Housetraining 101

Training options -

  • Outdoor training
  • Litter/litterbox training
  • Potty pad training- disposable or reusable

If you have an indoor dog, he will need to be confined to a space smaller than your entire home while you are gone. If you can prevent accidents from happening, you will improve the relationship with your puppy while providing lifelong habits. Nothing ruins a relationship faster than punishment and frustration. For success in both housetraining and overall manners, confine him to an exercise pen that contains an area with enough space to include a food dish, water or an attached water bottle, a bed or a hospital blue pad (Blue Max brand) to lay on, toys and a potty pad or litter box. This area then includes everything that he could possibly need during your absence - enough space to move about, a place to rest and an appropriate potty zone. Do put his potty zone on a hard floor, not your favorite carpeted area. Your puppy will miss and his scent will remain. Accidents happen.

The Litter Box

I am sold on the Purina Second Nature puppy litter, but unfortunately Purina discontinued making the litter box.I have therefore found a fantastic alternative. The litterbox is made by SmartCat and is called simply a corner litter box. The litter & box can be obtained from our store you can find the litter at Petsmart (for exactly 2X the price of ours here). I ordered an 8 panel fence that is only 24 inches high.(from Ritchell, I have these on hand as well as other styles)I put this in a rectangular shape (48” by 24”) with the litter box at one end and just a mat at the other end (and food, water and toys of course). Whenever I am not in the house, bathing, cooking, eating or caring for the children, I putthem in that area. In 3-4 days they will be using that litter box 100 percent of the time. During these few days if they have an accident, do pick up the stool and put it in the box, put a little litter in the urine and put it in the box. Keep that box with their scent in it for the first week or so during training to lure them in. I never have a mess to clean up upon wakening or when returning home and best of all they have appropriate space to play, eat, sleep and relieve themselves with boundaries while you are away.As soon as they have that method under their belt I begin picking up the stool with a tissue and flushing it to keep the box a bit cleaner. I empty the entire litter into a kitchen trash bag, wipe with Clorox water and refill with litter once a week.

Whenever I am home, I putthem out every 90 minutes to two hours, when you awaken in the morning, put them out. When they wake from a nap put them out. When you catch them finishing a snack put them out. When they get off a lap, put them out. You are still working on outdoor training. If they don’t go within five minutes after you take them outside to their relief zone, they probably don’t have to go. Return him to his exercise pen/crate and wait for half an hour and try again. Everytime you take your dog to his outdoor relief zone and he potties reward him verbally or with a small treat such a Cheerios. At nightthey go back into the wire fence. My kids have easy access to them, there is a gate that swings open. Remembering that until 14 weeks of age a puppy will need a minimum of 11 relief trips per day. At about five to six months of age you will awaken to a dry and clean litter box. About this time you will come home from work and find a dry and clean litter box. This is the age where you will know that they finally have the bladder/bowel capacity to hold it for the length of time you are away/sleeping. You can then take the litter and box out and just let them have their quarters for sleeping, eating and playing – OR- you can leave it in there for back up should you have inclement weather to deal with. Many people who live in high rise apartments or condos use the litter box training as a lifetime training method alone. The choice would then be yours. HOW MANY TIMES A DAY?

AGE / RELIEF TRIPS
To 14 weeks / 10
14-22 weeks / 8
22-32 weeks / 6
Adulthood / 4

(dog stops growing)

These are estimates, of course, but they are a guide to the minimum number of opportunities a dog should have each day to relieve himself.

Potty Pads

Many folks believe in the use of potty pads and use them daily. I haven’t had much success with them as the puppies end up using them and then drag them around or shred them. This leaves me with more of a mess to clean up than when I started. What I have used occasionally is what pet stores and magazines have labeled as “reusable” potty pads. These are simply the bed pads that hospitals use underneath patients and then wash and reuse. I have found Blue Max to be the best of pads with the least amount of shrinkage. They appear new after many washings really nice to use if you are considering the potty pad routine.

Crate Training

The only time I prefer a crate rather than the exercise pen is when I am training a medium breed dog. For a medium breed dog (Tibetan Terrier, Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, etc) I have found that the Life Stages black wire crates with the movable divider panel inside is the best. This allows the owner to adjust the size of the crate as the puppy grows - which aids in potty training.

For an adult size Soft Coated Wheaten consider a 36” crate.

An optional floor grate is available and this will keep your puppy out of any poo or pee. I do use the disposable potty pads in the tray below with the floor grid in. The puppy cannot reach the pad, but it makes for easy cleaning. Of course, very mild Clorox water is the choice to clean up puppy accidents.

Thoughts

More dogs end up in shelters and with rescues because of poor behavior and lack of training rather than overbreeding. Take the time to observe your dog’s habits and you will soon know the signs that he shares before he goes about relieving himself. One of the worst things any new owner can do is allow your puppy to have run of the house. This is just asking for accidents and poor behavior. Your puppy should never be more than five feet away from you at any given time and your eyes should always be on your puppy. If he begins to leave the room and you feel that you cannot watch your puppy, but must focus on the TV, on a good book or the day’s newspaper do put your puppy back into the kennel or exercise pen as we only want positive interaction and no accidents to occur. You need to keep your eyes on your dog engaging him in play and concentrating on good habits and manners. Praise positive behavior and correct decisions.

Dogs thrive in a structured setting. They love a pack environment and have their own instinctual patterns. Just as with children, they need to follow rules and you need to be the superior. They will be earning their freedom of additional space within your home. It may take months, perhaps a year before you can allow your newest addition to have free reign of your home and be completely trustworthy. Each puppy is an individual.

Never allow access any area of your home without first making sure he has done his business. Set up their potty zone/crate area in your laundry room. If they prove themselves trustworthy, allow them to also have your kitchen area. You can set up your home in zones for your dog using underground fencing supplies or baby gates.

Feel free to put a leash on your puppy as well to monitor just how far he can go from your side. It is up to you to watch for the warning signs. A dog can not talk to you.

On Cue

Decide upon a word that you can use in public to cue your puppy to go to her potty spot and relieve herself. You may simply wish to choose, “hurry” or “empty” for your sake should you be at a crowded public area someday. When you take your puppy to his outdoor area and he is actually in the middle of relieving himself, verbally give him the command. Use your happy voice and praise him with “Great hurry” or “Good empty!” Again, you do not have to give a food treat, but you can reward him with verbal praise and touching praise. You puppy will soon connect the word with the action and know that praise will follow the action. Eliminating on command is one huge blessing should you be traveling.