Training a Dog Not To Go To The Bathroom In The House – Housebreaking a Dog
March 31st, 2009Housebreaking a new puppy dog requires patience, persistence, and consistence on your part. Without question, house training is one of the top priorities for dog owners. While we all expect puppies to require house training, there are many older dogs that have ongoing confusion about when and where to go to the bathroom.
One of the most frequent housebreaking challenges is when the dog seems to be house trained, but occasionally has accidents in a certain spot in the home, such as, an area of the house that may have smells of other animals. Some of the most common locations where these accidents to happen are high traffic areas where animal odors may linger, for example, formal dining rooms, guest rooms, basements, laundry rooms and hallways. No matter where your dog’s confusion spot is, you can train him to stop.
The first step in fixing this problem is to understand how a dog thinks regarding house training. Dogs are naturally clean animals generally don’t like to go to the bathroom where they live. Instinctively, even wild dogs will choose separate areas for eating, resting and eliminating.
Housebreaking your dog builds off of your dog’s natural instinct to keep his living space clean. This is why one of the first areas dogs learn to keep clean is their crate, usually followed by the rooms in your home where he spends the most time (kitchen, living room, etc.).
So why does your dog sometimes have accidents in a certain spot in the house? Usually, the accidents will happen in areas of the house where he doesn’t spend much time, such as, the formal dining room, guest room or garage. Since he doesn’t spend much time there, he may not feel like it is part of his home and think it is ok to use that area as a bathroom. In your dog’s mind, this spot is “other than where he lives” and therefore is about the same as eliminating outside. If you are housebreaking a puppy you could put wee wee pads in areas of the house where the puppy rarely goes, wee wee, or training pads will catch the dogs accidents making them easier to clean-up.
The important thing to understand about how your dog thinks is that he will tend to go to the bathroom in an area of the house that he doesn’t associate with his living area. One way to correct that in the mind of your dog is to spend lots of time in the less traveled area in your house with your pet, so your dog will feel like he does live there and will want to keep it clean.
Of course, be sure to clean the spot thoroughly with an odor neutralizer so your dog is not attracted to the spot due to old smells.
By taking steps to make your dog feel like he lives in all areas of your home, supervising him, practicing obedience and praising outdoor eliminating, you can prevent housebreaking problems so you’ll be able to trust and enjoy your pet much more.
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