Five Lies About Housetraining Your Puppy

And every dog owner is not successful. Friends of mine have adult dogs who absolutely refuse to go outside in the rain or snow and use the inside of the house as their toilet.

Housetraining your puppy may be easy if you're a breeder or a dog trainer or have owned many dogs. But if you're the average dog owner, it ain't easy.

In fact, you must decide the best method to use, if you want to build a schedule, where the pup will eliminate (yes, this is a decision point), get the right equipment, etc.

Housetraining Your Puppy - Stops And Starts
Every puppy is different. Some housetrain quickly - in a few weeks, depending on age and physical maturity. Some take months.

As the trainer, you can have the best plans for housetraining your puppy, but you will need to adjust. For example, the pup's not liking his crate at all. Do you start over with the crate or try something else?

Another example - you just got a job and need to work all day. You have a 3-month old puppy. How do you handle puppy housetraining if you work all day?

Google "house break your puppy in 7 days." You'll get a list of sites, books, articles, and blogs, all claiming that housetraining your puppy in 7 (or less) days is a real possibility.

Can You Hit This Target?
No and no. First, the statement hinges on the definition of a housetrained puppy. A puppy is housetrained when he hasn't had an accident indoors in months. So how can a puppy be housetrained in 7 days? You have no measurement criteria. The target goal is unattainable.

If you're reading this and thinking - that's just nitpicking. Okay, if you think so. But then consider this - a puppy is NOT physically ready to control his pee and poop until he's at least sixteen weeks of age. Yes, he might be able to go over night at 12 weeks, but that's because his body relaxes at night. Betcha when he wakes up he screams to be let out of his crate.

Housetraining your puppy in 7 days is near impossible, especially if he's less than sixteen weeks old. The best you can do is to minimize the number of accidents..

Face it - there's more to housetraining a pup than a puppy housetraining schedule. True, it's not brain surgery, but a matter of discipline and following expert advice.

Trust the experts from Kingdom of Pets:

Housetraining your puppy REQUIRES a list of activiities and time frames when these activities will be completed. So, you have a house training schedule in your head if you're doing any house training at all.

Maybe it would be much easier if the schedule were on paper. If you're the type who does not like to commit to specific time frames, housetraining your puppy will be difficult at best. For example, If a pup eats, he's going to poop shortly after he finishes eating. Will you be available to take him ouside?

Activities You Can Automatically Schedule
There are housetraining activities that can be scheduled easily as follows:

- Taking the pup out after he gets up in the morning.
- Taking the pup out before he goes to sleep for the night.
- Taking the pup out after playtime.
- Taking the pup out after he eats a meal.
- Taking the pup out after a nap (these are predictable).

Find out more about a puppy house training schedule:
http://www.squidoo.com/puppy-house-training-schedule

Are the dogs in this picture playing or fighting? It might be hard to tell, but if you know dog behavior, your guess would be that they're playing. And you would be right.

Ignorance of dog behavior negatively impacts housetraining your puppy.

Examples Of What Can Happen If Dog Behavior Is Not Understood

- You punish a dog for peeing and pooping in the house. He may look like he did something wrong, but he cannot connect the act with the punishment. You punish him with no result other to make yourself feel better.

- You're so set against crate training that you won't even give it a try, even though it's a known fact that used correctly, a den is a dog's "safe" place.

- You scream and yell at the dog. This serves the same purpose as when you yell at a small child - it creates fear.

- You fail to establish yourself above the dog in the family's ranking. And then you wonder why he refuses to listen to commands. Would you listen to commands from a subordinate?

- Your treatment of the puppy is inconsistent. Sometimes you correct him for negative behavior; sometimes you ignore it. The result - a confused puppy.