Breeders

Litters

HOUSEBREAKING

UNDERSTANDING BATHROOM BEHAVIOR
Most puppy "accidents" come from poor communication between owner and pet. Puppies do not instinctively know the difference between indoors and outdoors for going to the bathroom. Left to themselves, they will pick a spot away from their eating and sleeping area to eliminate and later return to that area by its scent. Most homes are big enough that if a puppy is left to roam, it will find a location and soon begin soiling the house. Confining the puppy to one room fails because the puppy establishes a "den" area for feeding and sleeping with all other areas fair game for eliminations. Problems arise when puppy owners are gone for long stretches at a time.

Puppies learn where not to go when they are caught in the act, and immediately taken to where they are supposed to go. Even catching a puppy a minute or two after the fact is too late! If the puppy is punished when you get home, it will only learn to fear your arrival, and will associate it with punishment. This is why many owners say their dogs look guilty and must know what they have done, when in reality the puppy is only putting two and two together and anticipating punishment upon your arrival.

HOW TO HOUSEBREAK YOUR PUPPY
No matter what method of housebreaking you choose, it takes persistence, consistency and patience to housebreak a puppy. While each pup has it's own time table before it can be pronounced housebroken, crate training your puppy is the easiest, fastest, and most effective way to housebreak your puppy. The following suggestions on crate training are not meant as a permanent lifestyle for your rottweiler, rather they are a means of surviving the first few months of puppyhood!

• Your puppy should be within your direct line of sight when out of it's crate. Don't allow your puppy to roam the house without you watching it. Anytime you cannot watch your pup's every move, it must be confined to a crate (see crate training).
• The puppy must be taken outside to the same area every time to go to the bathroom.
• Puppies do not innately know how to eliminate on command. That you are late for work, have other things to do, or that you are getting eaten alive by mosquitos does not make a difference. Accept the fact that you will need to spend some time outside with your puppy until it goes to the bathroom. Plan for it, prepare for it and enjoy it!
• Paper training should be avoided. If you want your puppy to eliminate outside, then that's where it should be trained to go every time. Otherwise your puppy will learn to use your house as it's toilet.
• The puppy must be taken out first thing every morning. Not after a cup of coffee, not after watching the news, not after taking a shower. This includes Saturday and Sunday mornings!
• The puppy must be taken out just before going to bed.
• The must be taken out within 5 minutes after each meal.
• The puppy must be taken out immediately after drinking water or play.
• The puppy must be taken out after waking from a nap.
• A puppy can only "hold it" for very short periods of time. A good rule of thumb is that a puppy will need to eliminate every x number of hours, with x being the age of the puppy in months., plus one. (i.e. a 2 month old puppy will need to eliminate every 3 hours, a 7 month old puppy will need to go at least every 8 hours). The maximum period an adult dog should be allowed to hold it is 8 hours.
• The puppy should be lavishly praised every time it goes to the bathroom outside. Make a huge deal out it doing the right thing!
• Puppies will usually start sniffing and circling when they are ready to go. If you see this behavior inside, immediately take it outside.
• If you catch your puppy in the act of eliminating in the house, do not ever hit it or yell at it. A firm "No!" or "Uh-uh!" is the only correction your puppy should receive, and it should then be rushed outside and praised when it finishes. Discovering an elimination even a minute or two after the fact is too late for any type of correction to take place as your puppy will not know what it is being corrected for.
• If your puppy has eliminated in the house and you did not catch it in the act, you can only blame yourself, not your puppy. You were simply not watching your pup closely enough or taking it outside often enough.
• A puppy should not be left outside without direct supervision. not only can pups easily get into danger or trouble when unsupervised, but if you are not watching your puppy, you won't be able to praise it when it does go to the bathroom outside, and then it will learn nothing about proper toileting behavior.
• If your pup eliminates in the house, make sure you clean it up very well and use vinegar or even better, a commercial enzymatic cleaner such as Nature's Miracle to get rid of the odor. Even though you may not be able to smell it, your puppy can, and this smell is a trigger to go in the house again.

With proper patience, consistency and persistence, expect that it will take 2-3 months to train your puppy to consistently do the right thing on it's own.

This article was written by DRCMA member Audrey Bye. It is used with the author's permission and may not be distributed, copied or reproduced without the written consent of the author. © 2005 Audrey Bye, All rights reserved.