Training a Dog Not To Go To The Bathroom In The House – Housebreaking a Dog

March 31st, 2009

Housebreaking 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.

Dog Patio Toilet or The Porch Potty is the answer to Doggie Clean-up

March 18th, 2009

A dog patio toilet-The Porch Potty is an easy to use, self-cleaning dog potty box. With the Porch Potty you no longer have to buy expensive wee wee pads for your dog and have to deal with throwing them away after they are used.

Whether you have a yard or not your dog will be able to go to the bathroom on the grass in the Porch Potty just like he would on a lawn without damaging the grass on an actual lawn. Just put a Porch Potty on your balcony or porch where it is close for your dog to get at and introduce the new potty to your dog.

For the purposes of training your dog to use the porch potty there is training sod that you can get to first train your dog with, since it will be real grass and smell like it your dog will naturally be attracted to it. Once you have your dog trained to use the indoor potty you can switch to a synthetic grass for permanent use. The synthetic grass is designed to last a long time so you don’t have to worry about keeping actual grass green the synthetic grass stays green and even smells like real grass.


No matter where you live, in a house or apartment you will have the convenience of not having to take your dog out at all hours, especially at night when it could be dangerous or bad weather. You simply bring the potty to your dog without having to bring the dog to the outdoors to use the bathroom.

Clean up is easy and fast with the Porch Potty, after the dog has used the “potty” just rinse the grass with a watering can to flush any doggy tinkle down the drain hose and that’s it. There is nothing to lift or carry so there is no risk of spilling anything in the house.

Dog Housebreaking and Potty Training

March 16th, 2009

Housebreaking your puppy is an important aspect of puppy training and the most
difficult one too! Most of new dog owners try to housebreak their puppy in a big
hurry and that is a mistake because potty training your dog cannot be rushed. But housebreaking a puppy is actually a tough task and a challenging aspect of the dog or puppy training process. With a bit of patience and lot of understanding by you, you can readily ensure that your dog ownership will also be a successful and pleasing experience. The duration of time that is needed to housebreak a puppy, is entirely dependent on your dogs breed and his temperament, and genetics.  You will need to be very patient while carrying out this difficult task of potty training your puppy.  More often than not, it is very difficult to control bowel and bladder movements of a young puppy. Meaningful house-training will help your dog control bowel and bladder movements. The secret of housebreaking is essentially consistency and repetition of various training actions. All dogs could be housebroken provided you show enough patience and dedication towards this cause.
General Hints:
Here some of the most basic principles and guidelines that you must follow
without fail:
Tip #1: The aspect of positive reinforcement is a critical aspect of the entire training.  Whenever your dog performs his basic duties and tasks with success, praise him lavishly and give him a small treat.
The dog will get confused if you punish him after the act because he won’t know what to related the punishment to. Tip #2: Punish the dog when he has failed in his duties to perform the task you have assigned for him. You need to let him know at the time he messes up that he has messed up and never punish him after the act.

Tip #3: Make it a point to take your dog for a short walk soon after a meal or nap, those are the most likely times he will need to go to the bathroom.
Tip #4: Create a feeding schedule and stick to that schedule without fail your dog will be happier with a schedule since they are creatures of habit.
Tip #5: Never leave the feeding utensils near the dog’s room except during the feeding time.
Tip #6: Get to know those doggy signals! Learn to recognize their invisible signals and actions. For example, many dogs will sniff the floor and walk in circles when they need to go out. The most critical aspect of the housebreaking procedure is to teach your puppy the place where he is supposed to eliminate feces and urinate.  When you set and adapt some important basic rules and regulations, your dog will immensely benefit from them because they depend on structure.

You can also maintain clean hygiene and cleanliness within your house and surroundings. As a pack animal, your dog is expected to listen and respond to instructions from its pack leader.

Here are some more tips that will help you to housebreak your dog:
Tip: Use a crate while housebreaking your dog. Crates are not tools to punish your puppy. The main objective is to make this crate a sleeping and resting place for your puppy. A crate is a small cage just enough for your dog to more around freely without any hindrance. It will have a locking door and bars that allow your dog to have an unhindered view. Check that your dog is never confined for more than 3 hours at a stretch.


You may be surprised to know that your dog will never soil his crate, unless you
have locked him for an unbearably long time. All new puppies need to eliminate every 4 hours, so be certain that you make yourself free to take him out during these time intervals. The puppy’s age when you should begin housebreaking is when they are 8 to 12weeks in age. create this tight schedule, you can rest assured of a perfect housebreaking experience.
Use the same route while you lead your puppy out of the house; this will make him accustomed to the ritual of going out in the future through the same route.
Draw a time chart and use this chart without fail. The main objective of housebreaking is to set up a strict routine, so that your dog will know how to recognize and adhere to that schedule.
If you have a dog that roams around the house freely, keep looking out for telltale signals like sniffing and circling that will help you know to take him out before he starts eliminating in the house. If you see that your dog is eliminating inside the house, reprimand him with a stern NO and stop him by holding the collar. Take him out immediately and let him finish the job. Praise him lavishly by calling his name.
Make a habit of urgency in your puppy’s attitude by saying words like “fast” or “hurry up” while he is eliminating. This will act as trigger words for the dog to obey your commands.
When you provide regular and stern commands while housebreaking, they will remain permanently etched in your puppy’s brain.
Use a deep and strong voice while training your puppy. Puppy must know that you really mean business and are absolutely serious. Your dog will start noticing subtle differences in your voice and a slight variation will
allow him to recognize your needs.
When praising him, make sure that you’re using a high tenor, happy voice that incorporates his name several times, a dog readily recognizes his name when it is mentioned.

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