A Quick Guide to House Training Your Dog

Why to house train
Getting a new puppy home is exciting for the whole family and can be a wonderful experience. However finding yourself clearing up dog mess from your home a few times a day is no fun for anyone, what you need is to house train a dog. House training is possibly the most important training your dog will receive, and lays the foundations for future training and proper obedience. If done properly you can trust your new pet to be left alone without going to the toilet in the house. This gives you the opportunity, when your dog is a bit older, to go out without having to worry about being back in time to catch any messes. To start with the training process will be arduous for all parties involved but keep at it and you'll have a house trained dog in no time.

Method

If you want to house train a dog (which you will if you want a clean carpet) be prepared for some sleepless nights. When you first get your puppy home you will most likely need to take him or her out immediately. A new home is always exciting and many puppies suffer from excited weeing (they will urinate a small amount when they meet new people etc). So make sure you get your puppy out straight away to avoid any accidents to begin with.

Now every puppy is different but you can generally expect a young dog (8 to 12 weeks) to have difficulty holding their bladder for more than about two hours. What this means is that you're going to want to take your dog out to a toilet area at least every two hours to start with. When you do this try to keep them on the lead and take them to the exact area you wish them to use for toilet purposes. If you want to house train a dog properly it is advisable that every time they go you give a short command, such as 'toilet', as they begin to do their business. This allows you over time to encourage your dog to go on command. It should not be underestimated how helpful this is and it should be attempted if at all possible. Once they've completed their toilet business make sure to give them a lot of praise and perhaps a treat. This is so they get used to the idea that if they go to the toilet in this particular spot then they are rewarded.

An ongoing process

To start with you are going to want to set your alarm for a few times throughout the night. This will ensure that whilst you house train a dog there are no accidents in the house whilst you sleep. It is best to avoid any accidents if possible as the smell will encourage your dog to go to the toilet there again.
Soon you will have an idea how long your puppy can hold on, and can start to lessen the number of garden visits needed. It shouldn't be more than a couple of weeks before you can leave them through the night without a problem. Make sure you still make lots of trips to the garden and remember if your puppy does have an accident it's because you didn't take them out often enough. Keep up with this and you've learnt how to house train a dog.