How to Housebreak an Adopted Dog

Adopting a dog can be one of the happiest days of your life--however, that happiness often turns to frustration and anger--if the adopted dog has a housetraining problem. One of the main reasons dogs get dropped off at shelters, get abandoned and even put to sleep is due to not being housebroken. Housetraining is really not a behavior problem; it is a location problem. All you have to do to properly housetrain your adopted dog is to teach him the right areas to go. Any dog can be housetrained--it just requires patience, understanding dog behavior--and a little bit of time. Here are some steps to a housetrained dog.

Things You'll Need

• Leash
• Crate
• Collar

Instructions

1. Understand that with an adopted dog, housetraining is a behavior that has to be taught. The most important step in housetraining is managing your dog's behavior. A crate makes it extremely easy to housetrain your dog, because the crate will confine your dog to a certain area while you cannot watch her. Some people feel bad about putting their dogs into a crate, but a crate really is one of the safest, most humane tools to use for housetraining a dog.

2. Start off by teaching your dog to associate the crate as a good place to be. This is done by making positive associations with your dog in the crate. Some good steps to take are: feeding your dog in the crate, having your dog go into the crate to get treats and anytime you give your dog a new toy; have him go into the crate to get it.

3. Once your dog has made a positive association with the crate you can start to use it whenever you have to leave the house. One of the most important steps in housetraining is making sure that your dog never makes a mistake inside the house. By keeping a close eye on your dog and by using the crate, you can set up an environment where your dog never has the opportunity to make a mistake.

4. Give positive feedback when your dog goes outside. A big housetraining mistake that a lot of people make is to let the dog outside on her own. You always want to go outside with your dog so that you can reward and praise your dog for going outside.

5. When you catch your dog going inside the house, don't overdo the punishment. All you need to do is simply interrupt the behavior. If you harshly punish your dog for making a mistake inside the house, it can have adverse affects on all of your housetraining efforts. Harsh punishment will sometimes condition the dog to never go when you are standing close by. When this happens, the owner tends to stand outside for long periods of time waiting for their dog to go, but the dog won't because he is expecting some form of punishment.

6. When your dog makes a mistake in the house, simply interrupt the behavior and immediately take your dog out. Once outside, encourage your dog to go and reward your dog the instant she has relieved herself.

7. Understand that you need to catch your dog making the mistake inside the house. Punishing your dog after the behavior has occurred will only confuse your dog and make the housetraining all the more difficult.

8. Remember to be patient, manage your dog's behavior, interrupt when he is making a mistake and reward for going in the right places.

Tips & Warnings

• Get my free report: "7 Biggest Housetraining Mistakes and How to Avoid Them" (see link in Resources below).

• Don't punish your dog long after the behavior has occured.

Resources

• Free Report: 7 Biggest Housetraining Mistakes and How to Avoid Them