In a perfect world, your dog or new puppy would already be perfectly housebroken. In reality, we either don’t do a good job of potty training our new four legged friend or we have a older dog that wasn’t properly trained as a puppy. Either way he or she needs to be housebroken. If your dog regularly has accidents in the house then housebreaking your dog is even more important.

If you have a new puppy you should start a regular potty training schedule and routine. This helps both you and the puppy to create a pattern of behavior that both of you will follow. Remember, potty training has 2 parts – one for you and one for your puppy.

If you need to housebreak a puppy that has learned a behavior of having accidents in the house this is for you. You need to setup a new routine immediately. Start with a basic schedule of when you either take your dog outside or out for a walk. At a minimum your schedule should include:

• Once right after your dog awakes in the morning
• Once right before your dog goes to bed
• Once after every scheduled meal
• Once after every playtime
• Once after every nap

Setting up the basic pattern above will get your dog in the routine to go to the bathroom after those daily activities. Early in the housebreaking routine you should also add additional walks to reinforce the outdoor bathroom behavior. Once these patterns start to take effect, your puppy will give you an indication when they want to go outside.

Early in the housebreaking routine you should also reward your puppy with treats or positive physical and verbal praise. This will further reinforce the behavior as a good one. Make sure the attention you give your dog is the type he enjoys and he will repeat the behavior in order to get that attention from you over and over again.

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