The Importance of through housebreaking cannot not be overemphasized, because anything less will deteriorate the relationship between the puppy and its owner. Although some dog breeds are more difficult to house break than others, however all healthy puppies should be able to master this basic skill with proper training.
There are two methods that are commonly used to housebreak a puppy. One method is accomplished directly, and the other method uses paper training as a medium to direct housebreaking. Direct housebreaking is by far the preferred method, butt it can be very difficult if you don’t have access to a yard or another place that the puppy can use to take care of its business.
In-order to directly housebreak your puppy all you need to do is follow a direct set of rules. First of all the puppy must be allowed to have frequent access to the outdoors, where he is give a sufficient amount of time to urinate and defecate before he is allowed to go back inside of the house. Inside of the house you have two options.
One option is to restrict the puppy to a certain room in the house where you can keep a close eye on him.
The other option requires the use of a crate. The crate should be very comfortable, because your puppy is going to use the crate as its living quarters when you are unable to monitor his activities. In either of these cases the puppy is restricted to a small area that he will use to play and sleep, and he will be naturally reluctant to soil this area.
When an accident dose happen, you should mildly chastise the puppy and immediately take him outside to a familiar place. When puppies are young they need to go to the bathroom often, so make sure that you take him outside frequently during the early stages of his life. You should take him outside an hour after each feeding time, or any other time that you suspect that he needs to go to the bathroom. Once the puppy is nine months old, the necessary outings will be reduced as the puppy starts to develops bladder control.
Some dog owner think that crates are cruel, but rest assured they are not as long as they are used judiciously. Most dogs appreciate having a place that is designed for them, and is their own. Most housebreaking problems are caused by the “softhearted” dog owners that let their untrained puppy have a free run of the house. When this happens the young puppy fall into the habit of soiling the floors and furniture, and he will be subjected to constant correction for years to come until he is properly trained. If you do decide to use a crate to train your puppy, you need to make sure that the crate is big enough for the puppy to stand up and turn around in. You should never leave your puppy in the crate all day long. It is important for you to give your puppy plenty of attention and play time both in and outside of the confinement area.
If you are a dog owner that happens to be an apartment dweller, you are probably going to have a harder time housebreaking your puppy, because he won’t be able to go outside very often. If this happens to be the case you are going to want to use paper training as a in between step prior to full housebreaking.
When you paper train a dog you should cover the entire floor of one room with several layers of news paper, and then you should confine the puppy to that area. You should replace soiled news paper with fresh one whenever it is necessary to do so. Should the puppy choose a bare corner of the room to urinate or defecate in, you should give the puppy a mild correction and then place the puppy on the news paper. Remember that a correction is only useful if you catch the dog in the act. You should never drag the dog over to the soiled area and scold it. Dog are not able to understand what you are trying to teach them in this type of situation. If you are unable to catch your puppy in the act, simply clean up the mess and be patient with your puppy.
As the puppy starts to grasp the idea of the paper, you should start to gradually decrease the amount of covered floor until you are left with an area o papered space that is equivalent to two full news paper sheets. You should allow the puppy to defecate in this tiny area while you are reinforcing the concept of eliminating outdoors. When the puppy starts to understand this concept, you should remove the news paper altogether, and you should keep a close eye on your puppy and watch for signs that your needs to go out and use the bathroom. When you notice these signs you should immediately put your puppy on a leash and taking him for a walk outside.
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