The Importance of Schedules
Most dogs leave their canine family to enter their new home at about two months of age. At this age, pups eat and drink a lot. They have limited ability to control their elimination and no idea that it might be important. Feeding and potty times should be adjusted to help the puppy reach his potential in the housetraining department as quickly as possible.
Diet and Feeding
Feed specific amounts of high-quality puppy food at specific times. If your dog eats on a schedule, she's more likely to potty at regular, predictable times. Pups should be fed three times a day up to three or four months of age, and after that can be fed twice daily for the rest of their lives. If your schedule requires you to be gone for six or more hours at a time, feedings can be disproportionate. Consider feeding a larger portion when you will be home for a few hours and will therefore be able to give her the opportunity to relieve herself.
A high-quality diet can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of housetraining, as a higher digestibility leads to less and more compact stool. Look for signs that the food you've chosen agrees with your dog. Gas, loose stools, constipation, itchy skin, bald patches, or listlessness indicate a problem that may be diet-related. Investigate possible solutions by consulting with your veterinarian.
With pups who urinate frequently, you might try restricting water. Before doing so, tell your veterinarian about your plans. He might want to perform some diagnostic tests beforehand to rule out bladder or urinary tract problems. In severe cases where, despite a clean bill of health, the pup still continually urinates, offer water only before taking her out to relieve herself. With pups who just can't seem to hold it throughout the night, withhold water for three hours before putting them to bed.
Dogs experiencing difficulty with housetraining will achieve greater control sooner if they're fed a single, totally consistent diet. Therefore, avoid giving your dog treats, people food, or edible toys such as pig's ears, rawhides, or cowhoofs. Additionally, dogs who are not nutritionally indulged are less likely to become overweight or aggressively possessive when food is near.
Eliminating on Command
Understand how much your puppy needs to go potty, and teach him to do it on command. At two to four months of age, most pups need to relieve themselves after waking up, eating, playing, sleeping, and drinking — perhaps as often as every 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the type and amount of activity. At four months, the dog may be developed like an adult internally, but expect him to behave like a puppy. Most adult dogs can gradually and comfortably adapt to three to five outings per day. When active rather than resting, you will notice a significant increase in the frequency of elimination.
Puppies and dogs can — and should — be taught to eliminate on command. This comes in extremely handy when it's dark or raining, as well as when you need your dog to do her business on an unfamiliar surface (such as a city sidewalk). It also ensures that your trip to the potty spot meets its goal!
Teach your dog to eliminate on command. This lesson is handy both when he is too distracted and won't potty or when he's on a surface that he's inclined not to potty on — for example, a kennel run, wet grass, or where other dogs have been. Others will go potty only if they're in a particular area or taken for a walk. By teaching your dog to eliminate on command, you can get him to go where you want and when you want and simplify the housetraining process. Here's how to do it.
Many owners make the mistake of continually taking a dog out before he really needs to go. Although they do so hoping he won't soil the house, they are actually preventing him from developing the capacity to hold it. Since housetraining is a matter of teaching the dog to control his bladder and bowels until he has access to the outdoors, taking the dog out too frequently slows the housetraining process. When you think he doesn't need to go out but he does, try umbilical cording or crating him for a halfhour before taking a walk.
Leash your dog and take her to the potty area. When she begins the sniffing and circling ritual that immediately precedes elimination, start chanting a phrase like, “Potty, Hurry Up.” What you say is unimportant, but it should sound melodic and should always be the same phrase. Use the same words for defecation and urination. As soon as she does her business, praise her like you would your child's first home run — effusively. She should understand that she has done something that really pleases you. Also, leave the area as soon as she is finished. An additional reward will be to go explore somewhere else. After a week of chanting while your dog is relieving herself, begin the chant as soon as you enter the potty area.
Only give your dog a few minutes to potty. If you give her twenty minutes, she is likely to demand thirty next time. After a couple of minutes, put her back in her crate long enough to make her thankful for the next potty opportunity you give her. Have your dog earn playtime by pottying first and playing afterward. Potty breaks will be much less time-consuming if your dog learns to associate the initial act of walking outdoors with the act of going potty, not playing. Finally, avoid praising or rewarding with food, since anticipating those things may actually distract her from her primary goal. Besides, the sensation of going potty is a reward in itself.
Why does he forget to relieve himself when he is outdoors but goes as soon as he's back in the house?
If this happens frequently enough, it indicates that he is overly distracted when you're outside. Leashing your dog during potty breaks will enable you to keep your dog moving and sniffing within the appropriate area, and thus speed the process of elimination. If you sense your dog is becoming distracted from his duty of looking for a potty spot, use a light, quick tug on the leash as you slowly move about the area yourself.
