Puppy House Training Tips

Tips for house training your new puppy
House training a puppy is one of the first, and one of the most
important things, that any new dog owner must do. It is easy to get
frustrated if you do not understand the basics of this important
process, so we have put together a few tips to make the process of
house training your puppy a little easier.
It is vital to establish good toilet and hygiene habits in the puppy when
he is young, since the patterns that are established in those first few
months can last a lifetime. When you consider that house training
issues are the number one reason why dogs are surrendered to animal
shelters, it is easy to see why house training is so extremely
important.
In most cases, a puppy will not be completely house trained until he or
she is six months of age. That is because puppies younger than six
months often lack the bowel and bladder control that they need in
order to be reliably left alone in the home all day.
Puppies younger than six months should be confined to a single, small
puppy proofed room any time the owner is not available to supervise
the animal. The entire floor of the room should be covered in
newspaper or other similarly absorbent and cheap material. At first
the puppy will go everywhere and anywhere in the room. As the
puppy gets older and begins to display better bladder and bowel
control, the amount of paper used is slowly reduced, until the puppy
goes only on the established "toilet" papers. This toilet area will form
the basis of later house training.
House training the puppy – what to do:
? Provide the puppy with constant, unrestricted access to the toilet
area that has been established.
? Take the puppy to the toilet area every 45 minutes when you are
at home.
? When you are away from home, or when you cannot supervise
the puppy, it is important to confine the puppy to a small area
that has been puppy proofed and covered with newspaper.
? It is important to be sure that the toilet area does not resemble
anything in the home, such as carpet or hardwood floor. Once
the puppy is used to eliminating on a particular surface, such as
grass or blacktop, he will want to eliminate on that time of
surface.
? Always provide lots of praise when the puppy does its business
in the established toilet area. The puppy needs to learn to
associate eliminating in the established area with positive things
like treats, toys and praise from you.
? It is important to keep a set schedule when feeding the puppy,
and to provide ready access to fresh, clean drinking water at all
times. Providing a consistent schedule for feeding will help you
learn to anticipate your puppy's toilet needs.
? Using a crate can help the puppy to develop much needed self
control. Dogs are naturally very clean animals, and they will try
their best not to soil their bed area.
? And finally, it is vital to employ patience during the house
training process. House training can take as long as several
months, but it is much easier to house train right the first time
than to retrain a problem dog.

House training the puppy – what to avoid
? Do not punish or reprimand the puppy if it makes a mistake.
The puppy will not understand the reason for the punishment,
and he may become nervous and agitated. This could set the
training back even further.
? Do not give the puppy constant access to food. Keep the puppy
to a set feeding schedule instead of leaving food out all the time.
? The puppy should not be given the run of the house until he has
been thoroughly house trained.

House training a new puppy is not always easy, but it is important to
persevere. By exercising patience, and rewarding your dog with lavish
praise every time he does the right thing, you will have your puppy
house trained in no time at all.