by Carolyn Hellum
Dogs are instinctively clean animals; If they can avoid it, they would rather not soil themselves or their usual eating and sleeping areas. Dogs also naturally develop habits of where they would like to eliminate. For example, dogs that have a habit of eliminating on grass or dirt would rather not eliminate on concrete or gravel. The key to house training your dog is to rely on your dog's natural instincts and tendencies, if you can use these natural tendencies, then you will have a quick, easy and successful dog house training experience.
In order to begin dog house training, you will want to set up living areas and toileting areas for your dog. Your dog’s living area should be a small, confined space, known as its den. Note that living area training and crate training are different types of training. Good places for the living area could be the kitchen, bathroom or garage. Try to spend as much time with your dog in its living area as possible. Playing with your dog in its living area is also important.
You will want to give your dog a special bed to sleep on as well, as this is the place where he should sleep. In the beginning, your dog may eliminate in his den, but as soon as he realizes that it is HIS den, he will quit doing that. Once your dog gets used to sleeping on his special bed, feel free to move it about the house, but make sure to confine your dog to sleeping only on his bed.
To establish the toileting area, first make sure it is a place where he will have access to whenever he needs to eliminate. If he does not have access, he will establish his own toileting area, one where you will likely not want it to be. Once your dog consistently eliminates and is not soiling her den, you can begin extending her den to the rest of the house. Begin by giving access to one room at a time, but only when you know that she does not need to eliminate. Let her eat sleep and play in this room, but only when she can be supervised.
If you cannot supervise your dog, then place her back in her den on her bed. Once she accepts that the new room is an extension of her den, go on to the next room. Soon you will have a dog that has successfully passed all the house training, and you all will be living happily together!
For more information, go to Dog Training
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