Housebreaking Schedule for Puppies
Sticking to a schedule is crucial in house training new puppies. Your puppy is learning where the appropriate places are to relieve itself at the same time as it is going through major physical changes that affect how long it can hold its bladder. Not monitoring your puppy's schedule and providing it with ample well-timed opportunities to relieve itself will lead to accidents and extended house training problems. Save yourself some frustration and devote yourself to successful training.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Determine how long your puppy can reasonably go between potty breaks, based on age. The basic formula to use is your puppy's age in months plus one. For example, at 3 months old a puppy can probably go 4 hours but should not be expected to go any longer.
-
2
Go out immediately after meal times and any time where your puppy has had a significant amount to drink or eat.
-
-
3
Send your puppy outside immediately after waking up from a nap, first thing in the morning, and after spending any time in its crate.
-
4
Give your puppy an opportunity to go before bedtime or being left alone or in a crate. An empty puppy will be more comfortable and more likely to make it accident free until the next opportunity.
-
5
Remember that training, play and any other excitement can cause your puppy to have to relieve itself.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Crate your puppy when you cannot be supervising it. Don't give a puppy free reign of the house until it is fully housebroken. Don't leave a puppy crated longer than the appropriate time for its age based on the formula. If you have to, make sure to provide a potty area outside the crate that it can get to and use.
Don't scold your puppy or get angry. Accidents can be frustrating, but they are exactly that, accidents. Your puppy is not misbehaving. It simply didn't have ample time or instruction to be able to go in the right location.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit puppy image by SKYDIVECOP from Fotolia.com
