The
past few days I have received several calls from dog owners with housebreaking
issues. I regularly hear from people with puppies or newly adopted, dogs but it
always astounds me when I get calls from people with dogs that have lived
with them for years and are not yet housebroken. Or even more shocking, when I
get a call like the one I got a few days ago from a man who owns five adult Maltese dogs, none of whom are housebroken. Can you imagine
the chaos?
I
thought it might be time to post the Housebreaking Basics. Housebreaking is not
that difficult once you get the hang of it. The keys are consistency and not
putting your dog in the position where they can “go” indoors. Once they have not had
any accidents for eight weeks (yes, eight continuous weeks), you can begin to
trust them indoors and unsupervised, but not before then.
Before
we get to the rules of housebreaking let me review my definition of housebroken.
I consider a dog housebroken when I can leave them alone and unsupervised,
inside a home for up to eight hours (or more) and I can trust that dog will not
urinate or defecate during that period of time. According to my definition, a dog that
you can trust “most of the time” is not housebroken. Similarly, a puppy that
has not “gone” indoors because you are taking her out every hour or so is not housebroken (But if you are doing this let me commend you on a great start to housebreaking! Keep it up!).
Because
I have such a strict definition of housebroken I need to be honest and inform
you that not all dogs can be housebroken. The good news is, the vast majority
can be.
Some dogs have physiological or health problems that will make housebreaking more difficult or even impossible. These conditions include things like irritable bowel disease, colitis, diabetes, urinary tract infections, and urinary incontinence. Also, medications like diuretics (often used for heart problems), prednisone and prednisolone (to name a few) will increase the frequency that a dog needs to urinate and/or defecate. These dogs will need to be on a stricter, and/or adjusted schedule. If you are concerned that your dog may have an underlying medical problem please do not hesitate to see a veterinarian immediately.
If
you have a puppy it is important that you understand that a dog under six months
of age may not be physiologically mature enough to be housebroken yet. Although
some puppies will be housebroken as young as 16 weeks old (this is pretty young
but I’ve seen it), most dogs will mature somewhere between four and six months of age. Just stick to the rules of housebreaking so that when your dog is
physiologically mature enough to be able to do it, the basics are in place. Barring
a physical problem, every dog over the
age of 6 months is mature enough to be housebroken.
A dog under six months age may not be physiologically mature enough to be housebroken.
Short of those very specific and very rare instances, every dog can be housebroken. Some
basic rules for housebreaking follow:
1. Spay or neuter. Unspayed/unneutered dogs are significantly more likely to
"mark" their territory. If your dog isn't already spayed or neutered,
make an appointment to do so today.
2. If you know your dog needs to “go,” don't let him free inside the house
until after he does. You’d be surprised how often people break this rule. Until
he relieves himself he can be on a short leash attached to you, in the yard or
in a small dog crate (just large
enough for him to stand and turn around in but no larger).
3. If you don't know if your dog has “gone” (because you haven't been watching
her), don't let her free inside the house until after she goes. Again, until she
relieves herself she can be on a short leash attached to you, in the yard or in
a small dog crate.
This dog crate is too large for the purpose of housebreaking because this dog could relieve herself in one corner of the crate and still have plenty of space to comfortably avoid the mess.
4.
If you know your dog has BOTH urinated AND defecated, and he does not have a
history of "marking", he may be free inside the house, but only in
small areas and only while supervised for
the first eight weeks.
5.
Take your dog to the same spot in the yard every time she “goes.” That way you
are making an association of action with place. When you bring her to the same
spot in your yard every time she “goes” she will begin to think, this is where I do my business. An added
bonus: you can save your lawn from destruction and won’t have to worry about avoiding
dog piles all over the yard, too!
6.
When you take your dog outside to “go” use a command like “go potty” or “do
your business.” Adding a command will become very useful as he becomes more reliable.
Just think of the time it will save you when you need to let him out before running
a quick errand or giving him a break on a walk.
7.
When your dog “goes” outside reward her with a reinforcing command like
"good potty" or “good business” while
she is in the act so she understands that this is what she should be doing
and where she should be doing it.
8. If you catch your dog in the act of “going” inside DO NOT punish him. I know
it’s difficult but it is not his fault he was put in a position to fail. Just take
him outside immediately (while in the
act, if necessary). Then reward him if he finishes his business outside (see #7).
What many people call a "guilty look" is really just a display of submission. This dog doesn't feel guilty, he just knows someone is mad at him and is trying to appease them.
9. NEVER punish your dog if you find that she has made a mess while you weren't
around. This is really hard for people to understand but if she doesn’t know
she needs to “go” outside then it makes sense to her to go inside. And since
she doesn’t speak English you don’t have a way to link her action with the mess
on the floor. It’s not that she doesn’t remember doing it; it’s just that she
doesn’t find it as disgusting as you do. If you yell at her or rub her nose in
it she will not understand why she is in trouble and may begin seeking out out-of-the-way
places to relieve herself to avoid getting in trouble again (this is the dog
that sneaks off to “go” behind the sofa when no one is watching). Plus, yelling
and screaming and rubbing her nose in a mess will make you seem like a crazy
person to her, which will destroy the trust she has in you and make it
difficult to teach her anything.
Follow
these rules and you’ll have one trustworthy pooch in no time!
