House Breaking Prescription For Success

This takes time and effort, but if you do it correctly,
the payoff comes quickly!

Crate Training

Serves as dog’s den, or safe place. Because it’s her sleeping spot, she won’t want to soil it by pottying there. It’s important because it teaches the dog to want to control her bladder and bowels.

Stick to a Schedule

Take your dog out at regular intervals:

                Go out first thing in the morning

                Immediately after every meal

                After playtime

                Immediately after waking up from a nap

                Just before bedtime
(Excitement and stress are potty triggers, so in some instances you may need to take the dog out more frequently)

Important – Separate playtime and potty time from your dog’s mind:

Take her out to do one or the other, not both at the same time. She needs to learn to get down to business right away when it’s potty time. One way to facilitate that is with praise:

As soon as she starts to pee or poop, verbally praise her! When she’s finished, praise her even more verbally and with pets and ‘good girl’.

Feeding meals on a regular schedule will also help your dog regulate the need to eliminate. We recommend giving meals at specific times of day rather than leaving food out all the time. Take up her food & water, if left over, before her last time out for the evening, before bedtime.

Limited Responsibility
Too much freedom leads to accidents, and once they’re in the habit of eliminating in the house, it’s more difficult to teach your dog that she needs to go outside – all the time – not inside. Start by giving her freedom in the kitchen or bathroom or laundry room, for example. Anywhere else, she should be attached to you by a leash so you always know where she is and what she’s doing. As she gains in reliability, you can gradually extend the amount of freedom she has in the house (the good news is, the older they get, the less frequently they have to go to the bathroom).

Communicate – Watch your dog closely to see what she does prior to peeing or pooping.
Some dogs have very obvious body language, sniffing and circling. The instant you see this, take her out. Other dogs may paw at you – don’t brush them off, thinking they want attention. Take them out. Some dogs sit in front of the door and bark; others just sit in front of the door.

Open-Door Policy
Installing a dog door and teaching your dog how to use it will also aid in housetraining. Once she knows that outside is the place to go – all the time – and that she can use the dog door to get there, she’ll be able to go out on her own whenever she needs to.
Use the same techniques of positive reinforcement regarding the dog door as you do for pottying outside. (Every time she goes out through the dog door, act like it’s the smartest thing she’s ever done!)

Accidents Happen
No matter how careful you are, accidents can happen, but preclude them by giving your dog lots of praise when she potties outdoors. That’s the only way your dog will know that you like what she did. Of course, you need to go outside with her so that you’re there to praise her when she performs – no sending her out in the yard assuming she peed and pooped. Those are the times she comes back in and potties in the house because she spent all her time outdoors sniffing or playing.
If you catch your dog in the act of pottying in the house, create a diversion by clapping your hands or make a loud guttural sound (“Aaaaght!”), then immediately  take her outdoors to finish.