If you are trying to figure out the best way to house train a puppy you may be considering traditional house training or crate training. We are going to take a look at both types of training and give you tips on how to increase your success rate with either option.

First, with house training, it is very important that you establish a routine with your puppy. A routine will help increase the likelihood that your puppy will potty in the places you want them to while you are present and not potty in the wrong places. When they do potty in the right place you are going to want to praise them and reward them for doing the right thing. By praising them you are reinforcing to them what is expected of them, so they will want to repeat that behavior.

Now, puppy training is not an overnight process. When you are not home you have to make some provisions for your pup until they are house trained. You definitely are not going to want to let the puppy roam your house freely, if you do you run the risk of allowing your puppy to develop bad habits such as leaving surprises for you around the house. Make sure that you confine your pup to a small room such as bathroom or the kitchen or a utility room. Any room that has water resistant floors. Now confining your pup to a small room while you are out is not the same as crate training.

Crate training is another way to “potty train” your pup. Considered one of the most effective and efficient ways to train pups. This is because dogs don’t like to potty in their sleeping or resting area as long as they are given the chance to potty elsewhere. While confining a pup to a small area will help inhibit the need to potty there is an even more important reason to crate train.

If your four legged love one has not urinated or had a bowel movement while they are in the their crate, they will need to have one as soon as they are let out. So you take your puppy out and they potty in your presence and receive a reward and praise. What you are doing here is double reinforcing potty in the appropriate places at the right time.

Now here is the important difference between crate training and confining your pup when you are not at home. The goal of confining your puppy while you are away is to prevent them from going all over your house. Crate training however is for short term confinement so that your dog learns to “hold it” when they are in a confined space so that they will want to potty when they are released from being confined and are then taken to where it is you want them to potty.

Crate training teaches your puppy that it is not acceptable to go potty whenever they want, where ever they want. Much like a toddler, the puppy learns that there is a certain time to go potty and a certain place.

Now, if your dog eliminates in the crate, it is because you left them in there to long. This will set your house training back by a number of weeks. The only time that your pup should be in a crate is when you are home. With the exception of night time, you are going to want to take your pup to potty every hour on the hour. Each time you take the puppy out, take him/her out on a leash immediately after letting them out of the crate. While you are outside you are going to need to give the pup about 3 – 5 minutes to relieve himself. If they do not go in that time frame, bring them back into the house and put them back in the crate. If they do relieve themselves in an appropriate amount of time tell them, “Good Potty,” pet them and give them a small reward this doesn’t have to be a treat, it could be play time, affection, or an extended walk.

Tags: pets, pet, dog nutrition, dog health, dogs, homemade dog food, commercial dog food, dog food

Tags: crate training, house train a puppy, house training, puppy potty training, puppy training

This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 7:30 am and is filed under Dog Info, Dog Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.