House Training a Puppy Tips

The moment you bring your puppy home, you have to start training the puppy how to behave.

While some people will prefer to start later when the puppy is older, some behaviour is easier to control as the puppy adjusts to his new schedule. That way you can make correct behaviour a part of the puppy.

When house training your puppy, do not expect that the puppy will learn correct behaviour overnight. For this reason, it is essential that you are patient with the puppy.

To begin housetraining, you can restrict the puppy in a crate. This crate should be large enough that the puppy can lie down and turn around in. You could line the bottom of the crate with paper or towels that will keep the puppy warm

This crate serves to contain the puppy ensuring that the puppy does not eliminate in unwanted areas. The puppy will also want to keep his “house” clean and will not eliminate in the crate. The puppy should e placed in the crate when he is napping, at night when you go to sleep and any other time when you don’t have time to supervise the dog’s movement.

Be consistent in your training; take the puppy to the specific spot you want him to use as a potty area. Wait till the puppy has eliminated, praise the puppy then take him back to the house. You need to make your puppy’s elimination a routine this means that you have to come up with a schedule for the puppy.

Elimination time is mostly determined by feeding times. Every 30 minutes after you feed the puppy, you have to have to take the puppy to the potty area. The puppy will also need to eliminate more if the weather is not favourable.

Avoid making excuses for the puppy; if you get the puppy in winter don’t use the cold as an excuse to delay the puppy’s house training.  If the puppy’s potty area is outside then take the puppy outside, in fact he will be more willing to eliminate so that he can go back to the house where it’s warmer.

If the puppy can’t hold it in or just messes up in the house, just clean up the pee or poop. You can use commercially available products to ensure that the odour is completely removed from the spot the puppy eliminated in.

To avoid any accidents at night, the puppy should be fed early in the evening; that way, the food is digested and the puppy eliminates it when you take him out at night. This will reduce the likelihood of the puppy soiling his quarters at night.

As the puppy grows older he will have better bladder and bowel control, this means that you can he can now hold it in longer. You can then do away with some of the elimination time and let the puppy do something else during this time.

Leaving your puppy unsupervised before he is house trained is a recipe for disaster. Always ensure you can keep track of the puppy’s movements, if you can’t then invest in a good crate.

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