Success with housebreaking your puppy is the key to a lifetime of pleasurable dog ownership. Many times you will feel your puppy "came housebroken" but usually that is because the family is so attuned to watching the puppy it is taken out frequently. Everyone then relaxes because no accidents have been occurring and suddenly problems arise. It is around this time we see young dogs because owners are concerned that the pet has a urinary infection because "he is housebroken".
This following tips from dvm360.com are wonderful and have much research behind them. Good luck!
1) Every one to two hours, take the puppy outside. Puppies have high metabolisms- meaning they make a lot of urine quickly- and they have small bladders, which means they can't store all of that urine for long.
2)When the puppy is out, let it sniff a bit and do not talk. Don't just pull it away from what it's sniffing and keep walking. Sniffing is an important part of the elimination sequence in dogs!
2)When the puppy is out, let it sniff a bit and do not talk. Don't just pull it away from what it's sniffing and keep walking. Sniffing is an important part of the elimination sequence in dogs!
3) If when taking your puppy out and it is just rampantly plowing ahead sniffing, consider stopping and walking quickly back and forth. This movement simulates normal dog elimination precursor behavior.
4) Use a fixed-length short lead so you can quickly encourage your puppy and respond to its cues. You can give the puppy a small treat as it squats on a substrate you both like (e.g. grass). A reward may help encourage the association between squatting on that substrate and good experiences.
4) Use a fixed-length short lead so you can quickly encourage your puppy and respond to its cues. You can give the puppy a small treat as it squats on a substrate you both like (e.g. grass). A reward may help encourage the association between squatting on that substrate and good experiences.
5) Regardless of the frequency of your other walks, take the dog out 15 to 45 minutes after each time it eats. This is the time range for eating to stimulate intestines to move feces. Do this after all meals, as well as biscuits and rawhides, both of which will stimulate elimination.
6) WATCH for behaviors (e,g., pacing, whining, circling, sudden stopping of another behavior) that tell you the dog may be ready to eliminate. If you pick the puppy up and it starts to leak, or the act of picking up the dog starts the leak, get a cloth and clamp it to the puppy's genitals. This will help to stimulate the dog to associate inhibition of elimination with those muscle groups. Again, praise the dog as it's squatting and immediately after it's finished. Don't punish leaks.
7) Take the puppy out immediately after any play and naps or if it awakens at night.
8) Prepare for the first walk of the day by having your street clothes on before you approach a crated puppy. Puppies that have waited through the night cannot wait long once you've awakened. (Trust us!)
10) If you have an older dog that's housetrained, take it with you when you take the puppy out. Dogs learn extremely well by observing, and this may speed the process.
11) Dogs are generally faster to housetrain for defecation than urination. This may be due, in part, to the fact that puppies urinate more frequently than they defecate. For some clueless dogs, it can help to either take a urine-soaked sponge or a piece of feces to the area you'd prefer the puppy use. This may help it learn to associate the scent pattern with the area but cannot be used in the absence of the other steps noted above.
12) Don't forget to clean up feces. This allows dogs to be recognized as socially acceptable members of the community and may reduce transmission of parasites.