Housetraining Your Puppy
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Follow these guidelines to make housebreaking as easy as possible for you and your new puppy!
Start at the ideal age. The best time to begin housebreaking a puppy is when it is 7 ½ to 8 ½ weeks
old. At this age, you can teach the puppy where to eliminate before it has established its own
preferences. But don’t worry if your puppy is older when you start housebreaking; it will still learn,
though it may take a little longer.
Routine and schedule are vital. Puppies learn best when they are kept to a consistent schedule for
feeding, playing and eliminating. Choose an appropriate spot to take the puppy immediately after it
wakes up, after play sessions, and 15 to 30 minutes after meals. If you take your puppy to the same
spot every day, previous odors will stimulate it to urinate or defecate. Puppies may need up to 15
minutes to move around and sniff before they eliminate. Stay with the puppy the whole time, but do
not play with the puppy until it has eliminated. Be careful not to take the puppy out too often, because
if you go outside and he doesn’t have to “go,” then you begin playing, he might not learn the concept
of “go outside, potty, then play.”
Use a key phrase while your puppy eliminates. If you repeat the same phrase (such as “go potty”)
every time your puppy eliminates outdoors, it will learn this phrase means that it’s the right time and
place to eliminate.
Once the puppy eliminates outdoors, immediately reward it. Reward the puppy by praising it, giving
a treat, or playing. But remember to do so right away. The puppy will not learn if the reward comes
when it returns to the house. Instead, the puppy will think that it’s being rewarded for coming inside!
Supervise the puppy indoors as well as outdoors. Housebreaking a puppy is a lot like having a
toddler. You want to be where you can keep an eye on the puppy at all times, and crate him if you will
be unable to supervise for a short while. Watch the puppy and learn his behaviors that signify he
needs to eliminate. He might stop playing and start sniffing or circling, or stand in a certain posture, or
head for a certain area of the room. Some owners find it helpful to keep a long “drag line” on the
puppy and tether it to their own belt. As soon as you see the signals that the puppy needs to go
outside, take him out and give your “potty” command.
When you leave home, put the puppy in a crate. When you can’t supervise your puppy, leave it in a
small puppy-proof area such as a crate. If the crate is large enough to accommodate it as an adult,
partition it to avoid having the puppy soil one end and sleep in the other. And remember that young
puppies’ bowel and bladder capacities are limited. A general rule of thumb for puppies is that they can
be crated for about one hour for each month of age, plus one. But if at all possible, puppies should
never be crated over four hours, except overnight.
Don’t punish after the fact. If your puppy has an accident in the house, don’t rub his nose in it! This
doesn’t help, because the misbehavior has already occurred, and the puppy cannot associate a
previous behavior with a punishment that comes after the fact. Instead, try to catch the puppy in the
act. If you see your puppy getting ready to house soil, do NOT hit it. Instead, take the puppy outside,
and praise or reward him lavishly when he eliminates outside.
Don’t leave food out all day. “Free feeding” makes it impossible to achieve the consistency of meal
times and elimination times necessary to housebreak a puppy. Instead, have established feeding
times, and remove the bowl after 20 minutes, even if food remains. This will also make it much easier
down the road to control and monitor food intake, as well as to appropriately feed each animal in a
multiple-pet household.
Thoroughly clean areas where the puppy has eliminated inside the house. It is important to clean
soiled areas completely, using an enzymatic cleaning and deodorizing product such as Nature’s Miracle
®. Other non-enzymatic products might remove the stain, but the underlying odor will still be
detectable to the puppy, and he will likely return to that area to eliminate.
Stick with the training program! Most puppies can be successfully housebroken by 14 to 20 weeks of
age. But a pet may take longer to housebreak for many reasons. Consult your veterinarian if you are
having difficulty. Parasites and urinary tract infections are common, and may make it difficult for your
puppy to control him/herself. Also, don’t be surprised if your puppy seems to be housebroken, then
seems to “forget.” If that happens, simply return to the very controlled schedule that you used
initially.
Start at the ideal age. The best time to begin housebreaking a puppy is when it is 7 ½ to 8 ½ weeks
old. At this age, you can teach the puppy where to eliminate before it has established its own
preferences. But don’t worry if your puppy is older when you start housebreaking; it will still learn,
though it may take a little longer.
Routine and schedule are vital. Puppies learn best when they are kept to a consistent schedule for
feeding, playing and eliminating. Choose an appropriate spot to take the puppy immediately after it
wakes up, after play sessions, and 15 to 30 minutes after meals. If you take your puppy to the same
spot every day, previous odors will stimulate it to urinate or defecate. Puppies may need up to 15
minutes to move around and sniff before they eliminate. Stay with the puppy the whole time, but do
not play with the puppy until it has eliminated. Be careful not to take the puppy out too often, because
if you go outside and he doesn’t have to “go,” then you begin playing, he might not learn the concept
of “go outside, potty, then play.”
Use a key phrase while your puppy eliminates. If you repeat the same phrase (such as “go potty”)
every time your puppy eliminates outdoors, it will learn this phrase means that it’s the right time and
place to eliminate.
Once the puppy eliminates outdoors, immediately reward it. Reward the puppy by praising it, giving
a treat, or playing. But remember to do so right away. The puppy will not learn if the reward comes
when it returns to the house. Instead, the puppy will think that it’s being rewarded for coming inside!
Supervise the puppy indoors as well as outdoors. Housebreaking a puppy is a lot like having a
toddler. You want to be where you can keep an eye on the puppy at all times, and crate him if you will
be unable to supervise for a short while. Watch the puppy and learn his behaviors that signify he
needs to eliminate. He might stop playing and start sniffing or circling, or stand in a certain posture, or
head for a certain area of the room. Some owners find it helpful to keep a long “drag line” on the
puppy and tether it to their own belt. As soon as you see the signals that the puppy needs to go
outside, take him out and give your “potty” command.
When you leave home, put the puppy in a crate. When you can’t supervise your puppy, leave it in a
small puppy-proof area such as a crate. If the crate is large enough to accommodate it as an adult,
partition it to avoid having the puppy soil one end and sleep in the other. And remember that young
puppies’ bowel and bladder capacities are limited. A general rule of thumb for puppies is that they can
be crated for about one hour for each month of age, plus one. But if at all possible, puppies should
never be crated over four hours, except overnight.
Don’t punish after the fact. If your puppy has an accident in the house, don’t rub his nose in it! This
doesn’t help, because the misbehavior has already occurred, and the puppy cannot associate a
previous behavior with a punishment that comes after the fact. Instead, try to catch the puppy in the
act. If you see your puppy getting ready to house soil, do NOT hit it. Instead, take the puppy outside,
and praise or reward him lavishly when he eliminates outside.
Don’t leave food out all day. “Free feeding” makes it impossible to achieve the consistency of meal
times and elimination times necessary to housebreak a puppy. Instead, have established feeding
times, and remove the bowl after 20 minutes, even if food remains. This will also make it much easier
down the road to control and monitor food intake, as well as to appropriately feed each animal in a
multiple-pet household.
Thoroughly clean areas where the puppy has eliminated inside the house. It is important to clean
soiled areas completely, using an enzymatic cleaning and deodorizing product such as Nature’s Miracle
®. Other non-enzymatic products might remove the stain, but the underlying odor will still be
detectable to the puppy, and he will likely return to that area to eliminate.
Stick with the training program! Most puppies can be successfully housebroken by 14 to 20 weeks of
age. But a pet may take longer to housebreak for many reasons. Consult your veterinarian if you are
having difficulty. Parasites and urinary tract infections are common, and may make it difficult for your
puppy to control him/herself. Also, don’t be surprised if your puppy seems to be housebroken, then
seems to “forget.” If that happens, simply return to the very controlled schedule that you used
initially.