How to Potty Train a 6 Month Old Alaskan Malamute

Alaskan malamute puppies often learn new training fast.

If your six-month-old Alaskan malamute puppy isn’t housetrained yet, it should be taught very soon. The older a dog is when housebroken, the harder the process becomes, as it gets accustomed to eliminating in the home. Fortunately, malamutes are intelligent dogs that can pick up on training rather easily, as long as their owners are consistent.

Things You'll Need

• Crate Treats Enzymatic cleaner

Instructions

1. Provide a den for your malamute and keep it in there when you are not able to supervise it. Crates are often viewed by malamutes as dens—places where they can be alone and relax. Dogs in the wild often use dens and enjoy spending time inside them. Your malamute probably will, too. According to the Omal Alaskan Malamutes website, malamutes typically like their crates because they are areas they can easily defend. Dogs avoid urinating or defecating in their dens, which makes the crate a perfect place to keep your pup when you are not able to watch it. Just make sure you let your puppy out of the crate for frequent potty breaks.

2. Take your malamute puppy outside at the same times every day. Establishing a schedule helps your puppy learn when it is acceptable to eliminate and how long it has to wait until it is able to do so. Always take your malamute outside before you place it into the crate and once you have released it. In addition, take the pup out immediately after it wakes up and eats. At six months, your malamute puppy may occasionally have to go outside in between those times, as well. Whenever the puppy starts to act as if it needs to eliminate—for instance, whining, walking to the door or smelling the ground—take it outside immediately.

3. Practice consistent techniques. Malamutes can be quite stubborn and may protest this new training. However, if you are consistent in your teachings, the malamute will typically accept that this is its new routine and way of life. If you don’t follow a strict schedule or keep the malamute inside the crate whenever you are gone, you are creating a potential setback, and the malamute will become confused and won’t understand what is expected of it. If you don't hold up your end of the routine, the puppy can’t be expected to, either. Therefore, always maintain the same schedule and potty-training methods, and your malamute will catch on faster.

4. Supply your malamute with plenty of praise immediately after it does what it's supposed to do—whether it's going outside to do its business or coming back into its crate. The Puppy Training Solutions website states that malamutes become bored easily, which can hinder training. Stop your pooch from becoming bored by giving it treats as soon it does what you ask it to. The prospect of receiving more treats is often all that it takes to pique a malamute’s interest and to encourage it to keep performing well.

Tips & Warnings

• Your six-month-old malamute puppy still has plenty of growing to do, which can make it difficult to know which crate to buy. If possible, buy a crate that your pup can stand up, turn around and lie down in—no bigger, no smaller. If the malamute can walk away from its mess, it won't stop eliminating in the crate. If you need to, you can purchase a crate that will fit the malamute when it is an adult; however, you need to block off that extra space. You can use blankets or crate dividers, moving them as necessary to allow more space for the malamute as it grows. Clean up any accidents your puppy has with enzymatic cleaner. Typical household cleaners can leave the smell of urine and feces behind, which can entice the puppy back to that same spot to eliminate. Only enzymatic cleaners, which are available at most pet stores, completely remove all odor and any other traces of the waste.

• Never employ the traditional method of "rubbing his nose in it." Aside from being cruel, it carries a high risk of infection—and it doesn't work. Malamutes are extremely loyal, intelligent and stubborn, but like all dogs, they connect only recent events. When punished for something they may have done an hour ago, they don't learn to stop the behavior—they just learn confusion and fear. In potty training your malamute puppy, positive reinforcement works far better than punishment.

References

• Omal Alaskan Malamutes: Crate Training a Puppy
• Puppy Training Solutions: Facts About Alaskan Malamute Puppies