My friend who has an older dog is adopting a puppy. Last week, I answered some of his concerns about introducing the two before the puppy is ready to make the move to his new home. This week, we’ll talk about an issue that will be important once the puppy is under my friend’s roof. It’s a big deal for just about every puppy and his owners—housebreaking!
For housebreaking, there is no better aid than a crate—an airline shipping kennel—the right size for your puppy. The kennel should be big enough for him to walk in (head ducked), turn around, and lie down. That’s all. Giving the puppy any more room than he needs for his small body defeats the purpose of using the crate for housebreaking. In a too-big crate, the puppy can easily use one end for sleeping and the other end for eliminating. Not what you want at all!
“I have used the crate as a way to travel only. Tuco was 12 weeks when I got him. The potty training had kind of been started. I was retired when I got him so I could keep a close eye on him. I am curious to how crating is used in the potty training.”
When traveling in a vehicle, using a crate to confine a dog safely is always the best choice. Tuco is a small dog—imagine him flying through the windshield if the car had to stop suddenly. In a crate, he is as safe as possible, especially if that crate is located in a back seat (no air bags!) and secured with a seat belt. My friend will need a crate for Tuco, his older dog, and a separate crate for Gus, the new puppy, when he travels in his car with them together.
Gus will be a tiny puppy, so he’ll need a tiny crate to start with. As he grows, he may need a bigger kennel . . . but not too much bigger, please! He does not need an en suite bathroom. Instinct tells dogs not to eliminate in their own beds. If they are given more space than they need to curl up and sleep, they use that extra space as a potty area—and often walk right through the poop and pee to leave the crate. Not good.
Instead, get the size of crate that fits your puppy now, while he is small. Your puppy may be expected to grow much bigger than little Gus (the size of a chihuahua mix), so you will also need a bigger crate as your pup puts on the pounds. I strongly urge you to check with friends and family to see if you can borrow the smaller kennel you need for the first few months after your puppy comes home. Or find an inexpensive, slightly used small kennel at a yard sale. Later, as you see what size your puppy may be when he’s full grown, invest in the size of kennel that will fit him for the rest of his life.
Use your puppy’s snug crate to help him learn that he will be eliminating outside only, not in your house. Or, possibly, that he will be eliminating only on a specific surface (potty pads) only in a specific area of your home. The crate helps you help him to avoid “mistakes.” Every “mistake” in the wrong place creates a precedent. The puppy may feel certain that if he’s eliminated there (whatever inappropriate place “there” is) once, he should eliminate there again. It’s as if he’s seeing signs that say “Pee Here” every time he passes a place he’s peed before, because—every time—he smells the evidence of the last time he went.
- Crate your puppy every moment you cannot supervise him.
- Crate your puppy every moment you know he is not empty.
- Crate your puppy at night, and whenever you leave him alone.
- Take your puppy out of the crate and bring him immediately to the place you want him to eliminate. Yes, go with him, don’t just put him outside. You are there.
(You may carry a small puppy to his potty place if you wish, to avoid his eliminating on the floor on the way, but aim him away from you, just in case he cannot hold it!)
- Praise your puppy when he eliminates in the appropriate place. If it’s outside, stay outside and play with him.
When your puppy has eliminated, he is “empty” and therefore safe to be loose inside your home, as long as you or another adult is there to supervise him. The younger the puppy, the shorter the time he may remain loose. With an eight-week-old dog, you may have only a few minutes before the pup feels the need again. As the puppy grows, so do his bladder and bowels and the muscles that control them, so it’s likely that the time he can remain loose after being emptied will grow longer. With a housebroken, healthy adult dog, it’s usual for the dog to sleep all night without having to eliminate. Yes, it takes some time to get there, but if you handle the early housebreaking well, you definitely will!
When you guess it’s time for your puppy to “feel the need” again, take him out. With Gus, the baby puppy, it could be only 15 minutes between eliminations. If the puppy does not eliminate when you take him out, bring him back inside and continue to supervise him, counting on another trip outside very soon. If the puppy does eliminate, stay outside a bit and play with him, then return inside and either crate him or continue to supervise him. It’s always best to be sure your puppy is empty before you put him in the crate. It increases your chances of success!
What if there are accidents in the house? First and foremost, do not blame the puppy. No scolding, no grumbled threats, and certainly no punishment! You knew that, right? If there are accidents, it is your fault, not your puppy’s. Figure out what you did wrong and make sure you don’t make that mistake again. (Certainly, you will make others. We all do.)
Second, once the puppy is out of sight, clean up the accidental messes with the best odor-eradicator you can buy. Not all common household products remove the smell of dog feces or urine. You may not smell them, but your puppy certainly can. Reduce the area in which the pup is allowed to be loose. Some people choose to allow the puppy only in the kitchen until his housebreaking progresses, because kitchen floors are often much easier to clean than floors in the rest of the house. Should your puppy eliminate regularly on a carpet, you will need professional cleaning with animal odors in mind. Some cleaning services use a special light to disclose all the stains so the carpet can be thoroughly cleaned and deodorized.
Remember, every time your puppy eliminates where you want him to go, you’ve increased the chances that he will eliminate there again—that is what you want. Conversely, every time your puppy eliminates in an inappropriate place, the chances he will eliminate inappropriately again are increased—that is not what you want! Because it’s much less likely that your puppy will eliminate in his own sleeping space, the crate, you increase his odds of success simply by using the crate wisely, every single time you cannot fully concentrate on supervising him.
