Housebreaking, Housebreaking a puppy

Successfully house breaking a puppy is possibly the main issue in the minds of new owners when bringing home their pups.
Praise vs. Punishment

Yet it is training that can be quite easily accomplished if approached the right way and with the right attitude.  Housebreaking entails patience, kindness and awareness.  Establishing a routine for your puppy and learning to read the signs will prevent a lot of stress, for both of you.

Puppies don’t bode well in an atmosphere of fear and anxiety. A puppy needing to go to the bathroom is natural – it is not naughty behavior and should not be treated as such.  A puppy should not be shouted at, smacked, kicked or jerked around. They should be admonished when accidents happen and praised when they do something right.  They should not be punished.  A gentle and kind approach will reap far more rewards from your puppy than punishment.  If a puppy is consistently punished they will learn how to hide the evidence, but worse than that they could develop behavior problems.

After all housebreaking a puppy is about tailoring or focusing their behavior not about trying to break them of a habit.

Routines

It is simply not possible for a puppy to be trained in a day or two.  As with a human baby a puppy has no control over their bodily functions.  As they grow older they will become more reliable.  This means that it is up to the owner to take control over the situation.  They need to be vigilant and be consistent.  Knowing in advance when a puppy is ready to ‘go’ and reading the signs correctly, will ensure successful housebreaking.

There are many techniques to help an owner read the signs.  With the correct training techniques and owner will make their own lives easier as well as their puppy’s life.  A puppy needs to be taught how to integrate into an owner’s life. They live to please their owners and will do almost anything to do so.  However an owner must be able to instill a sense of trust in their puppy.  With the right housebreaking techniques this can be accomplished.

Putting routines in place will not only encourage housebreaking but will also offer the owner a housebreaking agenda that is easy to follow.

In Summary

Housebreaking a puppy should be beneficial for both owner and puppy.  Instead of traumatizing, it should bond.  If a puppy is shown what behavior is expected of them they will happily comply. There are techniques that if followed will ensure the process is as stressless as possible.

A puppy should be put onto a routine from the first day it arrives.  It should be shown what to do and when to do it.  Praise should be given and physical punishment withheld.  Housebreaking calls for high levels of patience from owner and a positive attitude.  The onus is on the owner to ensure that housebreaking is conducted in a manner that will not have an adverse or negative effect on a puppy.

The moment the dog is first brought to the house is the absolute perfect time to begin housebreaking. There are different methods which can be used to housebreak your pets. It is important to take time and energy in housebreaking because the effort put in it will be helpful everyday in both the owner’s and the pet’s lives.

Patience is quite essential in training. The pet owner can use different methods in housebreaking. However, before making a move in housebreaking and choosing the correct methods, the owner should be able to understand his pet very well. It is useful for the owner to observe when his pet usually urinates or defecates, which is usually after every meal. At that time, the dog should be taken outside. There are also signs telling that the dogs need to relieve themselves like running around in circles and sniffing the floor. Pre-potty patterns differ from pup to pup. Whatever it is, the owner should observe and comprehend well these signs.

House Training

Pretreated potty pads works great. Canines can smell the chemical in the pads and this attracts the dogs to use them. When beginning the housebreaking, the pets are carried over to the papers when they are about to pee. The key here is watching the signs dogs give when they are about to relieve themselves. After the dog has urinated, it is also important for the owner to praise the dog. It will be a habit for the dog to urinate on pads so it is the time to move the pads outside for the dog to learn doing it there.

Another method in housebreaking the pets is the use of crates. Putting the canine inside the crate will train them in controlling their urination. They would not urinate or defecate inside the crate as they do not want to soil their sleeping place. Still, the owner has to be on the look out for the signs that the dog wants to eliminate. A canine cannot be left alone all day inside the crate, controlling himself from urinating. It is recommended to get somebody’s help to watch over the dog or do the crate training at night if the owner doesn’t have time to look over his pet during the day.

House Break Your Dog

Other ways for useful housebreaking include the use of verbal cues. What is important in using words to train the dogs is to say the words the same way every time. All members involved in the training should use the same words.

Continuous supervision is the most essential ingredient in training the canine. It is a must for the owners to spend time with their pets either by playing with them or taking them for a walk. In addition, dogs should not be punished especially when they are not caught while doing the mistake because this will not contribute to the training. It is better to just firmly say “No!” while the dog is doing it. In that way, the canine will see that what it is doing upsets its owner. This is a more effective way to housebreak the dog.

Training the pet needs a lot of time, effort and patience. But when it’s all said and done, it is worth all of these.

The Yorkshire Terrier is like a potato chip, you can’t have just one. Yorkies are great as pairs and you can even have two males or two females without having any disagreements. They are suited to living in close quarters and need close companionship to thrive. Once you’ve decided to get your Yorkies and take them home, you’ll need to housebreak them. Housebreaking your Yorkies may be easier than you think. Not only can you train them to have a bowel movement on command, but you can control where they go too.

When it comes to housebreaking a puppy, one of the first things that you have to contend with is feeding. What goes in must come out. Generally speaking, a dog will have to poop 15 to 20 minutes after a meal. The easiest way to housebreak Yorkies is to feed them regular meals and take them out in an acceptable timeframe. After a little while, you will know when your puppy will need to go and thus increase your chances of successfully training your Yorkies to poop at the right time.

As an example, if you give your Yorkies three meals per day, expect them to have three bowel movements per day. As puppies, they should be fed at least three times per day, but when adults, that can be decreased to two times per day, maybe even once per day depending on the situation. Housebreaking a puppy and getting them to poop and pee where you want them to is the same when you transition them to a different feeding schedule.

Puppies will need to pee more often than an adult and should therefore be allowed to urinate several times per day. They will often pee on the same outing as pooping, but they also will need to go out more times throughout the day to go pee. When you begin housebreaking a puppy, taking them out often is the key. You will need to come up with a consistent command; “Poop” and “Pee” are good because they’re one word and can be preceded by “Go” and/or your Yorkies name.

As you begin your training to housebreak any puppy, you should have your puppy on a leash even if you are in a fenced in yard. This gives you control over where your puppy can go. It’s best to start out with a loose grip on the leash. Let your Yorkies take you where they want to and when they stray away from a certain area, correct them with the leash and take them back to the appropriate area and be sure to give the proper command as you do so.

Once the deed is done, give lots of praise. Have a conversation with your Yorkies. “Good girl go poop.” Along with physical contact and petting, this is a good way to housebreak a puppy. Lather, rinse and repeat often until they get it and you will have mastered the art of housebreaking puppy.

Housebreaking a puppy should be based on prevention rather than punishment. A key to housebreaking a puppy or dog for that matter is close supervision. In just a matter of seconds your puppy can have an accident, so to help prevent that from occurring you should watch for signs that your puppy needs to potty. If your puppy starts to run in circles, sniffing at the door or suddenly runs out of site, that he/she is trying to let you know it’s potty time.
Another way that helps in housebreaking a puppy is keeping his diet consistent. High quality premium brand dry puppy food is a better choice that canned food or table scrapes. If you need to change his food for any reason try and do it gradually over a period of 5-8 days, gradually increasing the amount of new food each day. Remember, the more changes you make the more difficult housebreaking your puppy will be.

During the day when your puppy can not be supervise I highly recommend your puppy or young dog be kept in a crate or a small confined area. If done properly crate training is a safe and very effective way of housebreaking a puppy. In order for the crate to be used in housebreaking a puppy it should not be used for long periods of time or for punishment.

This my sound like common sense but puppies need to urinate soon after they eat, drink water or sleep, those having troubles housebreaking a puppy tend not to think about that. Another thing that is over looked is the fact that most puppies over 13 weeks of age will need to go 8 or 10 times a day.

So, keep a record of your puppies potty times for a few days. The secret to housebreaking a puppy is figuring out the amount of time between potty times and subtracting about 15 – 20 minutes. For housebreaking a puppy we call the “Safety Zone”. By doing this we can figure out how long our little puppy can be trusted to hold out after his last potty break.

Another trick to housebreaking a puppy is not setting him up to fail, what I mean by this not allowing him access to areas carpeting, rugs, ect. Puppies like certain areas to do their business, when you find one (or he does), make a note of it and try and keep him away from it.

When your little angel does have an accident despite his best intentions use a neutralizer with an enzyme based deodorizer to clean the area…there are a number of pet safe products available and should be added to your housebreaking kit.

One area that is overlooked is submissive peeing, it is completely involuntary and scolding your puppy for it will do more harm than good and should be avoided at all cost.

The last thing you need to do when housebreaking a puppy is to use lots of praise. Find a trigger word both you and your puppy can live with and use that in combination with praise and rewards as soon as your puppy potties ( I use “go potty”). This positive reinforcement lets your puppy know that you’re pleased with him and he’ll try even harder to please you.

Those are just a few of the tips for housebreaking a puppy. I hope this helps both you and your puppy.