What is the best way to house train a puppy?

Hands-down, Crate training is the best way to train a puppy.

Puppy pads are a bad idea, you’re teaching the dog to develop a preference for going to the bathroom on cotton. When the puppy pads go away, guess what’s next?

crate training and adhering to a food/water schedule. Also, using a neutralizer on any mistakes- Nature’s Miracle solution works very well.

The pup will understand far quicker if he’s rewarded for success, so you need to make it really easy to begin with. If he goes in the right place, make a huge fuss. One technique I heard was to cover a huge outside area in newspaper, and to gradually shrink the newspaper over time. Then you can bring the newspaper inside and have some control.

You can’t tell him off unless it’s absolutely immediate. Any delay, and the dog won’t make the association and will just get frustrated or scared.

It also made a huge difference when we penned our dogs in overnight. They won’t go close to their beds, so that saves you mopping up in the morning.

Please look up the breed of your dog and read at what age you can expect the dog to have bladder control. For example, my dog is a breed that does not develop bladder control until 16 weeks—that is four months! Had I not known that, I might have been worried. Until the point of bladder control, there is not point in punishing the dog (it’s not effective anyway). Would you wallop an infant human that had an accident?

Take the dog outside (I am not a fan of puppy pads—your ultimate goal is that the dog never go in the house so why train it to go in the house ever?) every couple of hours. If the dog goes to the bathroom, praise him or her. Be especially vigilant right after meals. If you see the puppy start to squat, grab it and take it outside.

Please take the time to search online and read about housebreaking.

I have no objection to crate training, IF, and this is a big if, you do not expect more of the puppy in terms of length of control than it can physically give.

consistant positive reinforcment. Be willing to give your puppy the chance to succeed by taking it out every hour, if necessary. Then start to slowly extend the time in between trips. When it goes where you want, reward like CRAZY!!!

Crate, crate, crate. It’s the easiest way to train a puppy. Dogs want a den, and that what the crate does. This is the sine smartest thing I’ve done with my dog. If he’s at all stressed, if we have non-dog people over, or if we’re ready for a doggy break, Max will gladly go to his crate with the simple command, “Crate!”

If you crate the puppy at night or during the day when you’re gone, then take the pup out to relieve itself, it will get the message that this is the time and place to do it. Dogs are smart, your pup will pick it up with consistency and patience!

My concern about all this crate talk is that it is not covering the fact that you can’t leave a young puppy all day or hours and hours even in a crate and expect it not to have an accident. They are physically not capable of holding it.

Marina is right, the only humane approach is to make sure you use the crate as a tool, not a jail cell. For young puppies especially, you want to be there for the full circle of whatever they ingest will be coming out, and also as far as socialization.

I totally agree that puppies need socialization and discipline in addition to the crate. The crate is a tool, a very effective one, when training your pup in all aspects of being a dog.

Crate training is where it’s at!

@bulba You have a puppy now too???? What are you guys, masochistic? :)

Here’s an ehow on How to potty train a puppy which should help.