# housebreaking



## rousseau (Oct 5, 2011)

Help! I'm getting my puppy this weekend and I don't know the first thing about housebreaking him. Any ideas? He'll be 9 weeks when I pick him up on Sunday.


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## ironman_stittsville (Oct 12, 2011)

We had very good luck by doing this:

- control the feeding. feed her 3 times per day and try to put her out and watch her every 15 mins after eating/drinking until she is empty.

- in the evening i would take her out every 30 mins just in case. just a quick out/in and see if she has anything to drop off.

- i also tagged it by saying "go pee" when she was circling her landing zone. this allows me to prompt her right before going into the vet or going to bed.

- we also used a crate when we couldn't watch her (but no longer than 3 hours in there at a time). this helped her to learn to hold it in until a backyard visit was possible.

good luck,
rh.


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## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

When you take her out of the car the first time, put her on the spot you want her to pee. After that, anytime she stops doing anything, it is time to take her outside to that spot. Finished eating - go outside. Finished playing - go outside. Finished napping - go outside. I agree with rh, tagging the action to a word helped us, too.

Finally, set the expectation in your mind that the first few weeks are about training you to recognize the signs when your puppy needs to go outside. After you are trained, the puppy will start to catch on.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Another tip -- and I think this is a very important one -- When your pup goes outside, be sure to praise him lavishly. Throw a party right there in the yard. YAY!! YAY!! Such a good boy!! Good boy! Hooray!! Use a very happy voice. I know it sounds corny, but it works. Puppies are very innocent little creatures, but they recognize a happy voice. ;D

Others have offered you very good advice, as well. Remember to be extremely vigilant. Make it your top priority and it won't take long. And the single most important word to bear in mind: PATIENCE. Don't get mad and yell, ever. Just praise like crazy when you get the behavior you want.


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## KonasPop (Aug 9, 2011)

Second all the advice given.

Just remember the napping one too...everyone remembers to set the timer for 10-15min for the after eating one, but right when the pups get up from naps its time to go - guaranteed. No drinking before bed either - at least 2hrs. 

'go pee' is good for those cold winter days when she's older and you dont want to step outside!!!


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## Kobi (Oct 26, 2010)

Just my personal experience, I had to carry my puppy from the crate to to the door when I got home, otherwise he'd have pee everywhere before I got his leash on him and the door opened. Might be something to keep in mind just in case!


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## ironman_stittsville (Oct 12, 2011)

I hear you Kobi. I always got my Phoebe outside quickly also. Fortunately we have a back yard so I could get her out there right away without having to worry about the leash. Sometimes the excitement of our return was too much and I ended up rushing a 'sprinkler' out the door


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## Suliko (Sep 17, 2011)

Everyone's already offered great advice. Around 4 months, our Sophie actually started showing us that she needed to go, but we failed to notice it at first! She'd come up and wouldn't play, just sit and stare at us. If we didn't pay attention to it, she actually tinkled just enough to make us grab her and rush outside. So, if Sophie peed inside, I actually blamed ourselves for not paying enough attention to her! Watch for signs!


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## KonasPop (Aug 9, 2011)

second the carrying - did that for the first month or so becuase of our house layout and timing...pick her up from the crate at 3:30am, stumble down stairs, plop her in grass (after wrestling with locked/barred patio slide door), shiver in shorts (Feb CO), pick her back up so she would stay sleepy and put her back up in kennel. 

Wow...don't miss that at all...


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## tanners_mama (Sep 22, 2011)

ironman_stittsville said:


> Sometimes the excitement of our return was too much and I ended up rushing a 'sprinkler' out the door


This totally made me LOL ;D As I am all too familiar with Tanner the sprinkler. I always did the carry thing especially in the beginning. Then once I stopped carrying, he knew exactly where to go. Now that he is almost 4 months, we just started with the training bell technique, as watching him 100% of the time is not always the easiest. He has caught on very quick, and nudges the bells on the door when he has to go out.


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## Cavedog (Oct 21, 2010)

Cut off food and water 2 hours before bed time. This will help your pup make it through the night.


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## Linescreamer (Sep 28, 2010)

Yes. Read ALL the posts on this site and get a good book and read that. Good luck!


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