By: Kelly Marshall
Submitted: 2009-04-29 14:00:56 | Word Count: 534
One of the biggest concerns that people have when they bring a dog home is whether or not they will be able to housebreak it. The question should never be whether or not the dog is going to be able to learn the rules, but rather or not the owners are going to be able to follow through with the teaching. All dogs are able to be housebroken. The size, breed, temperament, and age do not matter. You will be able to teach your dog all of the rules of the house as long as you stick with the plan and follow through at all times.
The more efficient the owners of the dog are with their training techniques, the faster they will see positive results. Many people ask about when it is really a good time to begin to housebreak a dog. Some people feel as though you should wait until the dog has gotten used to the family before you begin any sort of training procedure. Their thought process is that the dog will see that it is family and it will listen better. There is a major flaw in that line of thinking though.
[ advertisement ]
It is important to begin to housebreak a dog from day one. Before the dog ever walks through that door for the first time the rules and procedures to be used in the housebreaking should have already been planned out. If you wait until days, weeks, or months after bringing the dog home, you have set it up for failure. You have allowed the dog to think the rules of the house are one thing and then suddenly one day you wake up and change the rules. That seems a little unfair to the dog.
Decide if the dog is going to use a pee pad and if so, where it is going to be placed. A better option is the back or front yard if you have it and it is a safe area. If it is not a fenced in area then you are going to have to commit yourself to leashing the dog and taking it out each time. Even though it may feel as though it is an inconvenience to you, cleaning out messy accidents all throughout the house would probably be a lot worse.
Make sure that you are limiting when the dog is allowed its food and water. Until the dog is properly housebroken, do not leave food and water out all day long. This is because the dog is likely to snack and take drinks throughout the day which means you could be looking at potty breaks or accidents every half hour to an hour. As the dog ages, it is able to hold its bladder longer but you still should not leave food and water out all of the time. Plus, leaving the food out all of the time is an easy way to make sure that the dog becomes over weight.
When housebreaking a dog, make sure that you start from day one and that you remain consistent throughout. There are no breaks for the weekend. Your housebreaking schedule must be adhered to until the job is complete.
