HOUSE TRAING COMPLETE – ALL THE STEPS ©

By Daina Beckman

Establish a Routine
• Take your dog out at the same times every day. For example, first thing in the morning, every time he wakes up, when you arrive home from work, right after eating and before you go to bed. If he is very young, you may have to get up during the night. A sort of rule of thumb is that a puppy can hold urine for is- their age plus 3-4 weeks. So if you have a 3 month old puppy, he can learn to hold his urine for about 3 ½ to 4 hours. Remember this is just a vague guideline. The time is shorter for small breeds.
• Praise your dog every time he eliminates outdoors. You can give him a treat. You must praise him during the elimination and give him a treat immediately after he has finished and not wait until after he comes back inside the house. This step is vital, because rewarding your dog for eliminating outdoors is the only way he will know that is what you want him to go. Once he is in the house or investigating other things, he will associate the praise with coming in or investigating. Your dog has a very short attention span when it comes to rewarding for behavior. Give the praise within 1-2 seconds.
• Choose a location not too far from the door to be the bathroom spot. Always take your dog
on leash directly to the bathroom spot. Take him for a walk or play with him only after he has eliminated. If you clean up an accident in the house, leave the soiled paper towels or poop in
the bathroom spot outdoors. The smell will help your dog recognize the area as the place where he is
supposed to eliminate. Take him to the same area every time.
• When you take him out, begin to say a word or phrase like “go potty,” (make sure the phrase does not rhyme with his name or any other commands) using your command tone of voice. (Not mean or aggressive, but a tone that lets him know you believe he can do it.) Once he starts to squat, start a praising tone and use it with your word or phrase… “Good boy go potty”. Continue to praise until he comes to you and then give him a treat. The continual praise creates a “bridge” between the behavior and reward so that he clearly understands what you are praising him for. Just a bit of encouragement, you will want to pull your hair out from saying go potty. It will be worth it. You have to say it over and over and over the whole time you are out until your dog starts to squat. Don’t give the command “go potty” in a frustrated, bored, angry or other negative tone because this will cause your pheromones to change and the dog will sense it. Sound encouraging. Don’t give the command then wait 10 or 20 seconds to give it again. You are trying to clarify communication. By repeating the command over and over, your dog will know he has not yet met your request. By beginning praise right away when he squats and continuing until he is finished and has come to you for his treat he will know without a doubt that go potty means eliminate bowels or bladder or both. Be very patient.
A good way to practice commands is in front of the mirror. Look and sound like you do when you talk to your dog; pretend you are talking to your dog. Does the person in the mirror emit confidence? Do they sound like a whining puppy? Do they sound and look somewhat mean? Your goal is to sound and look like “I have confidence in you that you can do this – I am a person you can trust”.
I have many of my clients try this test to see how clearly they have communicated a clear definition of a command. I like to use “sit”. The definition is fanny on the floor both front feet on the floor. If your dog clearly understands your definition of sit then he will obey the command sit from a lying down almost asleep position. Try it when you see your dog lying relaxed, just look in his direction and say sit. Do not say his name first; just say sit. Did he get up and sit? Yes? Then he clearly understands the definition of sit. NO? He does not know the definition of sit.
Clarifying communication takes consistency, consistency, consistency and lot of patients. This is why I say to repeat the “go potty” command non-stop until the dog starts to squat. If you stop saying go potty when he looks at the bush then that must be the definition- look at the bush. Now you stopped giving the command when I sniffed the ground – that must be the definition-sniff the ground. NOW you stopped saying it when I was thinking about playing. Stupid human you are too confusing I am just going to ignore you. That is what your dog will think if you are not consistent.
• Feeding your dog on a set schedule twice a day, will help make his elimination more
regular. Very young puppies need to be fed 3 times a day. Check with your veterinarian if you are not sure how often you should feed your dog. If you dog is getting up during the night, stop food and water earlier. Try picking up the water bowl say around 7:00 p.m. If that doesn’t work, try 6:30 and so on. If it is very hot, do not let your dog get dehydrated. Make sure he has had a drink before you pick up his water bowl. Adult dogs should be feed twice a day. I recommend you do not leave food down. Instead teach the dog to eat when you set the bowl of food down, and then pick it up in about 10 minutes. Feel free to email me or contact me if you have further questions about feeding twice a day.
The same will work with feeding. I have had clients that needed to feed the 2nd or dinner meal at around 3:00 p.m. so that the dog would not have to get up for bowel movements. Adjust the feeding time if you need to. The methods described in this instruction sheet should enable you to train your dogs’ bowel habits to fit your schedule. To ensure that, train your dog to have his bowel movements right after he eats. To accomplish this as soon as he is finished eating take him out to his bathroom spot on leash and start giving him your “go potty” command.
Supervise
Do not give your dog an opportunity to soil in the house. He should be watched at all times when he is indoors. Use baby gates, to keep him in the room where you are. Watch for signs that he needs to eliminate, like sniffing around, whimpering, whining, barking or circling. If you see these signs, immediately take him outside on a leash to his bathroom spot, give the command. If he eliminates, praise him lavishly and reward him with a treat.
Confinement
When you are unable to watch your dog closely, he should be confined to an area small enough that he will not want to eliminate there. It should be big enough for him to comfortably stand, lie down and turn around in. This could be a bathroom or laundry room blocked off with boxes or baby gates. He should not spend more than 1-2 hours in confinement, (less time if he is younger). Keeping your dog crated for more than and hour or so can lead to other psychological and behavioral problem. When you let him out, take him directly to his bathroom spot and praise him when he eliminates.
If your young dog or new dog has too much run of the house, it will make training harder. I always recommend gating to a room such as the kitchen or a smaller room like the bathroom, if your dog is still eliminating when gated to a larger room such as the kitchen. When your dog has gone 2 weeks without eliminating in the bathroom, try a larger room such as the kitchen. When he has gone 2 week without eliminating in the kitchen size room, then try letting him be in maybe two rooms or perhaps just the downstairs if you house is not large. When your dog has gone 2 weeks with freedom in two rooms or the down stairs and has now gone 4-6 weeks without any accidents in the house, your dog is most likely housetrained and you can try letting him have the run of the house.


UH OH
Most dogs, at some point, will have an accident in the house. You should expect this, as it is a normal part of your dog’s adjustment to his new home.
• If you catch your dog in the act of eliminating in the house, do something to interrupt him like
making a startling noise like clapping your hands (be careful not to scare him). Immediately take him to his bathroom spot, say “go potty,” praise him, and give him a treat if he finishes eliminating there.
• Do not punish your dog for eliminating in the house. If you find a soiled area, it is too late to
give a correction. Do nothing but clean it up. Rubbing your dog's nose in it, taking him to
the spot and scolding him, or any other type of punishment, will only make him afraid of you or
afraid to eliminate in your presence. Animals do not understand punishment after the fact,
even if it is only seconds later. Punishment will do more harm than good.
• Cleaning the soiled area is very important because dogs are highly motivated to continue
soiling in areas that smell like urine or feces. Do not let him watch you clean it up. This is what his mom did in the “den” and he will think he can continue to eliminate in his new den because you will clean it up.

Ouch!
Be careful that your dog does not have a painful or fearful experience during the potty training. Young dogs do not have winter coats. It can be painful to squat in snow. It can be scary during thunderstorms and fireworks. If you have a very young dog, and it is winter keep an area cleaned off where he can potty without having the snow and ice touch his bottom. If it is thundering or there are fireworks, try to make the trip out quick. If he acts scared, ignore it. Don’t baby talk to him, act like that noise is normal. Hot surfaces such as tarmac or cement can also be painful to feet, so be aware that you are not taking the puppy to a painful area.

Outside
If you use papers or puppy pads, your puppy will learn to go in the house. Even very young or very small puppies should be taught to go outside only. You can train your dog to go to a specific place in the house instead of outside, but I do not recommend it because of territorial marking behaviors that could develop and become a problem.

Other Types of Houses-soiling Problems
If you have consistently followed the housetraining procedures and your dog continues to eliminate in the house, there may be another reason for his behavior.

• Medical Problems: House soiling can often be caused by physical problems such as a urinary
tract infection or a parasite infection. Check with your veterinarian to rule out any possibility of
disease or illness.

• Submissive/Excitement Urination: Some dogs, especially young ones, temporarily lose control
of their bladders when they become excited or feel threatened. This usually occurs during
greetings, intense play or when they are about to be punished (scared the pee out of me).

• Territorial Urine-Marking: Dogs sometimes deposit urine or feces, usually in small amounts to
scent-mark their territory. Both male and female dogs do this, and it most often occurs when
they believe their territory has been invaded. Constant territorial marking can come from either insecurity or dominance. You may need the help of a professional to correct territorial marking. First, try making your dogs territory very small. Maybe 10 feet from the house and no more. It can be a daunting task to have a territory that is too large to protect. Keep walks to your yard only if your dog is marking a lot on walks.
This could also happen if you have previously owned a dog or still have a dog that previously soiled in the house. You may need to either replace or professionally clean a carpet. You need to clean down to the wood with an enzymatic cleaner in order to get it clean enough so your dog cannot smell it.

• Separation Anxiety. Dogs that become anxious when they are left alone may house soil as a
result. Usually, there are other symptoms, such as destructive behavior or vocalization but not always. If you think your dog has separation anxiety he is suffering very much, please get help for both of you. There is a rare form of separation anxiety – I call it “out of sight separation anxiety” this can be very serious and even life threatening in young puppies. The symptoms are that every time a certain person or all family members leave the room the dog will poop and pee. If your puppy is pooping multiple times when left in a room seek professional help. I have worked with puppies that have been having 10 -15 bowel movements a day due to this form of separation anxiety. That takes a lot of energy and can begin to cause damage in the bowel as well as contribute to other health issues such as dehydration, IBS, Colitis to mention a few.

• Fears or Phobias. When animals become frightened, they may lose control of their bladder
and/or bowels. If your dog is afraid of loud noises, such as thunderstorms or fireworks, he may
house soil when he is exposed to these. You may want to set up a tape recorder or video camera. The fears could be from street sweepers, mailmen, plows, garbage trucks, sirens or even stray animals coming in the yard. If your dog is eliminating out of fear, this requires the help of a specialist to help your dog build confidence in himself, trust in you, overcoming the fear, repairing the human/dog bond and clarifying the communication between dog and humans.
• Surface Preferences. When a dog has been trained to eliminate on only one type of surface,
such as newspapers or tile or cement, or has not been offered a variety of surfaces, such as being confined to a run with a concrete floor, a surface preference may develop. This can be difficult to change but is often managed by ensuring that their preferred substrate is unavailable indoors, but is available in an outdoor location. You can use baby gates, towels, blankets or rugs. I find that tarps work great to cover the desired surface. You will need to provide the desired surface out side. Say it is carpet. In that case, you would start with a piece of carpet depending on the size of your dog, say 4 foot by 4 foot. Every week cut ½ foot off each side. Really praise your dog when he goes on the grass or sniffs around on the grass like he my be considering using it. Do not give the command go potty when your dog goes to the carpet, only when he is on the grass. If he goes to the carpet ignore him do not say anything, do not give the go potty command. If he goes potty on the carpet, tell him good boy go potty, but not enthusiastically. If he goes on the grass make a party out of your praise, be very enthusiastic. (Dogs love a praise party)


Daina Beckman
Dog Behavior Specialist/Dog Trainer
Happy Tails Dog Behavior & Training
www.gooddogcentral.com
www.dogpsychologyhelp.com
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