Housebreaking 201

Published January 29, 2015 | By admin

Once your new puppy is around 5-6mo they should become more aware of their potty urges; at the same time they are also entering the Teen Stage & are becoming more easily distracted. I still recommend using a timed schedule in combination with utilization of a crate when you aren’t able to actively supervise to prevent accidents in the house. This is also the time to start giving your pup some opportunities to alert to their potty needs.

If you are wanting your dog to use bells to alert when they have to out out, now would be a good time to introduce your poochie bells, if you don’t already have them hanging from your door. If you have a lot of door traffic in/out the door your dog travels to potty I would recommend hanging the bells from a hook on the wall BESIDE the door. If the bells aren’t on the door so they ring when the door opens/closes begin ringing the bells PRIOR to opening the door. As your dog gets more practiced as you approach their first birthday give a brief pause before opening the door to allow your dog time to move the bells either with their nose or toes to “make” the door open. As your dog gets closer to 9 months you can start allowing more time loose in the house, but do not be lulled into a false sense of security–your dog is in the center of The Teen Stage so you will still need to be closely supervised as teens do not always make good decisions with extra freedoms!!

If you have been consistent in getting your dog out & preventing accidents, then by the time your dog celebrates their first birthday you should be seeing consistent results. for those who desire to go crate-free (and tossing out the crate-system is NOT what the Big Moose recommends) around 12-18 months is when you can slowly start making the transition with your end goal date closer to 18-24 month.

For those of you still struggling with accidents in the house after 9mo of age, or who adopted an adult dog that still struggles with holding it to go outside I would recommend using a leash IN the house as an “umbilical cord” to force you to be more aware of your dog & what they are up to. Often times people with small dogs who can easily sneak behind the couch to relive themselves, or dogs who started in a pet shop environment where the only place they had to relive themselves was also where they slept & ate and the staff cleaned up after often take longer to potty train. I also recommend following your dog outside to supervise that all business gets done where you want it done—often dogs get too “busy” barking at the squirrels or neighbor cat & “forget” what they are supposed to be doing, then they come back inside where there are no distractions & “remember” they still have to “go”. Thirdly I recommend starting an Elimination Journal. Yup, just as it sounds start writing down EVERY time your dog does anything: was it normal? was it loose? did they do it inside or outside? There is also an app for that complete with alarms! Try it Out: Potty App

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