Puppies need to relieve themselves frequently, sometimes as often as once an hour. There will be many accidents, especially at first. Never lose your temper at the puppy, and always use simple, consistent one- or two-word commands. If you do not, your pup could become frightened and confused about what you expect.
Your goal of house training is to ensure your puppy always eliminates outdoor, in his specific area, rather than indoor (unless you are living in a high rise apartment and finds it difficult to let your puppy outdoor – then consider indoor dog ).
As with all aspects of dog and puppy training, training requires a great deal of patience and consistency. Some puppies, especially the smaller breeds, may be more difficult to toilet train as compared to the larger breed. However, you will be delighted to know that most dogs are capable of being fully trained.
When you bring your puppy home from the breeder, it should have been exposed to and accustomed to a clean den environment. This is because as your puppy grows bigger and more energetic, the breeder would have taken him outside for a short period of time. Your pup would have learned to eliminate and defecate in the outdoor environment, and get accustomed to a clean indoor den. This would make your pup ready to follow your household cleanliness rule.
If you catch your puppy in the act of going in the house, you can do one of two things. The most common advice was to correct with a firm no and immediately take the puppy to the proper toilet area. This may not effectively discourage the puppy from going indoors. What often happens instead is that puppies learn to make sure you aren’t watching when they go indoors, so they go behind the couch, in a closet, etc.
Newer understanding of dog behavior says that instead of punishing on the spot, you do everything you can to prevent indoor accidents. If they happen, ignore them. You don’t want to give the dog any attention for this mistake. Simply put the puppy in its kennel, or outside, when she’s finished, say nothing and clean up the mess thoroughly using an enzymatic cleaner. Then redouble your efforts to get the puppy out before there is an accident.
Consider getting Get Serious! Stain Remover if you want to have an effective product on hand to remove puppy accident stains. (Please do send us your results of using this product.) This product will even work on old stains, also — although we are still compiling information on how aged the stain can be.
You should be consistent in what steps you are taking to train you new puppy. By reading the steps below, if you throw different things into the mix, you may find your puppy having difficulty understanding what it is that you want it to do.
Whether you picked up other tips elsewhere, or have for whatever reason opted not to follow the ones mentioned here, at least be consistent on what it is you are doing. The free time, confining, food, praise, should all be consistent on a daily basis.
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