Housbreaking the Human -er- Puppy

Well, when I decided to get a puppy two months ago, I knew that there would have to be changes made. I knew that there would have to be compromises made. I knew that having a dog is not the same as having cats.

• Dogs for instance do not do their piddling in litterboxes. They require paper training or someone to take them outside to do their “business.”
• Puppies expect to be played with pretty much every second they’re awake. Cats will pretty much tell you to sod off and leave them alone most of the time.
• In fact, they absolutely need to be supervised every second they are awake. Cats are pretty self-sufficient and can generally stay out of most trouble or imminent danger for longer than five or ten minutes at a time.

So, there’s been some adjusting at my house. Let’s face it. I’m lazy. I’m not a morning person. I had a routine that I kind of liked that fit in with being lazy and not being a morning person and also importantly very little time was spent outdoors — you know, the big blue room?

Anyway, I think, I kind of finally got a handle on this housebreaking thing. Oh, I’m not saying Pugly and I are there 100%, but the training was really training me and not so much about training him.

It means that I have to drag my ass out of bed first thing in the morning and pull enough clothes on to be presentable to the neighbors and get a leash on him before I get him out of the bed. Then I take him outside and let him do his business and sniff around a little, but first thing, he really just wants to do his business and go back in and eat breakfast.

Then after I’m dressed and before I leave for work, we take a little walk around the community. This is particularly nice if it’s nice weather. It’s miserable if it’s not. Again, I make sure he piddles and poos.

Then he goes in his crate. This part of the housebreaking is not going well right now. Every day he’s totally messing up the whole crate and messing in it, etc. He hates it.

When I come home from work, I immediately take him outside on the leash and play with him and let him do his business and let him enjoy being out if it’s good weather.

I try to do this two more times through the evening (once right before bed).

When he piddles and poos outside, I praise him and sometimes scritch his head. I want him to know that this is the right thing to do. I still have a back up training pad in the kitchen and one in the bathroom at night, but I’m discouraging their use except for emergencies.

My mother has given me several unwelcome lectures about how to housebreak the dog and I just don’t like her method. I don’t like the lecture either. It just sounds mean to rub the dog’s nose in the stain and yell at him and punish him. You wouldn’t do that to a child and I just think of my pets as my children.

I’ve been reading up on housebreaking dogs on the web and there’s a lot of sites that agree with me. They say that unless you catch your puppy or dog in the act of peeing or pooping on your floor you shouldn’t yell or fuss or punish the dog as he/she wouldn’t understand. Two seconds after the act is done, it’s forgotten. If you catch him/her in the act, you should go over, don’t yell, but grab him/her, shake him/her a little, say no, and take him/her immediately outside to finish. When he or she has finished outside, praise him/her for going outside to reinforce that going outside is good.

O.K. Now I have to figure out how to trim his claws without him acting like I’m killing him.
Recommended Reading: How to Housebreak A Puppy Or Older Dog, Puppy House Training

tags: the puppy

One comment

1. on May 5, 2006 at 12:23 pm

   Tamara said:

   I think you’re right. The rubbing the nose in the mess is oldschool, it doesn’t work, and it’s not much fun, either!

   Glad to hear you’re both adjusting!

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