Dos and Don'ts to Solve House Training Problems Fast

Are you having house training problems with your puppy? Is your puppy pooping and peeing in the wrong spots? Are you having difficulty timing your puppy's bowel movements? Here are a few tips to help you solve your house training problems - fast.

Know Which Method To Use

The first thing you need to do for your puppy is pick one method and stick to it. Most house training problems occur because of inconsistent methods and inconsistent training schedules. If you're having house training problems, ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you allowing enough time to observe your dog in order to avoid accidents?

2. Are you taking your dog out at regularly designated times?

3. Are you leaving your puppy home alone without having her properly trained first?

4. Have you restricted your dog's movements enough when you cannot supervise her?

Here are some Do's and Don'ts of Paper Training:

Do Pick ONE Method Only

Pick ONE method to train your puppy. You can use either the direct method, the indoor method or the crate training method. But only use one method, as your dog will get confused if you try to teach her more than one method at a time.

The best method to use with puppies is the indoor method. With the indoor method you must designate one area of the house where she is to eliminate. When she is left alone unsupervised, this area must be big enough for her to play in, eat in and sleep in.

So for instance, the laundry room sectioned off is perfect. Also, the flooring should be non-stainable. Tile floors and linoleum floors, concrete floors are excellent.

Do Know When Your Dog Needs to Eliminate

Although a puppy can eliminate anytime because of it's inability to control it's bladder, there are certain times that your puppy will have to eliminate. Knowing these times will eliminate 90% of your house training problems.

1. Upon awakening

2. After high activity (playtime)

3. 10-20 minutes after a meal

4. Right before bedtime

Do Follow a Strict Schedule

So you have a basic idea now of when to expect your puppy to eliminate. Now make a schedule and stick to it. Remember, puppies need to be feed 3-4 times daily. Remember, puppies sleep alot. In particular, they sleep about 2 hours at a time.

For every month they age, you can double that amount of time to determine their sleep time. For instance, a one month old puppy will only sleep in 2 hour intervals before she'll need to eliminate. Using that age as an example, here is a sample of a one

month old puppy schedule:

Schedule for Puppy

7am Puppy wakes – outside for Toilet

9am First meal then toilet

11am Sleeps

1pm Second meal then toilet

3pm Sleeps

5pm Play time then toilet

7pm Third meal then toilet

9pm Sleeps

11pm Toilet visit before bed

Don't Let Her Have Free Reign of the House

It's tempting to let your cute puppy run all over the house when she gets home. You're asking for major house training problems if you do. What will happen? She could get hurt first of all. Second, she will have accidents all over the house.

Then, because the territory is 'marked' with her pee, she will keep going back to that spot. So immediately have her confined to one place in the house to avoid future house training problems.

Don't Scold or Hit Your Dog

Hitting your dog or scolding her harshly will not solve your house training problems. Your puppy will be terrified of you and your harshness will only exacerbate your house training efforts.

When your dog poops accidentally, make sure you stop her in the middle of it by firmly saying "No!" That's all it takes. When she stops, immediately pick her up and put her on the newspaper.

Do Praise Her Lavishly

When you pick her up and put her on the paper to pee after you've interrupted her from peeing or pooping on the carpet, praise her lavishly. Say, "Good girl" in a high pitched happy voice. She'll know to associate that voice (along with your rubbing her) with positive reinforcement.

Did you find this article on solving house training problems helpful? You can find more in-depth information on canine potty training and how to paper train puppy at Canine Potty Training.