House Training Schedules for Puppies
Dogs
- Written by: Dr. Nicholas Dodman
- Last Modified: March 29, 2016
Almost the first thing a new puppy owner needs to know is “how do I house train”? How do I do it, what can I expect, what should be my goals?
Without the right advice, owners can flounder around trying to house train their puppies for months and, in some cases, years.
Opinions and expectations vary greatly on this matter, though there are some common truths. Some maintain that puppies can be adopted already house trained at the age of 9 weeks but you have to understand the certain physiological limitations if you are to achieve and maintain this utopian state. At the other end of the spectrum are certain terrier breeders who maintain that their puppies cannot be fully house trained until they are 1 year of age, but I suspect these folk are doing something wrong.
It is probably par for the course to bring home a 2 or 3 month old puppy that, when unsupervised, has occasional accidents on the floor, and it is probably reasonable to expect to have the puppy fully trained by 4 months of age. In order to achieve this goal one has to know what one is doing, to invest some time and attention, and to be very patient.
Physiological Limitations Within Young Puppies
Young puppies of 2, 3, and even 4-months of age have limitations when it comes to the time for which they can contain their urine. The younger they are the less control they have over the muscles that start and stop the flow of urine and the more frequent “bathroom breaks” need to be. The usual formula for estimating the number of hours for which a puppy can hold its urine is N+1, where N is the puppy’s age in months. So, for example, a 3-month old puppy should be able to hold its urine for approximately 4 hours in a pinch. This means that if you have a properly toilet trained 4-month-old puppy that, theoretically, can hold its urine for 5 hours, and you shut that puppy in a crate for 6 or 7 hours, you are courting disaster. Puppies that are crated for longer than they can contain themselves will be forced to soil where they stand. This creates problems down the line as soiling within the crate destroys a valuable reflex to keep the nest clean.
Sample Schedule for a 3-Month-Old Puppy
- Working on the basis that a 3-month-old puppy can hold its urine for up to 4 hours, any house training schedule for a young puppy of this age must be designed with this fact in mind.
- Starting at the beginning of the day, it is important to take the puppy outside first thing to a carefully selected area and to encourage it to void urine and feces. It is best to have the puppy on lead so it doesn’t wander off and become engaged in some other absorbing activity. It is also important to use some word cue that the puppy will associate with elimination. The late, great Barbara Woodhouse popularized the expression, “Hurry up,” as the verbal cue but others have used words like, “Make,” or even “Poopies.” Note: The significance of the chosen area can be imparted to the young puppy via its sense of smell by depositing a small piece of urine-soaked newspaper in the vicinity.
- Assuming a successful mission at, say, 7:00 a.m., the latest time that the pup can be taken out for its next “bathroom run” would be 11:00 a.m. The same ritual as before is engaged.
- The next times for this learning puppy to be taken out are 3:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and then 11:00 p.m. The ritual is always the same.
- A puppy of 3-months of age will probably not be able to make it through the night without a trip outside. Setting the alarm for 3:00 a.m. may be the only way to stop the puppy from soiling at night, but don’t worry, this stage of puppyhood doesn’t last long. (Read here for advice on paper-training your puppy.)
- In addition to the aforementioned times for taking the puppy outside, the youngster should be taken out 10 or 15 minutes after each meal, as eating stimulates the gastrocolic reflex. Note that different puppies will have slightly different times after a meal at which they need to go to the bathroom. Learn how long it takes for your puppy to “feel the urge” and be cognizant of this fact.
- Another key time to take puppies outside is when they transition from one activity into another. For example, when they wake up after a nap, when they have finished a period of vigorous play, and when they have just completed a bout of chewing.
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Common Puppy Training Situations…What TO DO if…
What to do if Your Puppy’s “Bathroom Run” is Successful
Yourpuppymust know, in no uncertain terms, that it has done something that meets with your vigorous approval when it urinates or defecates outside. Sing its praises, clap your hands, jump up and down, and make such a fuss that if the neighbors saw you they might think that you’ve finally “lost it.” In addition, pet this obedient puppy like you mean it and give it a morsel of delicious food. This is all-powerful positive reinforcement for a job well done.
What to do if Your Puppy’s “Bathroom Run” is Unsuccessful
Confinementis the name of the game if a trip outside proves to be a dry run, especially when you know it’s been a couple or three hours since the last trip outside. There are four ways in which a puppy’s freedom can be limited under these circumstances while you watch it with an eagle eye.
- One is in a crate, unless the puppy has had previous adverse crate experiences causing phobia of them.
- Another means of confinement is behind a “kiddy gate”, for example, placed across a recess in the kitchen.
- Then there is tethering the puppy on a reasonably short lead to a fixture in a room, but you should remain nearby.
- Finally, there is so-called “umbilical cord training” in which you attach the puppy, by means of a lead, to a belt you’re wearing so that it is forced to stay within a certain radius of you.
The duration of the confinement should be approximately 15-minutes and then you should take the puppy outside, again, and give it another opportunity for outdoor elimination. A second unproductive trip will necessitate a further 15-minute period of confinement, and so on, until your endeavor is met with success.
What to do if Your Puppy has an Accident Inside
First and foremost,do not punish your puppy for having an accident inside the house. The blame rests squarely on your shoulders for not providing an appropriate, timely opportunity for outdoor elimination. Rather, learn to appreciate the subtle signs the puppy exhibits beforeeliminating indoors(circling, sniffing, etc.) and apprehend it before it gets into the squatting position so that you can escort it outside. If you are a few moments too late and the puppy is caught midstream, it is reasonable to make a loud noise as a distraction to arrest the flow of urine by causing the puppy’s sphincters to contract. Then, with a smile on your face, escort or carry the puppy outside to the proper location to finish its business. Later, return to clean the area thoroughly with odor neutralizer. If you find accidents after the fact, you’re a day late and a dollar short. Just clean up the mess, as described, and put it down to experience. Learn from your mistakes. Perhaps you waited too long; perhaps the puppy was in an area where you could not see it. Take appropriate actions to avoid future problems.
(Readherefor tips on dealing with accidents.)
What if You Have to Leave Your Puppy for Longer Than it Can Hold its Urine?
The bottom line is you can’t. If you leave a puppy for longer than it can hold its urine, it will have an accident and this will set you back on the housebreaking schedule. Instead, you should bring the eager puppy with you, where possible, and bear in mind its needs. Or, you can leave your puppy with an informed neighbor who will take over the training where you left off. If you have to go out of the house for 2 or 3 hours, it is reasonable to confine the puppy in a small area where it is less likely to soil (e.g. in a crate or gated off area with a supply of food and water). Anything over 2 to 3 hours is tempting fate and, anyway, is not good for the puppy. If the puppy is used to being confined at night and does not experience grief, this is the best option. If it whimpers or whines a bit, tend to it at reasonable intervals, including taking it to its outdoor bathroom at appropriate intervals.
Housebreaking Older Puppies
For maturing puppies in the 4-7 month age group, a similar schedule can be adopted though the time interval between trips outside can be lengthened, making the schedule a little easier on the owner. Fixed-point excursions might be, for example, first thing in the morning, at lunchtime, in the late afternoon, early evening, and before bedtime. Extra trips outside should be made following mealtimes and after the puppy transitions from one activity to another, as before. At this stage, older puppies should be able to hold their urine through the night, though it may be necessary to rise a little earlier than usual to prevent early morning accidents. It’s not a good idea to allow an untrained older puppy to have free access to all areas of the house; rather, it should be confined to areas where it can be observed and apprehended, if necessary i.e. actively trained.
Conclusion: Invest Time House Training Your Puppy Now for Future Gain
House training a puppy is like potty-training an infant. The more time and attention you invest up front, the more rapidly the end result will be achieved. Think about it this way: Your investment of time early in the puppy’s life will save you much time, energy, and aggravation in the long run. With an intense effort, a puppy can be house broken within 7 days, that is, if you have the patience. Even with a less-than-optimal effort, house breaking can be achieved within 2 to 4 weeks, so that by the time a puppy is 4 months old, it should be properly house trained or you are doing something wrong. Incidentally, these same principles of training also apply to older puppies, who learn equally rapidly and have an even greater capacity to “hold it in.” There is simply no excuse for having older puppies that are not house trained. If house soiling persists, it is as a result of owners not providing the appropriate opportunities for their puppies to learn.
Paper-Training Your Puppy
Dogs
- Written by: Dr. Nicholas Dodman
- Last Modified: August 25, 2015
When you first get a new puppy, there are several major decisions to be made about its management, including whether to employ a technique known as paper-training.
Paper-training is basically training a puppy to urinate and/or defecate on strategically-place papers in selected areas in the house. A bathroom is a frequently selected room as the floor is usually clad with linoleum or tiles and is easily cleaned should any urine defuse through the papers. The idea, of course, is that the papers will absorb the pup's urine, making cleanup and disposal easy and convenient.
People who decide to go the paper-training route with their puppy might be described as realists or pragmatists. They accept the fact that there will be occasional accidents inside the house and they prefer to direct those accidents onto an easily cleanable substrate (i.e. the newspapers).
There is a school of thought, however, that paper-training may be somewhat confusing for the pup, since the pup learns that eliminating inside the house is okay while you are trying to train it to eliminate outside. People of this persuasion, the idealists, or purists, prefer not to encourage or condone any elimination inside the house on grounds that it will delay the achievement of housebreaking. Instead, they employ a more radical approach of encouraging urination and defecation outside the house while completely circumventing the possibility of elimination within the home.
Technique for Paper-Training
For the realists or pragmatists, who do decide to adopt paper-training for their pup, the following technique can be used.
Select a smallish convenient room within the house for paper-training to begin. The room should have a non-pervious, easily cleanable floor, comprising of linoleum, tiles, or lacquered hardwood. A bathroom or laundry room are good choices.
Lay down newspapers at one end of the room to cover, say, 25-33% of the floor area. The papers should be suitably thick that they will absorb ¼ to ½ cup water without it seeping through to the floor beneath.
At the opposite end of the room, put down a food bowl and water bowl for the puppy and perhaps one or two playthings.
Bring the puppy into the room and stay with it for a period of time. It is best to choose a time when the pup is likely to eliminate (e.g. 2 hours after it last urinated). You can even give it some chicken soup to drink to expedite the process.
Observe the pup's behavior, whether eating, drinking, playing, or exploring. If, at any time, it starts to sniff the ground more actively, to circle, or squat, you know it is about to eliminate. If, at this time, it happens to be on the non-newspapered section of the floor, calmly interrupt it, lift it onto the newspapers and use what will become well-engrained cue words that it will associate with the elimination process. Typical words are: "Hurry up" and "Go potty."
When the pup eliminates on the newspaper, with or without your assistance, praise it extravagantly. If it has an accident at the "wrong" end of the room, do not scold it, simply clean up the mess and continue as before.
Because of the set up in the room, it is much more likely that the pup will eliminate on the newspaper than to go at the other end of the room near its food and water bowl, so that the deck is stacked in your favor. So powerful is the instinct to eliminate away from the feeding area that even if you were to leave a pup alone in the paper-clad room, it would probably immediately gravitate to using the newspapers.
Once the pup is regularly using the newspapers for elimination, the area that the newspapers occupy can be reduced to a more convenient size. It is probably safest to achieve this area reduction gradually.
When a pup knows what newspapers are for, it can be encouraged to urinate on them in other locations, too, should an owner so desire.
When the pup has to be left for a few hours it can be confined in a discreet area along with access to folded newspapers that will serve as its bathroom. This is very convenient for owners but, as mentioned, may delay eventual housebreaking.
During paper-training, and even after it has been achieved, training the pup to eliminate outside should be ongoing. The accomplishment of having the puppy urinate or defecate outside should be so richly rewarded that the pup will literally hold on to a bladder full of urine in the hopes of getting the opportunity to urinate outside. Of course, there's a limit to the amount of time a pup can hold its urine, maybe 4 hours for a 3-month old pup and 5 hours for a 4-month old pup, so owners must remain ever vigilant if unavoidable accidents are to be prevented. You must be especially careful with a paper-trained pup when you put your Sunday newspaper onto the floor while you go to get that second cup of coffee, otherwise you may come back to find there is more in the news than you had ever bargained for.
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A novel alternative to paper-training is litter-training. A new puppy (and dog) litter, called Second Nature®, has been put out by Ralston Purina. The absorbent pellets that constitute the litter are put in a proprietary litter tray, supplied by the company, and the pup is then trained to use this set up as the "indoor bathroom." For little dogs, that will weigh, say, less than 20 lbs. as adults, there is no particular reason why the indoor litter box arrangement shouldn't be an everyday feature, as it is for cats. The training process is similar to that described above for training a pup to use paper as the elimination substrate. Using a litter box has the added advantages that urine is completely contained within the litter tray and that a litter-trained dog will not mistake your Sunday paper for its bathroom.