Housetraining Adult Dogs and Puppies

By James O'Heare

Housetraining Adult Dogs and Puppies is a guide for dog owners to housetrain adult dogs or puppies. This small booklet provides a detailed but still concise step-by-step housetraining procedure. It covers preliminary steps, including supplies you will need, as well as troubleshooting for common problems that can arise in the housetraining process.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Companion Animal Sciences Institute
• Release date: Feb 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781617812781

James O'Heare

James O'Heare is a Behaviorologist who has spent over 25 years researching animal behavior and animal rights. He lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Book preview

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Chapter 1. Preliminaries

The Challenge

Housetraining can be challenging and frustrating, particularly if there are any complicating factors, such as if you do not have the time it takes to carry out the training or the dog is adopted and comes with some behavioral baggage. It demands a lot of your time and can take months, because it progresses at the rate that your puppy develops bladder and intestinal control, not just as quick as they are smart. If you do not have the time to put into the training, it will be all the more frustrating. For adult dogs, they might be starting out with some aversions (such as to a crate or even people), or have other problems that make housetraining more difficult. In any event, it will require patience and compassion. Dogs are a whole different species and we have to teach them how to adapt to and thrive in a world governed by the habits of humans—not an easy thing really.

The fact that dogs tend not to void where they eat, sleep, or play helps, as we can take advantage of that tendency in training them to void outside only.

We will address housetraining for puppies as well as for adult dogs. So, whether you have adopted a new puppy or an adult, this book includes the appropriate protocols. First, we will address housetraining of puppies. Next, we will discuss housetraining adults. If you are housetraining an adult dog, be sure to read the entire booklet, as the puppy section will provide some content that is not duplicated in the chapter on adults.

First Things

Before you bring your new dog home, ensure that you have everything you need. You will need appropriate toys and dog food. You will need a standard 2–meter (6–foot) leash, appropriately fitted collar (for dog tags), and a standard body harness (for attaching the leash). You will need suitable bedding and a crate. You will also need grooming tools, such as nail trimmers, brushes, and shampoo. Ensure that you have a generous supply of a bacterial/enzymatic cleaning product made specifically for eliminating the ammonia in urine. This will help prevent your puppy from repeatedly voiding in an inappropriate location. Be sure to buy a product designed for surfaces that the puppy will have access to (e.g., carpet, hard flooring).

Within the first few days of a new dog’s arrival in your home, be sure to have a full medical evaluation completed by your veterinarian. This will help to ensure that you are starting from a place of general health. This should include bloodwork and providing your vet with fresh fecal and urine samples to test (ask them about collection guidelines).

Next, keep in mind that the dog’s diet is an important consideration in bringing a new dog home. For a while, it is good to continue feeding the same food that the dog was eating before he came home with you. If you need to transition to a different food, ensure that it is the highest quality diet possible and be sure to make the transition gradually, in order to avoid stomach-upset. To switch foods, start by feeding the regular food for the first several days after the puppy comes home with you, so that there is less stress during the initial transition. Start the transition to the new food only if the puppy does not currently have diarrhea. Then, start by replacing 10% of the regular food with the new food. Feed this way for several days, then replace another 10%