How to Housetrain a Puppy Quickly

Many people make such a science out of housetraining a puppy. I prefer to 'push buttons'. Potty training a puppy is no different than training your puppy to do anything else. You teach them a cause and effect. You do 'X' and they are expected to do 'Y'. If you follow this advice, your puppy will be housetrained in no time at all! And you'll have fun training them in the process.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Leash
• Bell and String
• Silly Attitude
• Puppy who needs housebreaking

1. 
   How to housetrain your puppy

   Consider the age of your puppy. The general rule of thumb is that a puppy can hold their bladder for one hour per month of age + 1 hour. So an 8 week old puppy should only be expected to hold their bladder for 3 hours. Younger than 8 weeks of age is unfair to expect them to hold it at all but the puppy can still be taught the process of puppy training in this article.

2. 
   How to housetrain your puppy

   Get your puppy on a feeding schedule and stick to it. The more regular you are with feeding times, the more regular your puppy will be with their elimination times which will make house training SO much easier. Puppies under 6 months of age should be fed 3 times a day.

3. 
   How to housetrain your puppy

   Tie a cow bell to your doorknob with a string or piece of yarn. It should dangle at nose level, no lower, to the puppy. Raise it as the puppy grows.

4. 
   How to housetrain your puppy

   Keep puppy who isn't yet housetrained on a leash when in the house. This goes a long ways to avoiding any 'accidents'. Naturally, if your going to be watching the puppy closely, you won't need the leash but when going about your daily chores, it is a good idea to use one.

5. 
   How to housetrain your puppy

   Decide on a command to give your puppy when you want them to go outside to go potty. "Wanna go outside" or "Wanna go potty?" are common ones.

6. 
   How to housetrain your puppy

   When you give the command to your puppy, encourage them to ring the bell at the door. Be really happy when your doing this. Physically assist them if you need to. (be sure to praise them for ringing it even if you had to assist them.)

7. 
   How to housetrain your puppy

   Always take puppy to a designated area. Give them a chosen command for going to the bathroom such as "Go potty" or whatever you like. Do NOT say anything but the command repeatedly to your puppy at this stage. Also act dull and maybe even a bit bored. Walk the puppy a little bit if necessary. Sometimes that helps 'get things moving'.

8. 
   How to housetrain your puppy

   When the puppy goes potty, it's time to be goofy. Praise the puppy and be very animated about it. Pet them, kiss them, dance around, clap, give whoops and yeas be the person that may even scare you neighbors into thinking you lost your mind but your puppy will LOVE it! Do this for 1-2 minutes.

9. 
   How to housetrain your puppy

   Take puppy back in the house. Do not play with the puppy first beyond the praise for going potty outside. Once inside pat their shoulder blade and tell them they are a good dog. Give a treat if you want to but I personally do not like a dog who expects and later demands treats. I prefer praise only myself.

10. 
    How to housetrain your puppy

    Keeping a log of times your puppy goes to the bathroom (inside or out!) will help you establish times you should be aiming more for in getting your puppy outside. Remember this may change as they get older. An hour after they eat and IMMEDIATELY after they wake up are key times to take them outside. Be sure to visit the link in the resources section below this article to learn more.

Tips & Warnings

• Pick up water dishes after the last feeding for the night. Use step 1 to determine when your last feeding of the day should be bearing in mind you should take your puppy outside just before going to bed.
• Don't be surprised if your puppy learns this game so well they fake going potty outside just to get you to do your funny routine. My border collies were notorious for this. Praise them anyhow! Eventually they will be going outside to potty just by command and without your attending the affair.
• Never send a puppy who isn't fully housetrained to go potty outside without a human to attend. This is the key mistake most people make when they think they are housetraining a puppy.

Resources

• DaPoochie Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
• Ironwood Coonhounds - Redbone and Black and Tan Coonhounds
• By The Way, If You Would Like To Learn How To Get Paid Writing Articles Like This, Click This Link And I Can Teach You How. I’ve Been Doing It And So And Can You!

[Susanh]

on 10/14/2008 Janet, this is a fantastic article. Great photographs and detailed instructions. 5*****

[momandpopoften]

on 10/13/2008 Those Cavaliers are just adorable! Great advice on house training!

[MIghtyDreamer]

on 10/13/2008 oooo ahhh oo ahh.. blow up the pics.. and they are just too cuuute. thanks for sharing the pick chures. oo ah.. okay..back to the article. Excellent detail advice and suggestions. thank you

[missforty]

on 10/13/2008 These are really great tips, thanks!