How to House-Train a Puppy
![Paul Owens, author of "The Dog Whisperer" and founder of Paws for Peace, teaches you how to house-train your dog with positive reinforcement. (Photo: Russell Illig/Photodisc/Getty Images)](http://img.ehowcdn.com/flip-article-main-image/ds-photo/getty/article/163/137/200248662-001.jpg "Paul Owens, author of "The Dog Whisperer" and founder of Paws for Peace, teaches you how to house-train your dog with positive reinforcement. (Photo: Russell Illig/Photodisc/Getty Images)")
In 1999, five years before the TV show starring Cesar Millan appeared, Paul Owens published his book, "The Dog Whisperer." It sold more than 300,000 copies and has been translated into several languages. Two more books and several DVDs later, Owens is a leader in positive, non-violent training methods.
He began training dogs using traditional methods in 1972, before switching to a peaceful, positive-reinforcement philosophy. Today he is in high demand, working with veterinarians, clients and at Humane Society shelters. He is also the founder and director of the children’s after-school, violence prevention program Paws for Peace. He lives in Burbank, California.
eHow spoke to Owens about positive house training without punishment for puppies.
Overview
Complementary SS Title: The Most Trainable Dog Breeds. You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but you can pick a dog breed known for learning good habits fast and easy. Stanley Coren wrote the book "The Intelligence of Dogs" and found that some breeds are brighter than others -- and easier to train. Coren classified doggie smarts by how many repetitions it took to understand a new command and the rate at which the dog would obey commands. These 10 breeds topped the list because each understood new commands in less than five repetitions and obey commands 95% of the time.
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#10 -- Australian Cattle Dog
Australian cattle dogs love to bark, chew, chase, dig and nip at your heels. Without training, they can be an absolute terror in the garden and living room. However, it's this same gusto and energy that these dogs take to training, meaning they learn quickly and respond well. If you take the time to train your Australian cattle dog the right way, he or she will actually enjoy doing your bidding.
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#9 -- Rottweiler
Rottweilers are devoted, obedient dogs. They are confident and fearless, and even though their self-confident attitude means they are less likely to befriend you immediately, they make great long-term companions. Fun fact: Rottweilers are named after the German town, Rottweil. They earned their name during the time of the Roman Empire when passersby would stop in this town -- it was once a large cattle farm -- and tie their dogs up before doing business. Eventually the town became so full of these sleek, black dogs that they were named "Rottweil-ers."
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#8 -- Papillion
This tiny dog has a lot of spunk. Papillions are energetic, highly intelligent, great with kids and they learn new tricks quickly. Despite being so small, Papillions need a lot of exercise, but after a day's walk, they are very happy to sit and relax with their owners.
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#7 -- Labrador Retriever
Besides being America's favorite dog (the Lab has consistently been the most popular dog, according to the American Kennel Club), Labradors are known for being the best of all water retrievers. They can swim for hours in cold water and have such a remarkable nose and mouth that they are able to retrieve fallen fowl from great distances without damaging the bird.
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#6 -- Shetland Sheepdog
Shetland Sheepdogs, or "Shelties," are still very active in the sheep-herding world. Small farmers use the dogs and their natural herding instinct to round up chickens, sheep and cattle. Overall, they are excitable dogs who are eager to please and work hard.
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#5 -- Doberman Pinscher
Dobermans are working dogs and thrive on training and exercise. Because of their intellect and sense of smell, Doberman Pinschers are frequently used by police department personnel to sniff out criminal suspects.
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#4 -- Golden Retriever
Golden retrievers are one the most popular family dogs. They live to please their owners and are excellent with children. Because Golden Retrievers are so intelligent, they are also great service animals.
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#3 -- German Shepherd
German Shepherds were specifically bred to be intelligent. Combined with their physical strength and stature, German Shepherds are often trained to be protector dogs. The proper name for the German Shepherd is actually German Shepherd Dog. The first German Shepherd Dog ever registered was named Horand v. Grafrath.
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#2 -- Poodle
If Poodles aren't trained, they can get mischievous. They are very energetic and if they don't get their daily walk, they'll use their smarts to find ways to expend that energy inside the house. Fun fact: Did you know that Poodles can have dread locks? Because the Poodles have such high-maintenance coats (the standard show poodle requires 10 hours of brushing per week), "cording" was once a very popular way to keep a poodle's fur from getting tangled and matted.
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#1 -- Border Collie
The world's smartest dog is more intelligent than a three-year-old child. Chaser, a Border Collie, successfully memorized the names of 1022 items over the course of three years.
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eHow: Is it possible to select an easy-to-train dog?
Paul Owens: Dogs are contextual, so you can go to the shelter and find a dog that seems really easy, but then you take it home and it’s back in a family situation, where it chewed up furniture before. You can’t test for those behaviors in advance. It’s the same with aggression. Sometimes a dog might be great at the shelter or around other dogs, but then at home, it might get aggressive around food.
An example of contextual thinking is if you only teach a dog to sit on carpeting and then you put it on a wooden floor and say "sit." The puppy has no idea what you’re talking about because you never taught it on wood.
Some dogs are just more energetic and if you don’t give her a job to do, she’ll end up self-employed, either as a home decorator, gardener or official protector of the house. Paul Owens, aka, The Dog Whisperer
I tell people to trust their intuition first, then talk to the professionals, talk to the shelter people. If you’re getting your dog from a quality breeder, talk to the breeder. But there’s no 100 percent guarantee for anything.
Some dogs are just more energetic and if you don’t give her a job to do, she’ll end up self-employed, either as a home decorator, gardener or official protector of the house.
eHow: Once the puppy is home, how often does it need to go out?
P.O.: Normally eight to 10 times a day -- when he wakes up, after he eats and after excitement or exercise.
eHow: What are the basic steps to house training?
P.O.: The first thing is management. Set the dog up to be successful by giving him opportunities to pee and poop outside. Set up a schedule. Next, call the activity something like "hurry up," "go outside" or "go potty." After awhile that phrase will induce the dog to do it. When the puppy is done, reinforce that with high-quality treats. Be consistent with those steps: management, label it, reinforce it.
eHow: What are high-quality treats? Surely dogs don’t know the difference.
P.O.: I had a dog who would eat sharp cheddar but not medium, and mozzarella but not Swiss. Chicken, turkey, cheese, hamburger and steak are worth $10,000 to a dog; dry treats are worth $1,000 and praise is 50 cents. You want to increase the power of your praise while motivating the dog to repeat that behavior -- use more money!
eHow: What about crate-training?
P.O.: Dogs generally don’t like the four walls, but if you choose to crate-train, you don’t want the dog to lose its natural aversion to eliminating where it sleeps, so don’t ever keep the dog in the crate longer than it can actually hold it.
eHow: How long does housetraining a puppy take?
P.O.: Most dogs aren’t trained until about 7 months of age. You can train them by the third or fourth month, but we humans are inconsistent, and that’s why it takes longer.
eHow: What do you do if you catch them going in the house?
P.O.: Interrupt the pup by startling it with clapping, waving or whistling, but don’t scare it. You want it to stop what it's doing and think, "Hey, what’s that?" That will give you an opportunity to take it outside.
eHow: What if it’s too late and they’ve already done it?
P.O.: Follow the one-second rule. If your pup has already gone and you correct him more than one second afterward, he has no idea what he did wrong. A lot of people say, "My dog knows they’ve done something wrong, because they’re acting guilty." That doesn’t exist. The reason the dog is acting submissive by putting his ears back or lowering his head or backing away from you is not guilt. It’s because he's learned that something bad is about to happen to him. He doesn't know who did the peeing or pooping. So if you walk in the house and he's already done it, you still have to greet him as if you’ve missed him for a year.
eHow: How could they not know they’ve done it?
P.O.: They’re just like little babies, and like your own baby, they don’t know what they’re doing. If your dog makes a mistake, that’s human error. Dogs can’t make mistakes.
