Routine is essential for effective house training, especially maintaining set mealtimes. Generally puppies are very regular and after eating, sleeping or playing they will need to go to the toilet. Make sure you take your puppy out to attempt to go after these activities, or set a timer and take your puppy out each hour. Try to involve the family as this can become laborious, especially if it’s cold and wet! To encourage toileting play with your puppy outside as the exercise will encourage your puppy to release.
Crates are fantastic tools to aid with house training, especially after a couple of weeks when you can start to shut the crate door overnight and pup learns to hold themselves. Puppy pads also have a smell on them which encourages a puppy to use them, this reduces the mess you have to clear up in those first few weeks.
Praise and correction needs to occur at the point of the behaviour or up to 2 seconds afterwards. Therefore take a few treats with you into the garden and as pup goes to the toilet give them plenty of praise and a treat. The acceleration of house training really occurs if you can correct them indoors. Obviously this is hard as mistakes occur incredibly quickly, however the key is to correct at the point of the accident or up to 2 seconds later so that pup learns that inside is not acceptable.
As you get used to your puppy you will be able to read their body language and notice them circling the ground or bunching up which is indicative of them about to go!
Generally pups are house trained between 12-16 weeks, the bigger the breed the quicker they usually pick up what’s required of them.
