Easy Rules For House Training A Puppy

House training a puppy isn't hard. The hard part happens because your life routine is now interrupted. Puppies are fun at first. The little guy (or gal) running around looking all cute. BUT WAIT - he just peed on the carpet!

Here's the first lesson in house training a puppy...

Carpets soak up pee just like grass. Puppies think that's cool. As a matter of fact, towels, clothing, and other soft absorbent material also soak up pee. That is why your puppy runs to the living room to pee or uses the rug in front of the door. Keep your puppy on the linoleum at first. It will help you spot (literally) his accidents and you will notice how often (or not) he is peeing.

How long can a puppy hold it?

Here is a general rule for house training a puppy... A puppy can hold it for one hour per month of age. A month old puppy can hold it for one hour, a two month old (8 week) old puppy can hold it for 2 hours, a 3 month old puppy can hold it for three hours and so on. Until the age of 6-8 months. A 6-8 month old puppy can only hold it for 6 hours and an adult dog should never be asked to hold it longer than 8 hours.

I know, your work schedule is a little longer than 2 hours. Raising a puppy all by yourself is no easy task, and you can't be around to supervise every minute of the day. Get Help. There's a whole world of dog trainers, pet sitters, dog walkers, and dog friendly coworkers to help you with housetraining your puppy. Ask for help. It's a critical time in your puppy's life and it's just not worth trying to leave him in a crate all day hoping he'll figure it out on his own.

Puppies don't come already pets. I know it sounds obvious, but puppies actually need to learn HOW to be a pet. The first big lesson puppies learn is house training. They don't know, they're just moving through life doing their own thing hangin' out with Mom and suddenly they are scooped up and thrown into a big noisy place away from Mom. They get scared and all they can do is cry out. When they forget about Mom for a little while they explore, then they remember Mom and start to cry. They get hungry and start to cry. BUT when they have to PEE they PEE.

If you want puppy training to go smoothly you have to be around to do the training. If you can't be around get someone who can.

Your house is big and scary to your puppy. (Read That: Overwhelming!) One way to reduce the overwhelmingness of it all is to limit how much access your puppy has to your house. The best way to do this is to block your puppy into one room of the house - preferably one without carpet. It should also be a room that everyone occupies, not some far off corner of the house, or worse the garage.

You see, not only does your puppy miss Mom, but he desperately wants to socialize with another being. Dogs are very social creatures and they need company. Socialization helps puppies learn. Coincidentally, humans are very social creatures, we actually frown upon people who are anti-social. In traditional societies people could not live without being a contributing member of society. Ideally, this is a wonderful age to bond with your puppy! The more time you spend with him the better. The more you bond, the easier your training will be.

How do you house train a puppy when they have to go to the bathroom every 2 hours? You keep a constant eye on them, watch for signs of sniffing, circling, or squatting. The minute your puppy starts to go to the bathroom in your house, scoop him up (gently we don't want him to associate fear with us handling him) and put him outside. Give him a few minutes outside and if he doesn't have to go again take him back inside and keep business as usual.

Keep doing this over and over until he you both get the timing right. That means you scooped him up to go outside before he went in the house and when you put him down outside he went potty. THIS IS WHEN YOU PRAISE HIM FOR GOING POTTY. Then you take him immediately (but gently) back into the house so he understands the difference between potty outside and play inside. Did you notice I never told you to yell at your puppy for going potty in the house.

Yelling is punishment and punishment is not something you want your puppy to associate with you. Punishment creates fear and fear creates all sorts of training issues. The most profound issue fear creates is a dog that is afraid to learn. Dogs that fear are very hard to train because they are constantly worried about what they shouldn't do instead of what you want them to do (know any humans like this?)

Instead of creating fear create a positive learning environment. Research shows that positively trained animals not only learn faster but remember what they have learned for longer periods of time. Research also shows that the only thing punishment does is stop a behavior, it does not teach anything. So punishing your puppy for peeing/pooping on the carpet does not teach him where to go potty. If you leave out the punishment aspect and show your puppy where to go potty and offer praise immediately after they go potty you will get a faster and longer lasting result.

Food and house training a puppy. Puppies need free choice food. Their blood sugar will drop too low if they go too long without food. If your puppy drinks a lot of water he will have to pee alot. If he drinks water before bed he will have to pee a few times during the night. Expect to get up during the night when you are house training a puppy. If you don't want to be up all night, take the water away from your puppy before you go to bed. His blood sugar slows down while he is sleeping and won't drop too low.

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