One of the most frustrating experiences for a puppy owner to is housebreaking. In addition to cleaning up pee and poop, you also are being woken up at all hours of the night. You can take comfort in the fact that it won’t last forever and soon you will be sleeping through the night and only picking up poop outside – one of the joys of dog ownership. While most dogs eventually “get it,” there are a lot of things you can be doing to make sure that they do and to help speed up the process. I said that most dogs get it because as a dog trainer I often will do a private lesson with the owner of a 2 or 3 year old dog that is still not housebroken. One of the main reasons is that the owner assumed that their dog would just figure it out on its own. The two big mistakes that are made with housebreaking are too much freedom too soon and not enough supervision. Here are some key points to help you with the housebreaking process.

Confinement. Using a crate or other type of confinement is a must. A crate keeps your dog safe and your house safe. Dogs have an innate desire not to soil their den. Most dogs will consider the crate their den and not soil it. So the crate is used as a place to keep your dog when you cannot supervise it and to teach it to wait until it is outside to use the bathroom. The main goal with housebreaking is for the dog to respect the whole house as the den, but you have to take it slowly and gradually expand its den.

Schedule. A regular feeding schedule is important. If what goes in is on a schedule then what comes out will be on a schedule. For that reason and a few others, I don’t recommend free feeding. A regular schedule will help your dog’s body adjust to when it can use the bathroom. Your puppy’s age will determine how often it needs to go out, but at the least take it out first thing in the morning and last thing at night, before and after play and exercise, after a nap, and after eating. Pulling up water an hour before bedtime can make it easier to get through the night.

Supervision. Another housebreaking goal is to teach the dog that going to the bathroom inside is bad, but outside is good. The only way to do this is to be there when the dog goes both indoors and out. This requires constant supervision when your puppy is in the house and out of its crate. If the dog starts to go give a firm “no” and quickly take it outside. If you miss an accident then it is too late to discipline. You also have to be outside when your dog potties to give it lots of praise and so you know if and when it has gone to the bathroom.

There are some cases where behavioral or health issues can cause a dog to go to the bathroom in the house or in its crate. These include marking, separation anxiety, and a bladder or urinary tract infection. You can talk to a professional dog trainer and your veterinarian to see if any of these issues may be the cause of your housebreaking troubles.

Remember... use a crate, get on a schedule, and constantly supervise. If you take it slowly and have a little patience both you and your house will get through it.

Mark Kane, certified pet dog trainer, is the owner of DogSpeak – Professional Dog Training in Marietta, Georgia. 404.833.WOOF (9663)