DOG WILLING Potty Training

The key is supervision. Whenever your puppy is not under your direct supervision, he should be crated. That doesn’t mean your puppy should spend most of his time in the crate. He should be spending as much time as possible interacting with you.

At most, your puppy should be spending the night and part of your work-day in the crate. If you can’t make it home during the day to take him out, it would be best if you tried to arrange for a sitter or dog-walker.

Your puppy can hold his bladder, at most, his age in months + 1. For example, if your puppy is 2 months old, he can possibly hold it 3 hours. If he is 5 months old, he can possibly go 6 hours. In general, the smaller the dog, the longer it takes for him to develop control.

Some pups can hold their bladder overnight, while they’re sleeping. If your puppy can, consider yourself one of the lucky ones! If not, plan on getting up and taking him outside whenever he gets restless. If you don't, and he is unable to hold it, he will have no choice but to go in his crate - and that will not only make a mess to clean up, but teach him that it's acceptable to eliminate in his "den." This will greatly impact your housetraining.

When you catch your puppy in the act, distract him with a neutral (not angry) sound, and scoop him outside as soon as possible. If you don’t catch him, don’t do anything. Just clean it up. Always use an enzyme cleaner or your puppy will still be able to smell it, and be drawn back to the same spot.

If you discipline your puppy for housebreaking mistakes, it can backfire on you. Your puppy doesn’t understand “Mommy/daddy doesn’t want me to go here.” He thinks you don’t want him to GO. That can result in your puppy sneaking off to hide it, and may cause him to be reluctant to go outside in front of you.

If you must discipline, take a rolled-up newspaper and whack yourself over the head with it, repeating, “I must remember to better supervise my puppy.”

• If he doesn’t go in 5-10 minutes, take him back inside and put him in his crate. Try again in about 20 minutes.

If you have your puppy on a substandard dog food, he will have to eat more of it to get the same nutrition, and that means he will also eliminate more.

The best food for your puppy is the one that gives him energy, a healthy, shiny coat, bright eyes, firm stools, and overall vitality. Each puppy is different, so there is no one best food. However, high-quality dog foods cannot be found in grocery stores or even chain stores (with the exception of a food named Blue, which is available at PetsMart).

High quality foods include Wellness, Innova, Canidae, Eagle Pack, and many others. The one I normally recommend is called Chicken Soup. It's not as difficult to find as many of the others, and it's reasonably priced.

It’s much easier to housetrain your puppy if you have him on a feeding schedule instead of “free feeding.” A young puppy should eat three times a day, at the same times each day. This will keep him regular so that you can better monitor when he needs to eliminate and more easily housetrain him. A dog who is “free fed” is also usually harder to train with treats, since he is likely to be less food-motivated than one who has to wait for his meals.

The housebreaking process can take anywhere from a few days to a few months. In general, the bigger breeds will become housetrained more quickly, since they usually develop control sooner than the smaller breeds with their tiny bladders.

Some puppies will urinate a few drops (or more) when they are excited or fearful. Normally puppies outgrow this within a few months, though some can take quite a bit longer. This is an act of submission, or appeasement, and the puppy has no voluntary control over it. If you make a fuss over it, the pup will tend to do it even more. Manage it as calmly as you can. If your pup urinates upon greeting you when you come home, make your entrances as low-key as possible, ignoring him until he’s calmed, or greet him outside.

In rare cases, a dog will develop a “leaking” problem after being spayed or neutered. If this occurs, the vet can place him on medication that will relieve the problem.

If your dog is housebroken but suddenly begins to urinate in the house again, he may have a bladder infection. Before addressing it as a behavioral problem, take him to the vet to make sure there isn't a medical cause.