House Training

A 60-DAY REMEDIAL HOUSE TRAINING PROGRAM

WEEKS 1 AND 2

Sassy is not to have any freedom AT ALL to roam the house unsupervised, because she has learned to potty away from the view of humans. Whenever she is taken out of her crate, snap the 8′ house line on and attach the other end to your belt. Thus attached by this “umbilical cord”, she can never be out of your sight.

WEEKS 3 AND 4

If she has had no accidents at the end of two weeks, you may stop attaching the line to your belt and just let her drag it around the house. (Note: the house line should be a lightweight cord with no knots in it so that it slips easily around the furniture.) If any accidents occur, go back to the beginning using the umbilical cord. If no accidents occur, which means your dog has been accident-free for four weeks, you may remove the house line altogether.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE NEXT 60 DAYS

You will accompany Sassy outside to MAKE SURE that she eliminates. Don’t just push her out in the yard and assume that she has pottied. During the retraining process, you NEED TO KNOW for sure.

When you first get up in the morning or get home from work, take Sassy outdoors to the potty area on the long line. Stand still and do not talk to or play with her.
Just as she begins to urinate, say “go potty, good girl-go potty, good girl”. When she stops going, stop the praise and walk away from the potty area. Take her for a short walk – minutes of controlled walking- or play games.
If she has not pottied, take her back indoors and crate for 10 minutes. Then try again. it is possible she will soil her crate the first two times.
Notes on timing: When you first take her outdoors, do not play games with her before she potties, then take her back indoors the minute she is done. This could teach her that as soon as she does her business, the fun stops. She’ll begin to dawdle and play longer and longer before taking care of business.
After “potty” and a short walk return indoors, crate her and, if this a mealtime, feed.
After 10 minutes, remove the food and take her back outdoors on the long line to have a bowel movement. Give her 5 minutes to take care of business. If she does, remember to say, “Good go potty!” You can walk around the potty are if you like, because exercise helps stimulate the BM.
VERY IMPORTANT: If she does not go, bring her back indoors and CRATE HER FOR ANOTHER 20 MINUTES. Then try again.

If using a crate for confinement instead of the “umbilical cord”, be sure to remove all the bedding from her crate and use just a bare crate. If she has an accident in the crate it is more offensive if she can’t hide it in the bedding. (If it disappears into the bedding, it’s of no consequence to the dog, and crating then loses its effectiveness as a house training tool.)

Plan on several accidents in the crate before she catches on to the timing of visits outdoors. Dogs usually have no more than three accidents before figuring out they only have “so much” time in which to go potty.

She must be allowed NO UNSUPERVISED FREEDOM IN THE HOUSE FOR THE NEXT 60 DAYS. THIS IS VITAL. If you get lax (i.e., do not accompany the dog outdoors or let her ram indoors out of your sight), accident swill occur an you will have to start at the beginning again.

Remember: accidents are less likely to occur if someone is watching the dog at all times. The umbilical cord will help you learn to ‘read’ your dog’s body language when she is signaling the need to go outdoors. I fyou are diligent about following these rules for 60 days and no accidents occur, your dog should be reliably housetrained at the end of the 60 days.