Most puppies adopted from Dogs in Distress will need to be house trained. Some of our adult dogs may also need to be house trained as they may have come from a situation where they were never allowed in-doors. House training of puppies and adult dogs is a straight forward process. In this section we provide advice on how to approach it.

House training puppies

Unless you can monitor your puppy 24 hours a day, the house training process will probably not be fully completed until your puppy is at least 6 months old. Since puppies are growing and developing rapidly at this stage, they eat more food, burn up more energy and seem to need to eliminate constantly! They also have not yet developed bowel and bladder control, so they can't 'hold it' as long as adult dogs.

When you are not home confine your puppy to a small, 'puppy-proofed' room and paper the entire floor. Put his bed, toys and food/water bowls there. At first there will be no rhyme or reason to where your pup eliminates. He will go everywhere and anywhere. He will also probably play with the papers, chew on them and drag them around his little den. Don't get upset; just accept it as life with a young puppy. The important thing is that you regularly clean up the mess and lay down fresh papers. If you are leaving you puppy for a short period of less than an hour you might confine him to his crate during this time. At night time when you go to bed you might also opt to confine your puppy to his crate as during the night your pup will not need to go so frequently. Visit crate training for more information.

Paper training
While your puppy is confined, he is developing a habit of eliminating on paper because no matter where he goes, it will be on paper. As time goes on, he will start to show a preferred place to do his business. When this place is well established and the rest of the papers remain clean all day, then gradually reduce the area that is papered. Start removing the paper that is furthest away from his chosen location. Eventually you will only need to leave a few sheets down in that area only. If he ever misses the paper, then you've reduced the area too soon. Go back to papering a larger area or even the entire room. Once your puppy is reliably going only on the papers you've left, then you can slowly and gradually move his papers to a location of your choice. Move the papers only an inch a day. If puppy misses the paper again, then you're moving too fast. Go back a few steps and start over. Don't be discouraged if your puppy seems to be making remarkable progress and then suddenly you have to return to papering the entire room. This is normal. There will always be minor set-backs. If you stick with this procedure, your puppy will be paper trained.    

House training when you are home
When you are home but can't attend to your puppy, follow the same procedures described above. However, the more time you spend with your puppy, the quicker he will be house trained. Your objective is to take your puppy to his toilet area every time he needs to eliminate. This should be about once every 45 minutes; just after a play session; just after eating or drinking; and just upon waking. When he does eliminate in his toilet area, praise and reward him profusely and enthusiastically! Don't use any type of reprimand or punishment for mistakes or accidents. Your puppy is too young to understand and it can set the house training process back drastically.

Active house training
The most important thing you can do to make house training happen as quickly as possible is to reward and praise your puppy every time he goes in the right place. The more times he is rewarded, the quicker he will learn. Therefore it's important that you spend as much time as possible with your pup and give him regular and frequent access to his toilet area.

The key to successful house training
Consistency and Patience is the key. Never scold or punish your puppy for mistakes and accidents. The older your pup gets, the more he will be able to control his bladder and bowels. Eventually your pup will have enough control that he will be able to "hold it" for longer and longer periods of time. Let your puppy do this on his own time. When training is rushed, problems usually develop. Don't forget, most puppies are not reliably house trained until they are at least 6 months old.

House training adult dogs

House training of an adult dog can be a concern, but it tends to work out well and to be less of a problem than people expect.

Vigilance is the key. When you are at home watch the dog for any movements toward bladder or bowel relief. If you think he’s going to go promptly take him outside.  Generally speaking take the dog outside at least once per hour whenever you are at home and awake. Be patient, wait outside for as long as you can. You want to “catch” the dog getting it right, so you can praise and reward as soon as he goes.

You intend to reinforce the dog for relieving in a particular place at a particular time, but it’s helpful to realise that the dog may initially sees all this as praise for the act of relieving! This is why punishment for indoor accidents can cause terrible problems. The dog feels the punishment as being your response to going in your presence, or that you punish the dog when you find urine or feces on the floor. This is utterly confusing to the dog, and can result in a dog hiding from you to eliminate, or fighting back against the incomprehensible punishment. You can ruin a dog’s temperament this way. Be careful to avoid punishment for housetraining accidents. Focus on praise and reward for housetraining successes instead.

You can improve your dog’s understanding and flexibility in housetraining situations by developing a cue phrase for the act. A simple way to do this is to say “go toilet” when you see the dog about to do it outside. As the dog finishes, praise by saying “Good dog to go toilet outside!” Feel free to use any words you want, as long as you use the same ones consistently. Dogs only know the meaning of a word from the context of that word in the dog’s experience. We humans like to vary our language to make it sound more interesting, but that baffles our dogs!

To help the dog understand “Not here—there!” you can interrupt an accident in progress by telling the dog “No, outside” while you are in the act of rushing outside with the dog. Do this quickly but not punitively. A perfect outcome is to get the dog out so quickly and calmly that the dog will finish relieving outside. Then your praise can show the dog what you want.

Be sure to give the adult dog the benefit of the same supervision, schedule, praise, and deodorizing clean-up that’s required in housetraining a puppy. It tends to go more quickly with the adult dog because of the more mature bowel and bladder control, but do realise you’re asking the dog to change long-established habits. It’s not necessarily easy for the dog, be patient.

The dog that has lived outdoors is likely to be especially appreciative of human attention. Additionally, a change in homes or a big lifestyle change causes a dog to be open to new rules. Appreciate the dog’s efforts to learn a new way of life, and show the dog your appreciation. This can make for a wonderful new relationship with your dog.