House Train Your Puppy with a Crate

One of the best ways to house train your puppy is through the use of a crate. This works especially well if you have to leave your puppy unattended for any length of time. It is a good idea to use a crate for at least the first nine months as you will want to protect your flooring and any items that a puppy may want to chew on.

Please buy a crate that your puppy can grow into as this is part of the training. When training my Pit/Lab mix we only experienced a few accidents that happened on our way outside. A puppy or dog typically will not defecate where it sleeps. It is important to make sure that while your puppy is in the crate it only has enough room to turn around in. Most crates come with a divider that you can keep moving as your puppy grows. This will help in the training as your puppy will learn to hold itself until taken outside. It is a good idea not to feed or give your puppy water at least an hour before bedtime. Make sure you establish a schedule for your puppy so it will start to know when it will be taken out for bathroom breaks.

As soon as you wake up in the morning take your puppy out immediately. You may need to carry your puppy for the first week to the outside to avoid any accidents on your way outside. We carried our puppy outside for the first week and praised her when she would go in the grass. We also said the words “go pee pee “and “go poop” when she did the act. Those commands reinforced daily will help later as she will now go on demand as she knows what those words mean due to association with the act. We rewarded her with petting, attention and play when she would complete the act instead of food. We wanted to reserve the food for the training of the regular commands such as sit, stay, lay down, etc. We did not want to confuse her with getting a treat for using the bathroom and then use the same method for regular commands. You must also watch the amount of treats given to a puppy as to not upset their stomachs as they are still growing and can only handle so much food intake.

You need to be consistent with the timing of the bathroom breaks which will mean you will need to be trained to use a schedule as well. Never reprimand with hitting for accidents which will most likely happen during the first few weeks. You must have patience and understanding when you are housebreaking your puppy. Here is a breakdown of what you can do to be successful:

· Buy a safe, quality crate that your puppy can grow into

· Set a schedule that you can stick to that will allow for frequent bathroom breaks for your puppy

· Limit food and water before bed time and walk just before putting your puppy in the crate for the night

· Use key words to get your puppy used to the commands to go to the bathroom

· Praise your puppy for going outside and never reprimand for accidents that will happen

Please remember that your puppy is just like a baby and will need to be taught how to do everything. You will need to have patience and understanding and a lot of love.

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