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House training your dog

I want to first start out with a quick definition on house training. You will notice on the menu that I also have a section on crate training and some may feel that giving both of them a section is redundant. House training a dog by definition isn’t the same thing as crate training. It actually is the act of training your dog to go to the bathroom in a designated area, whether that be outside in the grass, inside on papers or wherever you decide it should be. Crate training , however, is the use of a crate to train your dog to have proper manners such as no chewing, staying off the furniture, being calm in the house, and a whole host of other behaviors including house training. This section will deal solely with house training a dog, which can include house breaking, paper training, potty training, and similar terms. I am going to give you a general overview on house training, click on the links below to get more detailed and specific information for your particular situation.

The first thing you need to do when house training a dog is to decide where you want your dog to go to the bathroom. For many people this is obvious. If you have a German Shepherd, you probably don’t want to put down newspapers in the kitchen for him to relieve himself. Although, if you have a Chihuahua and you don’t mind a bit of cleanup, setting up a litter box might be a simple solution.

Once you decide where Sparky needs to go to the bathroom here is the most important key: he must only go to the bathroom in that spot! That is it. The only exception is when you have him away from the house for a walk or such. If you are at home and Sparky needs to go to the bathroom, it is your responsibility to make sure that he goes in the right spot.

How do you do that? The first key is to get him on a schedule. Start taking him out to the bathroom at roughly the same time every day. The best schedule to put him on is to take him to his spot first thing in the morning, last thing at night, after he eats, and when you take him out of his crate. The place where you take him isn’t important; just make sure that you are taking him to the same spot every time. If you are taking him out to the yard, use an area roughly 10’x10’, keep him on leash and walk him back and forth within that area. Encourage him to go to the bathroom by choosing a command such as ‘potty time’ or ‘do your businesses'. When he goes to the bathroom give him lots of praise. If you have chosen a litter box or newspapers for a smaller dog do the same thing. At the designated time, take him to his spot and keep him in that area. Encourage him to go to the bathroom and praise him when he does.

Ok, getting Sparky to go the bathroom in a certain area is just half of the equation of house training a dog. The other half is making sure that he doesn’t go to the bathroom where he shouldn’t e.g. your rug, your kitchen floor, etc.

There are two steps to make sure that Sparky isn’t using your best Persian rug as his commode. The first step is supervision. When he is in the house with you he should be near you at all times. I repeat, he needs to be with you 100% of the time. The best way I’ve found is to keep a leash on him and just make sure that where you are, so is he. Don’t worry, this isn’t forever. He won’t have to stay on leash his whole life, but in the beginning stages this is the best way. If you are supervising him and he begins to go to the bathroom where he shouldn’t, you should immediately grab the leash, give him several sharp tugs while telling him ‘no’ and moving him outside or toward his papers where you encourage him to go to the bathroom.

The second of the two steps is the use of a crate or confinement system. If you are like most people you aren’t able to supervise your dog all day. You may be showing him the proper place to go to the bathroom and supervising him around the house but that leaves a big block of time when you aren’t around. Let’s say you spend a lot of time showing Sparky that he needs to go to the bathroom outside but then you leave him alone in the house. While he is alone he decides to go to the bathroom on the floor. If he does that there is no one around to correct him and show him that it is the wrong thing to do. This isn't house training a dog, this is 'anti-training' your dog.

Use a crate to make sure that when you can’t supervise Sparky that he is free from mischief in his crate. If you want more information on this subject go to our section on crate training. In the absence of a crate you can section off a very small area of a laundry room or bathroom. Your last resort is to leave him outside in a kennel or loose in the back yard.

Every time you notice that your dog has grasped a certain principle of house training you can wean him or her off the steps slowly. For example, in the beginning you are taking your dog out to the bathroom five or six times a day. As your dog begins to grasp the principles of house training you can wean that down to two to four times. Also, in the beginning stages your dog is left in the crate a lot of the time to prevent accidents. As your dog progresses you can slowly give him or her a bit more freedom in the house until eventually your dog is left outside of the crate all day. Use caution, go slowly. Don't be in a rush to get to the end of training. It is better to move slowly and avoid potential problems instead of being in a position to correct problems once they have developed.

Dogs are creatures of habit. If you can make your dog to go to the bathroom in only one spot and take away his chances of going to the bathroom in your house you will soon create his desire to relieve himself the same place every time. House training a dog really is elementary in nature, it is putting it into practice that is difficult. Practice makes perfect!

- House training an adult dog in a new home
- House training an adult dog
- Paper training your dog
- Taking your potty training to the next level
- House training - the matchstick trick
- House training do's and don'ts
- House training a Puppy