Puppy Power - House Training 101

By Joanne Faulkner

In being a Boxer breeder for the past ten years, and a dog owner for the past three decades, I’ve picked up some tricks to help with the difficulties of house training puppies.

Love the idea of your puppy sleeping in your room? Here are some drawbacks:

• Puppy becomes so accustomed to having you near him at all times that he is unable to sleep alone, or be alone.
• You get up in the night and wake up puppy… then he wants to play! And bark! And wrestle! Forget sleep!
• Puppy needs to go out in the night, wakes you with his cries, and pees in the hallway on his way to the back door.

Put puppy in a crate close to the outside door, so when he needs to go, you can quickly let him out. He won’t give you much warning… when you hear crying, it means “I’m going to go in about 2 seconds!”. Use a baby monitor system – then you’ve got his noises next to your bed in the night, and he’s close to the door for emergencies.

Puppy will need to go outside:

• First thing in the morning. Don’t lie in bed listening to him cry, or make your coffee, or have a shower… very first thing you must do after getting out of bed or hearing a peep from puppy is let him out. No matter what the weather, go outside with him so you can praise him for doing his business outside rather than in his crate! (Oh yes, good idea to wear PJ’s – or something – to bed during house-training stage)  J
• After feeding him his breakfast.
• About 2 hours later, out again.
• After every meal, every nap, and every intense playtime. If you play with him in the house (wrestling, etc), make sure to take a break part way through and take him outside.
• Feed early in the evening. This entails dinner before 7:30pm (but not too early or he’ll be starving by 2am), and going outside right afterwards.
• Out again right before going to bed.
• Until approximately 4 months old, expect puppy to get up at least once in the night. Some will sleep through (if your does, consider yourself fortunate), but most need a few more weeks until their bladder grows. Again, PJ’s are a great idea, since you’ll be going outside with puppy. Your neighbours will appreciate it.

If puppy is indoors while you are away, he will need to go out when you return. Opposite of the early morning routine, don’t let him out instantly when you walk in the door. Hang up your jacket, check your phone messages, etc… a few minutes (say, 5) should be given between your entrance and his greeting you. If you make a big deal about arriving (or departing), he will become anxious about your absences and become stressed whenever he is alone. Separation anxiety is common, and difficult to correct. Make all your comings and goings very casual… don’t make a scene about saying goodbye (in fact, don’t say goodbye – just quietly put him in his crate, give him a chew toy, and leave).

Give puppy LOTS of cheering for doing his business outside – a party in the yard! The really bright ones figure this out quickly; they learn to squat in front of their owners even if they don’t need to pee. Give lots of praise anyway, even if nothing is produced; puppy is obviously making an effort to please you and this is a very important quality when it comes to any training.

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