Housebreaking is one of the initial challenges for a puppy owner. To make this process smooth, it’s essential to understand the basics of a puppy’s physiology and leverage its natural behavior.
It will take at least a few days or weeks before we can expect the puppy to meet its physiological needs in the right place. First and foremost, our dog needs to mature—both physically, with the development of its urinary system, and mentally, to understand what the “right” place means. Here’s how to simplify this process.
When Does a Puppy Urinate?
A puppy’s bladder is not very spacious, so it urinates quite frequently. It may seem like it’s constantly peeing—almost always after waking up, after eating, after having fun, or whenever it finds a free moment between activities. Cleaning up wet spots on the floor is not enjoyable, so puppy owners want an answer to their question as quickly as possible: “How do you teach a puppy to pee outside?”
There’s nothing special to do to prepare for housebreaking. The most important thing is to take the dog outside as often as possible in the first few weeks. The more the dog meets its physiological needs outside, the more we should reward it. The more it receives rewards for this behavior, the sooner it understands that it’s worthwhile.
From the beginning, it’s also worthwhile to change the location where you walk your dog—contact with different surfaces will help your dog understand that it can do its business anywhere outside the house, not just right in front of it. Always remember that your puppy doesn’t have full immunity before vaccinations. Therefore, try to avoid places where many dogs walk.
And most importantly, do not expect your puppy to have full control over its physiology. At the beginning, the entire responsibility lies with the caregiver.
Training Dogs: Only Reward, Never Punish!
When teaching your dog cleanliness, never punish it for doing something wrong! Dogs should not be punished at all—only good training results should be rewarded. So, when a dog does what we expect from it, we should reward it each time, for example, with a treat. Good behavior should be appreciated. The more intense this training is, the faster our little friend will understand what we mean.
Any sanctions can be extremely harmful in this case. Remember that meeting physiological needs is initially an unconscious action—it’s a physiological need. Especially at the beginning of training, dogs can get everything wrong. What should be done in this case? Clean up and forget about it. Remember that dogs never act maliciously on purpose. Malice is more of a human trait—never an animal’s. For instance, it’s absolutely forbidden to put your dog’s snout in wet spots! We guarantee that it won’t understand what’s happening—best-case scenario, it will lose trust in the caregiver.
How to Teach a Dog to Pee on a Mat?
Going to the lawn every few dozen minutes can be inconvenient, so it’s worth teaching your dog to meet its physiological needs on a cleanliness mat. How do you do that? Just like you teach your puppy to pee in the garden—by placing it on a mat often and rewarding it each time it is successful. After a while, your puppy will recognize that it’s worth going to the mat and getting treats. Scented grass mats can also help—the natural smell supports the process, and it will be easier for the dog to go to the toilet in the future.
It’s also worth distributing such pads for puppies when leaving the house for longer than usual—on average, a young dog’s bladder allows it to go without peeing for an extra hour longer than its age in months, so a 5-month-old puppy should not be left alone for more than 6 hours. Are you afraid that the dog, once it learns to pee on the mat, will no longer want to go outside? Don’t worry! Dogs do it only when they have no other choice.
What Should You Do if Your Puppy Found a Completely Inappropriate Place to Pee?
If our dog persistently pees in a place where it shouldn’t (or rather, where we think it shouldn’t), that spot should be cleaned very thoroughly. Not only for our nose’s sake but, above all, for the dog’s nose. It will be more willing to satisfy its physiological needs where it has done so before. If that doesn’t work, consider placing the food or bed near the spot—usually, a dog won’t urinate where it eats or sleeps. After a few days, you can put the bowl or bed back in the right place.
How Long Does Housebreaking Take?
It’s challenging to answer this question definitively. Much depends on the dog’s disposition but also on the caregiver’s consistency. The more often you manage to take your dog to the right place, the greater the chance it will understand what behavior is expected of it. It can take a few weeks, but it could also be two or three months. Regardless of how long it takes, the dog should never be punished and should always be rewarded. If you feel that the housebreaking process is progressing too slowly, consult with your behavior therapist to find out if there is another cause such as separation anxiety, stress, or hormonal issues.
