Now that you have brought your new dog home it is time to start the housebreaking. While some people like to give their new dog a little time to get to know the family and the house before laying down the law, this can only lead to confusion for the dog later down the road. And in all honesty it is unfair to allow the dog to run around without a care and then suddenly set up rules and begin housebreaking.
It Is Never Too Late
You are still able to fix the situation even if you have let your dog run free with no rules. Contrary to popular belief, it is never too late to start dog training. It doesn’t matter if you have a puppy or an adult dog, it is possible to train them with housebreaking techniques until it is a habit. It is important to pick out the behavior that concerns you the most,whether it is dog chewing, dog biting, or dog growling that you are dealing with. After housebreaking them on the first behavior, then you can move on to the next.
You have to start housebreaking as soon as possible to ensure that your puppy never develops into one of those aggressive dogs you hear about on the news. If your biggest worry at the moment is that your dog does not know where they are or are not allowed to go to toilet, you will need to address this first.
Housebreaking Tips
* Appropriately restrict food and water to meal times
* In the event that you are utilizing pee pads, choose a single spot and make sure to place the pads only there
* You should praise your pet when it displays good behavior
* Don’t hit the dog if he misses the pee pad
* After your puppy eats or drinks take him to the pee pad within 15-20 minutes
Many people will leave the food and water out all the time for their dog. While this is an okay routine for older dogs that can hold their bladder, it is not advisable for puppies. Young pups are not able to hold their bladder for very long, even if they wanted to. This will result in a lot of accidents around the house for which you really cannot blame the puppy. So leaving food and water out all of the time is counterproductive to your goals in housebreaking.
If your puppy always misses the pee pad and continues to go to the bathroom in another part of the house, simply place the pee pad in that spot. Housebreaking at this stage just simply means that you are getting the puppy adjusted to going to the bathroom on top of the pad. Once they are used to it, you can continue with housebreaking by slowing moving the pee pad every few days towards the spot you eventually want the pads to reside at.
Even though housebreaking can take a long time, it is very important. You definitely do not want your dog “going” everywhere. Your puppy can get discouraged if the housebreaking process is not easy to learn. Get outside help if you need it. No matter who does it, it takes time to housebreak.
