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Puppy HousetrainingPuppy HousetrainingIf you�ve read my section on housetraining a dog you know how to train your dog to go to the bathroom outside. There are a few differences, however, when housetraining your puppy. When you accustom an adult dog to a crate she is able to �hold it� for hours at a time. This ensures that your dog doesn�t have accidents in the house. She doesn�t want to soil the crate so instead she waits until she is let out. Puppy housetraining is different. Your 8 week old puppy doesn�t have the muscle control to �hold it�. Even though she may not want to go in the crate, she doesn�t have control over when she goes to the bathroom. A puppy typically develops these muscles at 10-12 weeks. What this means is that you have to give your puppy scores of opportunities to go to the bathroom during the day. Take her out every hour or so. This doesn�t mean that you don�t use the crate with her. What it means is that you only leave her in the crate for a half hour to an hour for the first few weeks. By the age of 12-14 weeks you will be able to leave her in the crate for a few hours. If your puppy does have an accident in the crate you must clean in thoroughly. Use a cleaner that is specifically designed to destroy the odor from pet waste. Your puppy must not be able to smell the results of her accident. Because she is young and impressionable she is going to want to go to the bathroom in areas that smell like they should be bathrooms. So if you don�t properly clean a crate accident, she may soon begin to think that the crate is the bathroom. An 8 week old puppy should be eating three times a day. This means that puppy housetraining becomes more of a challenge. It means that your puppy is going to go to the bathroom more often. You need to learn what your puppy�s potty schedule is. If you need to keep a potty log, do it. Learn when your puppy needs to go bathroom so you can anticipate ahead of time. If you can anticipate, you can avoid that pesky clean up. Puppy housetraining also poses a challenge for the busy worker. An adult dog can be left in a crate while you are at work. A young puppy won�t be able to �hold it� for that length of time until about 12-16 weeks of age. You need to set up a space where your puppy can go to the bathroom and it can be easily cleaned. Maybe section off an area in a laundry room and line it with paper. Maybe you can put a little pen in a shaded area of the backyard. Wherever it is, make sure that it is quickly cleaned and that while you are able, your puppy is supervised and is taken to �her� bathroom spot as much as possible.
Patience and persistence are the keys to housetraining your puppy.
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