Housebreaking Your Puppy

Take Your Puppy "Out" Often Enough

One of the biggest mistakes puppy owners make is not allowing their puppy a chance to relieve himself often enough. Generally speaking a 2-month-old puppy can only "hold it" for about 3 hours, a 3-month-old about 4 hours and so on and so forth. Take your puppy's age in months, add one, and you'll more or less have the limit as far as how long he can "hold it."

Praise Not Scold

Too many puppy owners use negativity when trying to housebreak their puppy. Not only is this mean, it's ineffective. You're puppy is trying to learn something new. Punishing him for "non-performance" when he hasn't fully mastered the skill isn't fair and may actually hurt your training progress. Instead, make sure to offer lots praise any time your puppy relieves himself in the right area. Most puppies are pretty smart and will figure out that "going" in that area is what you want.

Be Super Consistent

Not just consistent, SUPER consistent. Set a schedule of when you will take your puppy out and follow it to the tee (sort of...you'll understand why I say "sort of" in about 2 sentences). When you first start housebreaking, every 2 hours is an excellent place to start. Of course, if you're puppy shows signs of having to go before then, let him out (this is why I say "sort of"). But do NOT make him wait longer that 2 hours when you're first starting out. I know every 2 hours is often, but raising a puppy does take work and dedication. Believe me, put in the work now and you'll be glad later.

For additional Housebreaking Tips (for a puppy or an older dog), check out EasyPitbullTraining.com.

You may also be interested in our hub about Puppy Training.