Many dogs are given away every year or left at shelters and dog pounds because the owner became too frustrated over failing to house train their puppy or dog. When a dog does not house train it is NOT the fault of the dog. It is always the human that is at fault, many times through misunderstanding the dog. When someone gives away a dog usually between the ages of four months and a year, do not be surprised when that young dog goes to it's new home with house training issues. More often than not, the person getting the dog is not informed of the dogs house training problems and finds out after they have become attached to the new canine member of their family. In order for a puppy or dog to be consistent in house training, the puppy or dog must understand what is expected of it. All house training problems stem from the canine NOT understanding the owner's desires. I hope the following information helps clear up house training confusion for both canine and human!

Here is a condensed list of directions for training your dog to potty in the yard.

-Walk your dog on a six to ten foot leash to the same spot in the yard every time. Use a leash always so your puppy learns pottying is a job not just for fun. If your puppy tries to play with you or tug on the leash, stand on the end of the leash and look away from the puppy. He or she will get bored after a bit and stop.


- Take a smelly soft treat with you for a reward.

- Tell your dog to "Go Potty" or something close to that ! (do not say "outside) Save that for when you take your puppy or dog out to play.

- Praise your dog as he or she goes to the potty. Follow up immediately with the tasty treat. Then turn and take your dog inside.

- Keep your dog supervised at all times inside your home with limited freedom.

- If your dog does not relieve himself outside in 5 to 10 minutes and you are sure he must go (after eating dinner or a long period of time between potty breaks), bring him inside and crate him for 20 minutes. Repeat the trip outside with treats on a leash again. Do this until the dog does go outside.

The information listed below will help you understand fact from fiction or just poor advice that may have been given to you before now which can contribute to house training problems. Please take the time to read it thoroughly.

1. Dogs are not People and are incapable of behaviors like "getting even" or "spite". They are though far above people when it comes to noticing body language, voice tones and body postures of angry owners. Owners even have an ANGRY WALK the dog can hear coming from around the corner. This is why many people mistake behaviors and canine body language. Dogs do not show "guilt". They do remember an owners behavior the last time the owner saw urine on the rug and for some unknown reason to the dog punished the dog because the urine was on the rug. The next time the dog urinates on the same rug when the owner is not around the dog will run and hide if he does hear the owner coming. The dog does not understand why, but remembers if urine is on the rug the owner punishes the dog. When the owner comes upon the rug newly soiled and finds the dog hiding under the bed, wrongly, the owner decides the dog urinated on the rug in spite of knowing he was not allowed to do so. Now if the owner caught the dog just BEFORE he urinated on the rug and stopped the dog or even as the dog was urinating on the rug then led the dog outside to finish (where the dog received a reward for urinating outside) then the dog will understand the owner is very happy when the dog does his duty outside and even rewards the dog on the spot with a tasty treat!


2. If your dog soils in the house at all , (once or twice a week or every few weeks) he is NOT house trained. In cases like this the once or twice ever few weeks turns into once or twice a week then once or twice a day. Stop and begin from the beginning with housetraining your dog. This time do not drop the ball with housetraining and give the dog too much freedom too soon.


3. Dogs that are not housetrained correctly from a young age can be more difficult to successfully house train. Poor potty manners can become a learned behavior and take longer to totally correct. But, potty training CAN be done with a committed and consistent owner.


4. Dogs live in the moment. If you do not see the dog soiling inside the house DO NOT PUNISH or CORRECT the dog! They would have no idea why your so upset about the soiled area. Do NOT drag your dog or puppy to a soiled area and rub his nose in it.!! This does not achieve anything more than frightening and confusing your dog. This owner behavior leads to dogs attempting to hide their urine or stool by leaving and going to a room the owner is not in. This also adds to more problems if the dog is given too much freedom before they are house trained. If you walk into a room and find a soiled area, remember not to correct the dog as it is your fault for giving a dog not consistent in house training behavior too much unsupervised freedom. You do not have to keep your dog caged at all times to supervise it. Simply put your dog or puppy on a short leash and keep him or her with you! In this way you should catch any mistakes before the dog has them or while he is having them and stop him. But at the same time your puppy or dog can be with you and be able to learn proper behavior for in the house. This includes chewing things they should not chew, or taking items they should not have. If your dog is leashed with you he will learn much more than he would if caged alone in another room. The dog would also be much happier to be with you. If you give your dog a treat when he goes back into the house after pottying outside, it has NOTHING to do with pottying outside. Instead your dog thinks he gets a treat for re-entering your home. To clarify the treat is for pottying in the yard, you must give the treat to the dog in the yard immediately after he potties. Save the tastiest treats for house training to motivate your dog more.

5. Leaving your dog gated off in another room (as a kitchen or large laundry room) may contribute to long term house training issues. Some of the time dogs can figure things out when gated off, more often though, dogs left like this tend to feel they can go to the potty in those rooms and sometime all over the owner's home. Every time your dog has an accident and you are not there to stop or correct it in the moment, the chances increase for continued house training difficulty for one reason or another. If you would like more information in paper training your dog or litter box training your dog go to: Behavior Modificaton. Litter box training and paper training dogs can be successful if done in the correct way. Unfortunately most owners do not understand how to do this and end up with dogs that soil in the house all of the time. Your dog needs to spend time in the same rooms as you do in order to learn proper behavior in those rooms. A dog left in separate rooms can become anxious and behave incorrectly when finally given some freedom with the owner. This is not an attempt to be "bad" by your dog but a way to act out anxiety instead. Your dog is a pack animal, a social animal and desires to be with you in your home.

6. Do not leave your puppy caged or crated for long periods of time. This can lead to the puppy soiling in that cage. If your dog can hold it for 8 hours it does not translate into a good or healthy thing for that dog or puppy. A cage that is too large for your puppy can lead to your puppy using part of it for a potty area and the other part a sleeping area. Full time workers that are gone from home for 8 hours or more at time should arrange for a pet service or family member to go to your home and let your puppy out to relieve himself and feed the puppy if need be. If this cannot be done, then you must set up an area for your puppy to relieve itself in if you will be gone for 8 hours. I must stress that I do not feel any puppy should be left alone for 8 hours a day. A puppy needs company and someone or another animal in the least to help comfort it as well as someone to stimulate the puppies mind. The first few months of a puppies life help form the adult you will have for many years. For more advise on this, see:  Behavior Modification our behavior modification and training form.

7. Tying your dog or puppy outside will not teach it to potty outside. A dog must be taught a command for potty just as one would teach a "sit" or "down" command. You must be PRESENT in order to teach your dog what is expected of it. If your dog does potty outside when it is tied there, it still may not understand YOU want it to potty outside and NOT inside. Owners must be with the dog at the time in order to teach this behavior.

8. Feed your dog a premium (meat as the first ingredient) brand of dog food. Corn based foods will cause your puppy or dog to leave much more waste "stool" for you to clean up. This also causes dogs to have to defecate more often. A dog that has to "go" more often can have even more mistakes in the house. Feed your dog on a schedule. If you feed your dog on a schedule there is a better chance to figure out your dogs potty schedule and a higher chance of success in potty training. Dogs fed "freely" more often become picky eaters or over weight. It is more difficult to monitor how much food your dog eats when free feeding.

9. NEVER hold water back from your puppy or dog. Leave water somewhere in the house your dog has access to (like your kitchen), but preferably not in its cage. A dog caged can drink out of boredom if caged or play in the water. Dogs that have water held back tend to drink much more water too quickly when they are finally offered water. If water is available to your dog at all times it will most likely only drink when it needs to as there is no fear of the water being taken away. Puppies drink more water because they play more! Would you tell your six year old he or she could not have a glass of water after playing hard outside? Do you need hydrated after hard exercise or physical activity? Then, would you find it hard to understand a dog could desire water for the same reason? At the very least when house training your puppy do not take the water away until late in the evening (if your house s air conditioned during the hot summer months). Today, more puppies and dogs are developing bladder or urinary infections. Nature tells a dog to drink more water to cleanse the kidneys when this happens. If your dog seems to be drinking water much more often and for no reason you can think of it may have a bladder infection. This can also contribute to house training problems. If this is the case or you see this symptom, take your dog to the vet to be checked. Do not limit your dogs water!

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