Tips for Housebreaking your Puppy

When you first bring a puppy home, remember that the environment is new to the puppy. To make things worse, the puppy is separated from its parents since young. So it may feel insecure. Obviously, one would expect the first few weeks to be rough for both the puppy and the owner. But it is the responsibility of the new owner (which is you) to help the puppy adjust to its new home. Your first challenge is to housebreak the puppy.

If you are using a crate as a housebreaking tool, you may experience lots of resistance from the puppy in the beginning. The puppy may whine, bark, and do anything in its power to attract attention so that it can get out of the crate. This is where you must remind yourself not to grow angry or impatient with the puppy. Growing angry will not help the situation in any way.

Instead, try to spend more time with the puppy, even though it is in the crate. Let the puppy know that you are not neglecting it. Your presence will help calm the puppy. Once the puppy starts to quiet down, immediately heap tons of praise on the puppy. This is to let the puppy know that it is doing something right. You may even reward the puppy with some dog biscuits if you like.

Remember, the goal of using the crate is to help the puppy cultivate good habits. It is not meant to torture the puppy. So don't use it for the wrong reasons. Some owners use the crate simply because they don't have time for the puppy. That means they are using the crate as a kind of prison for the puppy. In such cases, a puppy may become angry and rebellious, and may even refuse to go into the crate the next time round.

Also, it is natural for a young pup to want to urinate several times a day (once every two or three hours). If it is kept indoors most of the time, that means there is a very high chance that it will urinate in someplace that you don't want it to.

A puppy that is undergo housebreaking training may try to get your attention when it needs to let go. You may start to feel irritated by the constant attention that a young pup needs. Sometimes, before you can attend to the pup and remind it of its proper urinating location, the pup starts urinating without waiting for you.

When such situations arise, resist the urge to lose your temper with the puppy. Such situations are actually quite common in the early phases of housebreaking.

If you ever find yourself starting to get angry with your puppy, try reminding yourself that this is young pup trying its best to get used to a new environment. Moreover, all habits need time to cultivate. So give yourself, and your pup more time to pick up the habits. In time to come, your puppy will reward you with fine companionship.