Tips for housebreaking a puppy.

[polarsusd81]

I have a young puppy,female chocolate lab. She is very inconsistant with where she goes potty. Sometimes she will go to the door and ask to go out, and other times she will sneak off into another room and pee on the floor. I have some of the puppy training mats, and I have one next to the door. She will occasionally use the mat, but usually prefers the floor.

I have heard of mixing a little lemon juice and water and spraying a little in her mouth if she pees, but I don't know if that will work. What are some other tips people have used to housebreak their puppies? My fiance isn't liking the accidents. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Tom

[Mille Lacs Guy]

After they eat, drink, wake up from sleeping etc you need to let them out. I had a female yellow lab puppy that only probably had 2 accidents in the house. She had other accidents that were my fault such as when I got home from being away I played with her for awhile in the house before letting her go outside. You need to praise them for going outside and say something like "be quick" or go potty outside when they go and then praise them for going. After only a couple of weeks my dog would go to the door and whine a little when she needed to go out. I would also suggest trying to let them out the same door everytime they go at least when they are learning so the will go to that door when they need to go.

The best advice I got was to let them out after they eat, drank, woke up for sleeping, etc and I had few problems. I didn't spray lemon juice in the dogs mouth or anything like that because it is a matter of learning what is right before you can punish them for going in the house.

[metrojoe]

I concur, after she eats, sleeps and plays. As soon as you see that little nose hit the floor, don't hesitate, pick her up and get her outside quick. In fact if you wait until you see that little tell tale sign, it might be late. You didn't say how old the pup was, but when their really young I wouldn't leave them unsupervised for a minute. Crate training is also very useful for housebreaking your pup. Use the crate at night and when you can't keep an eye on her.

[IRISHSOBNO4]

best way i found is, to ask the dog if they have to go potty every 1/2 hour or so, when they have an accident show them what they did wrong and put them outside right away try not to scold too much. the crate is a great tool.

[roadkingclasic56]

I just went through(am going through) the training process with our puppy. I have been through the process a number of times over the years with other dogs. The fastest way to get them trained in my experience is to be on top of the pup every second, ready to take it outside. They don't like to mess up their bed any more than you do so if you restrict them to a specific area until house training is complete you will save yourself a lot of hassle. Like was mentioned before, a kennel helps with this a lot, especially overnight. We set up our pup's kennel in a corner of our dining room. I can hear the pup there if it should start to whine in the middle of the night and as much as I don't like to I will get up to take her out. It's part of "being on top of the pup" at all times. I didn't let the dog run the house unsupervised during the day either. The pup was in the same room with me all the time and I would take her out every time I had a second and then some.They really don't have a holding tank until they are pretty full grown so they will have to go out often. Our pup is 4 months old now and goes to the door pretty regular but you have to be right there to let her out. She waits until she can't hardly hold it any longer. Early on if you were late getting there or weren't paying attention you would have a mess in front of the door to clean up. But now she is really good at getting your attention. Literally running back and forth from the door to me to the other door to me, whining, crying, etc. But by the time she gets to this point she is pretty desperate. She is getting to the point now where she can make it all night. A good solid romp before bed time to tire the pup out helps it and you to sleep longer also. Also while house training don't be afraid to take up the water dish in the evening. I would let the pup have all the water she wanted during the day but at night I would take up the water dish and be careful with the amount she drank. I would give her a little if the dog played hard, but if it was a relaxing evening I would restrict the liquid intake. But it takes a lot of patience, a lot of time, and interruptions. And a number of nights with interupted sleep. But there is no lemon juice, spanking, or discipline which makes things nicer for you and the dog since the dog is not physiologically made to hold off urinating for very long. Every 20 minutes is not out of the question for some dogs. Our pup is so desperate sometimes that she doesn't even get off the deck before she squats. But at least it is still outdoors. It's good to use the same door all the time but be sure it is not the door you will be using regularly or the door company will be coming in and out of. I made this mistake also. There are still some frozen treats out there that I have to chisel off the ground so visitors don't have to marvel at it's existence. It will take time but the pup will do a good job. As it gets older you will not have to watch it as close. Hope this helps. House training can get frustrating some times.

[Powerstroke]

Consider crate training. Its the best way. You can't rely on a puppy to tell you when it has to pee. You need to tell your dog when to pee.

I used crate training. It was highly recommended to me by everyone here. You dog should be in the crate more time than out of the crate when they are little. If you can't monitor the dogs actions (sneaks into another room) then you should put her in the crate. Every time I let my new pup out of his crate I take him to the same door and let him out to go to the bathroom. I don't bring him back in until he goes. That way he learned that outside is for potty and he don't get to play inside until he's done it.

Now he is 6 months old. His only accidents are because I was trusting him to tell me he wanted out rather than me sticking to the schedule. He hasn't had an accident in 2 months. Every time I open the kennel door he goes to the door to pee outside. Its easy. And he has NEVER gone potty in the kennel.

[gonefishin11]

I have a one year old chocolate lab. I got her when she was 6 weeks old. For house training, every time she went inside, I would put her nose in it and give her a little swat on the butt. When she went outside, I made sure and had a party with her and praised her and gave her a treat immediately. By 8 weeks, she was sitting by the door when she had to go out. There were only a couple times after that when she had an accident inside and those were my fault for playing with her too long and not letting her out. I still scolded her for those though. Hope this helps a little.

[jigging-matt]

I agree with the other posts about the eat, sleep, play, drink. I trained a Basset Hound quite a few years ago. They are a very smart but stubborn dog, and it worked very well with very few accidents. also used the small crate kennel as a bed at night and when we were gone. Would open the door and carry her out so she didn't even get tempted walking across the floor. After a couple of weeks she would start walking to the door when she had to go. Just pay attention to them, the second they head to the door you need to be heading out with them. Good luck.

[gundy89]

i did the same things. bring them out frequently and use the crate. another great thing i did was putting a bell on the door. i would ring it every time we went out. she figured out that if the bell rang, the door would open. this way, if i'm not paying attention when she went to the door she wouldn't just leave and have an accident, she would ring the bell. it's at the point now that if she just wants to play outside, she rings the bell. hope everything goes well!! if anyone has any tips for a year old yorkie, i'd love to hear them. she's way tougher than my lab.

[lindy rig]

No need to put her nose in it. Not her fault and you could get some disgusting habits from that.

Also, you may want to stop the floor mats. Probably confusing the dog.

The rest is good advice.

[gatorhunter]

Got our 10 week old black lab puppy two weeks ago. The first couple of days were pretty stressful with watching him at all times, running him to the back door, cleaning up the messes. We did bring him outside after he ate, drank, woke up...even a couple of times during the night.

After the first couple of days, that dog knew to go to the door. There were only a couple of little slip ups since then. I'm amazed at how fast he picked up on the door thing.

The bonus is he retrieved from the first time that I played with him. I really hope he continues to learn this fast.

[polarsusd81]

Well for a little update...

Over the new years break I have got her going outside pretty regular, there was only one accident yesterday so I think she is getting it down.

She loves going out to play in the snow, she jumps right in the piles and roles around in them. She is also learning to retrieve the grouse dummy and getting pretty good at that.

Thanks for all the advice.