A housebroken dog is one who will not pee or poop indoors, but instead, will wait until given an opportunity to relieve himself outdoors. (Some dogs that are paper trained will consistently hold it and relieve ONLY on wee wee pads). Transferring the practice of going on wee wee pads to going outdoors needs to be accomplished early on in puppy training or puppies often will never make the transition. Wee wee pads are an advantage and a necessity when someone has a tiny breed, lives in a high rise building or is handicapped and cannot get a dog outside. Most families are more than able to get puppies outside so that their homes are free of urine and feces.
Some people are quite lucky and have puppies that are housebroken when they arrive in their new homes, thanks to devoted and educated breeders and rehomed, adult dogs . Others will have to train their puppies for weeks to do their business outside or on paper.
BEFORE you bring your puppy home, be prepared! Get all your weekly errands done ahead of time and buy a week's worth of groceries. Expect to be homebound for quite a few days. You might not even take a shower for a couple of days! You will probably crawl around in sweats or PJs most of the time. You will suffer from lack of sleep and will certainly have a few emotional break downs when you will be sure that you made a huge mistake bringing a puppy into your already hectic life!
Generally speaking your puppy must be in his crate or X pen and supervised constantly unless he is asleep. That is the only time you are off duty and can shower or leave the room ! For heaven's sake, don't expect to travel or visit anyone during these early weeks or even go to work or school! If you must be away for extended time, you must also get someone to stand in for YOU. Just like human babies, puppies need to be "potty trained" over time and need to pee and poop several times a day.. as often as every 15 minutes when very young. They don't train themselves anymore than babies potty train themselves without adult intervention and teaching.
There is a "theory" that puppies won't want to "mess" where they sleep and eat. Guess what? Some do not care and will certainly pee and poop all over themselves anytime, anywhere.
While it makes sense that a puppy will instinctively keep his den clean, it does not come into play with many pet shop puppies for instance. That is because they have been kept confined since birth,coming from puppy mills and certainly while in a pet shop crate, where they were expected to pee and poop in their "den" that is also used for sleeping and eating! They didn't suffer from that much since their "mess" would drop through the crate grating below and onto a pan that is cleaned regularly.
There are many who believe that the answer to housebreaking a puppy is to make the crate space as TINY as possible so that the puppy is forced to "hold it" in order to stay clean, but again, what if your puppy doesn't care and still "messes" in the crate, in spite of the tiny crate size?
What might make more sense is to first ENLARGE the area of the crate and add an X pen so that there are clearly designated areas specifically allocated for sleeping, eating and playing, yet another area specifically for pooping and peeing. In time, it is expected that the puppy will begin to make "choices", he will begin to choose to stay clean and dry and keep pee and poop off his body and away from his food by using a wee wee pad or paper. Once you see that for a week or so that he is clearly making that choice, THEN you can make his space smaller over time so he holds it rather than mess where he is sleeping. While this method works well for many, there are those who hold it from the beginning and respond well to maintaining an easy schedule of going outside so often, that they NEVER mess in the house at all! It is true that some dogs and some breeds are more difficult to housebreak than others. If you have a particular dog that is a challenge, it is more than likely though that YOU are not consistant with your training.
Understand that a behavior that is rehearsed / practiced "gets stronger", so the more times a puppy gets to pee on the kitchen floor, the more practice he gets at it, the more likely he is to repeat the behavior. If instead you get your puppy outside BEFORE he has a chance to make a mistake, he will never learn to pee on the floor. He will practice peeing outside! So be proactive about your housebreaking, get your puppy outside or take him to the paper often.. about every 15 min when he is awake. The stimulation of playing, socializing and training will certainly stimulate him enough to take him out. You don't have to wake him to go out while he naps or overnight. I like to set a stove timer to remind me when 15 minutes passes because stove timers continue to 'ding" so that you can't ignore the alarm.
Take your puppy to the exact location outside every single time and do not encourage him to walk anywhere except in a circle around you. You can also place him in an outdoor X Pen that can be is "toilet". Place it near the back door and make life simple. Don't fill it with toys and distractions because it is for him to "get busy" in, not to play in.
It also helps to give the behavior its own name.. to pair it with a word like "go potty", "hurry up" or "get busy". Just choose the words that your whole family will all use. You want to teach your puppy to go when you say so.. that is very helpful on cold, rainy days so that he will do it quickly and get back inside. You can also get to work on time! If you allow your puppy to walk all over your yard, or down the street instead of standing still , he will learn (prefer) and certainly practice walking farther and longer before "getting busy" . You will encouraging your dog to walk forever before "getting busy".. now you are soaking wet, freezing cold and late for work or school!
Since your puppy will pair a verbal cue with a behavior, be sure to say the words exactly when the behavior is occurring. While teaching, you want to say "get busy" ONLY when pee or poop is actually happening but NOT BEFORE! Later on you will say it BEFORE and he will immediately "get busy", because he has heard it paired with the behavior so often.. it will become a "REFLEX". Remember to say it without much inflection in your voice.. be drone about it in the background.. "get busy, busy, busy, busy".. as he is peeing or pooping, over and over so that every time he does his business, it also has a name for it. (A simple sound in the background that he will begin to pair together over time) Generally, in a couple of weeks of doing this, you will say the word "get busy" and HE WILL! If you start out by saying "go potty" as he sniffs around, he will think "go potty" means sniff around. You want him to understand that it means pee and poop, right?
You want to also reward the behavior in order for it to REPEAT itself, so offer a treat when he does "get busy" .. don't wait for him to come back in the house or he will think that the treat is for coming inside, but NOT for "getting busy", right?
If you want him to grow up with access to your entire house, then you will want him to consider the entire house "his den", "his place to keep clean". Dogs that get to live throughout the house consider the whole house their territory and are less likely to pee and poop in the house. Whereas dogs that are confined to the kitchen, end up considering the kitchen their territory only to pee and poop just outside the room, in the dining room and living room or upstairs in the bedrooms.
If you discipline him for his mistakes you will often get a puppy who just learns NOT to do it in front of you but rather does it behind the couch instead. To teach him that the whole house is his territory and that he is to mark it outside, you will want to put him on a loose lead, a retractable one for instance and allow him to investigate the entire house a few times a day, but only AFTER he has just peed or pooped outside. That way you can be sure that he wont have an accident while going around your house and you can also then use that time to explore as a "reward" for doing his business outside.. Run outside.. say "get busy" and when he does, he quickly gets rewarded by being a allowed to explore and play in new areas of the house. then after a few minutes, take him outside again and repeat the whole game.
If you do catch him in the act of peeing or pooping indoors, remember to roll up a newspaper and WHACK YOURSELF because you were to blame for NOT being as prepared as you needed to be!
Remember to ignore mistakes that you find "after the fact" and clean them up with a good enzyme product to get rid of odors. Also if you do catch him in the act, give him instruction to "go outside" and send him out but do not discipline him with a "NO". Teach him by helping him want to do certain behaviors rather than teach him by disciplining him for his mistakes.
Above all, remember the saying "says EASY, does HARD" !
| 
