will not share your personal
information with anyone, nor will you receive any bothersome emails as a result of your purchase.
Easy, Fast, Safe, and Secure!
Clickbank
uses sophisticated international fraud control to screen all purchases.
For maximum card security, all orders are sent directly to the banking
network for immediate authorization. ClickBank does not store any credit card or bank account numbers.
Puppywishes is never given your credit card information, only receipt of
the sale so that we can insure quality customer service.
Full Money Back Guarantee, and FREE
on-line support to everyone who owns this wonderful e-book.
here have been thousands of puppy training articles published on the
internet about puppy potty training. And if you took the time to read
them all you would soon discover that almost all of them lead to one
word; CRATE. Crate training is without a doubt the most effective way to
housebreak a puppy. It is easy, safe and will keep your house clean.
premise of crate training is simple;
puppies are naturally clean animals and most puppies will not go to the
bathroom where they sleep. Crate training is a nifty way to keep your
puppy on its bed. First you buy the crate, then you put a bed in the
crate, then you put the puppy in the crate and close the crate door.
These four simple steps create a situation where your puppy cannot leave its bedroom
area. And because it cannot leave where it sleeps, it will do its best
not to pee or poo until you take it outside. 
Professional dog walking is big business in most major cities. It is
easy to find someone who will come to your house and take your puppy
outside when you need to be away. If you can afford to do this, by all
means, do it! 
If your puppy is small to medium size (example; a Miniature Poodle or a
Sheltie) you may be able to use Gwen's advice and paper train your
puppy. The goal of paper training is to completely cover the whole floor
with paper, then, slowly, day by day, remove the paper until it covers
only a corner of the room. As you remove the paper you will notice that
your puppy only goes to the bathroom on the paper. Presumably this is
because the puppy has made the connection that newsprint = toilet. It
makes this connection because whenever it has gone to the bathroom it
has been on newspaper. When the newspaper starts to shrink it reveals a
vinyl floor, your puppy will come to see the vinyl floor as clean space
and the papered floor as bathroom space. Before you know it you have a
paper trained puppy.
While this may seem like a perfectly sensible thing to do, leaving your
puppy alone in the back yard makes it susceptible to a number of social
problems. Theft is one. Your puppy may also fall victim to children
teasing it, which can lead to unwanted shyness and or aggression. If you
have a chain link fence then I strong suggest that you do not leave your
puppy alone in the yard. People have a terrible habit of poking through
chain link fences at puppies. Your puppy may also be tormented by all
the people walking by and leaving. Puppies are social animals and they
want to be close to a family unit. When they are all alone they will be
drawn to people. If these people simply walk by your puppy may start to
bark, howl and try to escape the yard. A three month old puppy can dig
its way under a fence in less than one hour. And a six month old puppy
can learn to climb a fence in an equally short period of time.
