Housebreaking a dachshund puppy (or any other puppy) requires
a bit of dedication until the pup figures out what you want
and finds that it is worth his while to do what you want.
You must be consistent and patient. None of the old "rub
his nose in it" stuff.
A puppy will naturally have to potty after he eats, when he
first wakes up, after he drinks and in the middle of a long
play session.
You need a pet crate (from a pet store) to train him. At night, remove his food and
drink at 5 PM so he won't have anything going thru his system
to wake him up early. Take him out right before you go to
bed and then put him to bed in his crate--with a towel in
the bottom of it. Our pups normally arise at 5:45. Set your
alarm for 5:45 and bundle up. Ring a jingle bell that you
have hung on a long string on the door knob so that it is
a couple of inches from the ground. The bell is on the door
that you always exit from to go potty. Say excitedly "Let's
go out!"
Take him to the place in your yard that you want to be the
bathroom. Put him down and say with enthusiasm "Potty,
potty". He will jump up on you and want to be picked
up. Ignore that. Stand still, and he will give up and probably
wander over and "go potty". When he does, you become
excited and praise him. "Good potty. Good potty"
and pick him up and tell him he is wonderful. Give him a tiny
piece of cheese. Then put him down and wait for a bowel movement.
If he does not do one, pick him up and take him back inside
and RETURN HIM TO HIS CRATE. Give him some food that has had
warm water put on it. He will probably eat right then and
when he eats, it will stir up his system and he will need
to have a bowel movement. Take him from the crate, jingle
the bell again and say "Let's go out". and repeat
what you did the first time you went out. If he does not have
a bowl movement then and you get tired of waiting, go back
inside and RETURN HIM TO HIS CRATE. Leave him there until
he says "Hey, take me out. I gotta go". Take him
to the door, ring the bell, say "Let's go potty"--and
same old instructions.
HE MUST NOT SET FOOT ON THE FLOOR AFTER HE WAKES UP UNTIL
HE HAS TINKLED AND POOED outside. Be consistent. Don't expect
him to tell you yet that he wants to go out, because he won't.
If you bring him in and let him run around, he will sneak
to the back bed room (which he figures no one cares about)
and potty. You will be left waiting, he will have relieved
himself and you will have lost that training time of reinforcement.
You will also find a lot of doo doo in the back bedroom.
Every time he does something good, reward him with praise
and a tiny piece of cheese--the size of a dried pea. There
is no need to buy expensive treats--they will perform for
tiny pieces of cheapest hot dog or cheese.
This method will work but you must be dedicated. Don't count
on the kids to do it. You want the dog trained as soon as
possible, so do it yourself. SOME very clever dogs will soon
jingle the bell to let you know they want to go potty and
receive a reward. The dog thinks he is training YOU. Your
older dog may take to ringing the bell!!
You can not just stick the puppy out doors for five minutes
by himself and then bring him in. He will save "it"
and potty in the house immediately. You must go out and STAND
NEAR him. Winter is an ideal time to train a pup. They want
to get it over with and go back inside, just like you do.
Have you coat and hat and mittens ready to jump into so you
will be warm and patient. Of course he'll be cold, so he will
hurry. Now don't stand out there in the freezing cold if the
pup absolutely refuses and is in danger of catching cold.
If this is the case, but a towel in your bath tub, put him
into the tub, and he will probably go there right away. But
don't give up on going outside. Go there first. No treat for
pottying in the tub--just for outside. They will learn the
difference.
Try all this just as I have outlined before you call me when
the pup is six months old and has ruined your carpet.
Q. What are the best methods for housebreaking a puppy?
A.
If your dog is going to live inside the home, and in America
over 90% of our pets do, you are going to have to go through
the housebreaking process unless you have grossly different
hygienic standards than most. It is not hard, it need not
be messy, and it need not be a struggle. It does not have
to take a long time. Remember that it is a training issue
and you will need to have more than casual input. It will
take some of your time but the more involved you get, the
shorter that span will be.
The Rules
Housebreaking Rule Number One: This is The Most
Important Rule – If you don’t catch your puppy doing it
- then don’t punish him for it!
Housebreaking Rule Number Two: Praise your puppy
when things go right. Don’t let this be a situation where
your only action is saying "No" when they are
caught in the midst of using the wrong area. If they do
it right – let them know!
Methods of housebreaking
Starting Inside: There are several ways to housebreak a
puppy. With the first, you can put down papers or pretreated
pads, encouraging them to use these areas for going to the
bathroom. The pads are scented with a chemical that attracts
the puppy to use them. Whenever you see them starting into
their "pre-potty pattern," such as walking around
and sniffing the floor, you gently pick them up without
talking and carry them over to the papers/pad and then praise
them when they go to the bathroom (Rule 2).
When all goes well and they are using the papers consistently,
the papers are either moved closer to the door and/or another
set is placed outside. The transition is made from concentrating
the toilet habits to one spot inside the home to one spot
outside the home. Finally, the papers inside are eliminated.
The only problem with this method is that for a period of
time it encourages the animal to eliminate inside the home.
In our experience, housebreaking may take longer when this
method is used.
Crate Training: The second popular method of housebreaking
involves the use of a crate or cage. The often-stated reasoning
is that the animal is placed in a cage that is just large
enough to be a bed. Dogs do not like to soil their beds
because they would be forced to lay in the mess. It works,
and while in these confines, most pups will control their
bladder and bowels for a longer time than we would expect.
Young puppies, at 8 or 9 weeks of age can often last for
7 or 8 hours, however, we would never recommend leaving
them unattended in a crate for that long in most circumstances.
During housebreaking, whenever the puppy is inside the
home but cannot be watched, he is placed in the crate. This
might be while you are cooking, reading to the children,
or even away from the home. The last thing you do before
you put the puppy in the crate is take him outside to his
favorite spot. The first thing you do when you take the
animal out of the crate is another trip outside. No food
or water goes in the crate, just a blanket and maybe a chew
toy to occupy his time. Overnight is definitely crate time.
As your faith in the puppy grows, leave him out for longer
and longer periods of time.
Most people do not recognize an important advantage of
crate training. It does more than just stop the animal from
messing in the house. It also teaches the puppy something
very important. The puppy learns that when the urge to urinate
or defecate occurs, he can hold it. Just because the pup
feels like he needs to relieve himself, the pup learns that
he does not have to. This is thought to be the main reason
why puppies that have gone through crate training have fewer
mistakes later on.
Make sure you buy the right size cage. You want one that
has the floor space that provides just enough for the puppy
to lie down. But cages are useful throughout a dog’s life
and it would be nice if you did not have to keep buying
more as he grows. That is not necessary. Simply purchase
a cage that will be big enough for him as an adult, but
choose a model that comes with or has a divider panel as
an accessory. With these, you can adjust the position of
the panel so that the space inside the cage available to
the pet can grow as he does.
Using too large of a crate can often cause long term problems.
The puppy will go to one corner of the cage and urinate
or defecate. After a while, he will then run through it
tracking it all over the cage. If this is allowed to continue,
the instincts about not soiling his bed or lying in the
mess will be forgotten and the puppy will soon be doing
it every day when placed in the crate. Now a housebreaking
method has turned into a behavioral problem as the puppy’s
newly-formed hygienic habits becomes his way of life.
Constant Supervision: The last method involves no papers,
pads, or crates. Rather, you chose to spend all the time
necessary with the puppy. This works very well for people
who live and work in their homes, retired persons, or in
situations where the owners are always with the animal.
Whenever they see the puppy doing his "pre-potty pattern"
they hustle him outside. It is important that the dog is
watched at all times and that no mistakes are allowed to
occur. This method has less room for error, as there is
nothing like a cage to restrict the animal’s urges, nor
is there a place for him to relieve himself such as on the
papers or pad. When he is taken outside, watch the puppy
closely and as soon as all goes as planned, he should be
praised and then brought back inside immediately. You want
the dog to understand that the purpose for going outside
was to go to the bathroom. Do not start playing, make it
a trip for a reason. Verbal communications help this method
and we will discuss them soon. For those with the time,
this is a good method. We still recommend having a crate
available as a backup when the owners have to be away from
the animal.
Verbal cues
Specific verbal communications will also help the two of
you understand what is desired. It is an excellent idea
to always use a word when it is time to head to the bathroom.
We like "Outside?" Remember that whenever you
use a verbal command or signal, it is important that everybody
in the family always uses the same word in the same way.
Think of the word "Outside" in this situation
not only as a question you are asking the pup, but also
as an indication that you want to go there. Some dogs may
get into the habit of going to the door when they want to
go outside. This is great when it happens but it is not
as common as some believe. We have found that it is better
to use verbal commands to initiate this sort of activity
rather than waiting for the puppy to learn this behavior
on his own. It seems like your consistent use of a word
or phrase like "Outside" will cause the puppy
to come to you rather than the door when he needs to go
outside. The pup quickly sees you as part of the overall
activity of getting to where he needs to go. We believe
this is much better.
Once outside, we try to encourage the pup to get on with
the act in question. We use the phrase "Do your numbers."
This is probably a holdover from our own parenthood and
hearing children use the "Number 1" or "Number
2" phrases. Others use 'Do It,' 'Potty,' or 'Hurry
Up.' As soon as they eliminate, it is very important to
praise them with a "Good Dog" and then come back
inside immediately. Again, make this trip that started outside
with a specific word "Outside" be for a purpose.
If we are taking the pup out to play with a ball or go for
a walk we will not use this word even if we know they will
eliminate while we are outside.
When an 'accident' happens
One of the key issues in housebreaking is to follow Rule
Number One: If you do not catch your puppy doing it, then
do not punish him for it! We do not care what someone else
may tell you or what you read, if you find a mess that was
left when you were not there, clean it up and forget it.
Discipline will not help because unless you catch the puppy
in the act, he will have no idea what the scolding is for.
Your puppy has urinated and defecated hundreds of times
before he met you. Mom or the breeder always cleaned it
up. Nobody made a fuss before and the pup will not put the
punishment, regardless of its form, together with something
he has done without incident numerous times before. Especially
if he did it more than 30 seconds ago! Puppies are just
like our children. Unless something was really fun (and
a repetitious act like going to the bathroom is not), they
are not thinking about what they did in the past. They are
thinking about what they can do in the future. At this point
in his life a puppy’s memory is very, very poor.
Anyway, let us face it. It was your fault, not the pup's.
If you had been watching, you would have noticed the puppy
suddenly walking or running around in circles with his nose
down smelling for the perfect spot to go to the bathroom.
It is just as consistent as the taxi cab driver behind you
honking immediately when the light changes. The puppy will
show the same behavior every time. It may vary a little
from pup to pup but they always show their own "pre-potty
pattern" before the act.
The same should be said as to your first reaction when
you actually catch them in the act of urinating or defecating.
It is your fault, you were not watching for or paying attention
to the signals. Do not get mad. Quickly, but calmly pick
them up and without raising your voice sternly say "No."
Carry them outside or to their papers. It will help to push
their tail down while you are carrying them as this will
often help them to stop urinating or defecating any more.
They are going to be excited when you get them outside
or to the papers, but stay there with them a while and if
they finish the job, reward them with simple praise like
"Good Dog."
Housebreaking Rule Number One: If you don’t catch your
puppy doing it, then don’t punish him for it!
In the disciplining of dogs, just like in physics, every
action has a reaction and for training purposes these may
not be beneficial! If you overreact and severely scold or
scare the heck out of a puppy for making what is in your
mind a mistake, your training is probably going backwards.
With housebreaking this is especially difficult for them
to understand as they are carrying out a natural body function.
Carried one step farther is the idea of rubbing a puppy’s
nose into a mistake he made, whether you caught him or not.
In the limits of a puppy’s intelligence, please explain
to us the difference of rubbing his nose in his mess he
left in your kitchen an hour ago versus the one the neighbor’s
dog left in the park two weeks ago. If the dog were smart
enough to figure all of this out, the only logical choice
would be to permanently quit going to the bathroom. Punishment
rarely speeds up housebreaking. Often, it makes the dog
nervous or afraid every time it needs to go to the bathroom.
We will give you a perfect example of how this kind of
disciplining causes long-term problems between a dog and
his owner. A client makes an appointment to discuss a housebreaking
problem. They are hoping that on physical exam or through
some testing we can find a medical reason for the animal’s
inability to successfully make it through housebreaking.
They readily admit their frustration with the dog. The fecal
and urine tests reveal no problem. We assumed that would
be the case and have no intention of charging for those
services. In the examination room, the pup is showing a
lot more interest in the veterinarian than he is in his
owners. The animal’s eyes are almost saying, "Please
kidnap me from them." When the owner reaches down to
pet the dog on his head, the pup reflexively closes his
eyes and turns his head to the side. The dog reacts as if
he were going to be hit. What this tells us is that the
dog has been punished for making messes in the owners’ absence.
During this punishment the puppy is not, and we repeat,
the puppy is not thinking about what he might have done
two hours ago. He is not thinking that he should not make
messes in the house. The animal is not even thinking about
the messes.
The classic line that usually goes with this scenario then
comes up "When we get home we know he has made a mess
because he always sulks or runs and hides!" The dog
is not thinking about some mistake he may have made. Rather,
the pup has learned that when the people first get home,
for some reason he has yet to figure out, they are always
in a bad mood and he gets punished. The puppy has decided
that maybe he would be better to try to avoid them for awhile
so he does try to hide. In this particular case, discipline,
misunderstood by the puppy, has caused him to fear his owners
and this will probably affect their relationship throughout
the life of the dog.
If you want housebreaking to go quickly, regardless of
the method you use, spend as much time as possible with
your puppy. In an exam room, one of us once listened to
a client complain about how he had to take some time off
from work for his own mental health and also, but unrelated,
how the puppy was not doing too well in the housebreaking
department. For us this statement was just too good to be
true. It was the perfect set-up for our pitch. This gentleman,
a bachelor, truly loved his puppy. We saw them together
everywhere. Still, the problem was that he worked in a downtown
office and the pup was home. His work allowed him to get
home frequently but not always on a consistent schedule.
There would be accidents when he was gone and sometimes
he was gone longer than the abilities or the attention span
of the puppy.
The solution was easy. We simply suggested his health and
the puppy’s training would both do better if he stayed home
for a week or so. It worked. Under the man’s watchful eye,
he was always there at the time when he was needed and in
less than seven days the ten-week-old puppy was trained.
We are not saying there was never another accident, but
they were few and far between. In the end, the best of all
worlds occurred. The man realized his dog could be trusted,
and thereafter, they spent their days together at the man’s
office.
Feeding and housebreaking
The feeding schedule you use can help or hinder housebreaking.
You will soon notice that puppies will need to go outside
soon after they wake and also within 30 to 40 minutes after
eating. Be consistent when you feed the animal so you can
predict when they need to relieve themselves. Plan your
trips outside around these patterns.
All of this may seem simple, and it really is. The keys
are that it will take time and you must be consistent. And,
of course, you must never lose your temper or even get excited.
Spontaneous or submissive urination
Puppies may spontaneously urinate when excited. This may
be when they first see you, at meeting a new dog, or when
they are scared. It is often referred to as submissive or
excitement urination. Do not discipline the puppy for this,
as it is something they cannot control. Simply ignore it
and clean up the mess. If you do not overreact, they will
usually outgrow this between 4 and 7 months of age.
Summary
Your new puppy is home and you have started the housebreaking
process. This is just as much a part of training as the
"Come" and "Stay" commands. However,
mistakes that occur with housebreaking can cause more problems
between you and your pet than those encountered with any
other form of training. Be patient and stay calm.
© 2001 Drs. Foster & Smith, Inc.
Reprinted as a courtesy and with permission from PetEducation.com
(http://www.PetEducation.com)
On-line store at http://www.DrsFosterSmith.com
Free pet supply catalog: 1-800-323-4208
