How to house train a puppy the most effective way?

Question

I have a 5 month old Jack Russel pup who is really difficult to housetrain! She is a good dog and will respond well to simple commands - sit, paw, no etc.
But lately we are really struggeling to house train her. At first we kept her in the living room with newspapers and puppy training pads, which she used really well and only had the odd accident. Slowly we removed the newspapers and just left a training pad down. The safety gate was taken off the living room and moved to the stairs. She was doing quite well but now she will hardely use her pads and just wee or dirt wherever she likes. We have started putting her in the backgarden to try and train her to go out. We leave her out for about 10 minutes and reward her if she does something outside but she will wait until she is let back in and then go in the house! Are we confusing her by leaving a pad in the house? Should we just keep it to the garden now? Ahhh help! Personal experiance will really help? How have you trained your dog?

Answer 1

put her training pad behind the back door and leave it there for a couple of weeks
then put the training pad outside in the garden but close to the door so she can see it
i used to stand out in the garden with my doberman pup until he had been and then give him lots of praise for going and take him in he was really good at it he new he would make me happy and get a treat
good luck keep trying dont give up on her

Answer 2

Go back to the basics. Use a small crate at night, with enough room for a nice comfy bed,(A soft blanket inside a cardboard box with a 6 inch access hole cut in the side, a chewy & toy) Outside the box a training pad. ALLWAYS change when used. It can be expensive, but would you like to use a dirty toilet.? Use a non-spill water bowl inside box. She should not mess/wee in her sleeping area and this will reinforce what the pads are for. During the day take her outside every 15/20mins and stay with her. Just quietly give her the command word (jointly used by all the family) but ignore her otherwise untill she has performed. When she has been clean REALLY GO OVERBOARD WITH THE PRAISE. Make her feel that she has just performed a mirical and is such a clever girl. Meanwhile keep a clean pad just inside the back door. Dont make any fuss if she dirty in the house or scold her. Quietly clean it up and use a propriery smell removing cleaner from the pet shop to remove any scent that might encourage her to use the same spot. When you can"t keep a full-time eye on her, use her crate for short periods with a chewy. Intense perseverence should have it cracked in a week or less.

Answer 3

Lot of the answers here are good, but I'll add a bit of advice I used in training my pups.

When I first got them (both are 7 months now), I used the pads inside their crates. I did this when I left the house. The pups could still go, yet still had room in their crates to relax. This worked well for only about a week or two - then they began chewing up their pads. So I removed the pads and made their crates smaller (I had a divider for my crate). This is part of crate-training - only give them as much room as they need to stand and turnaround. Extra room means a potential mess.

If you want the pup to go outside, you need to catch her going inside! It sounds odd, but the goal is to catch her in the act. Once you catch her, give a firm "No!" Don't scream or whine or moan or complain about the mess - just give a firm command. Then rush her outside. When she goes there, praise her as if she cured cancer!

Catching the dog doing something is crucial in training. Pointing to her mess and yelling, rubbing her nose in it, spanking, etc. do nothing. This type of "post-training" is ineffective. But if you catch her, correct her and praise her, then you'll get results.

I'd also remove the pads from your home now. They are good for very young pups (6-10 weeks old) or for older, incontinent dogs. The pads have an odor that encourages the dog to go on them. Your dog may be getting confused - she may think that since it was O.K. to go in the house sometimes, it's good all the time. She may not yet know that she can only go on the pads. If you only want her to go outside, stop using the pads completely and do what I wrote above.

Also, keep in mind she is still a pup and may need to go out more. So long periods alone will cause accidents. At this age, do not leave her unsupervised. Be in an area where you can keep an eye on her. This way, when she starts to go, you can catch her and correct her. If you can't be with her, have her in a crate.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Reward, reward reward. And lots of praise. Discard the papers and the pads, you want her to go outside as all dogs should. Do you have a crate or a way to block off a part of the house when you aren't there? If the area is small enough she won't mess it-usually. Take her out after she eats or drinks. Stay with her. While she is out, tell her the same phrase over and over using her name, I use go p-potty. DO NOT come in until she is done and after she goes, praise and reward, reward. My pup (boxer female) will be 8 months old Saturday and has been trained since she was about 3 months old. I still don't trust her while no one is home (CHEWING) but that is another story. The trick is to stay with it. Be consistent and firm. Do not scold when an accident happens but take her outside and use the phrase you have chosen. Best to you and keep with it. She will bring you many years of joy, comfort and unconditional love.

Answer 5

Small dogs are the hardest to house train. We have a miniature pinscher and she was tough. Young dogs don't have a fully developed bladder, so they can only hold it for a little while. Take her out every hour or two. Praise her when she does it outside. If it's cold right now where you live, it's hard to train them out there because they hate the cold. Just give it some time. 5 months is still really young. Crate training helped us. When we leave the house, we usually put her in her crate.

Answer 6

I would recommend crate training. You have to be very specific when it comes to house breaking and making so many changes will only confuse her. Continue to take her outside frequently and crate her when you are not home or you are sleeping to prevent her from going when you can not observe her. Praise her when she goes potty as you have been doing and I can not stess this enough, clean clean clean the areas she already went at. Once is never enough because you might not smell it but she will and if she smells it then she will asume it's okay to go there. After a couple of weeks if she is doing good try letting her stay out when you leave the house for short trips and eventualy, after several weeks you should be able to work her into staying out when you are asleep and then when you leave the house.

Answer 7

The easiest way to house train a pup,is by taking it outside every hour,no matter what the weather or how long your standing there,when your dog does toilet outside praise to the skys.Get rid of the puppy pad as this only teaches dogs that its ok to toilet in the house,these sorts of things slow house training down.If you catch your dog toileting in the house,gently grab her by the collar and say no loudly and firmly,and put her out side,while you are walking to the back door with her give the command outside.Eventually your pup will learn that the command outside means she has to toilet there.House training if done consistently can be trained with in a few short weeks,other dogs do take longer but patience and alertness on your behalf will pay off.I trained my own pup like this and he was house trained 3weeks after we bought him home.Good luck.

Answer 8

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://bitly.im/aMRpx

A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 9

Take her food up at a certain time. With my Rottie pup I crate her when I can't be with her. When I take her out of the crate I also take her on a leash to the same spot in the yard. She still has accidents in the house so I do keep paper down at the door that we use to go outside. She will go there if we don't make it to her in time.They love the liver treats. They have control of their bowel more then the bladder and it can take up until they are 6 months before they gain full control.

Answer 10

Take her outside immediately after she ate or drank. That's when they need to go. Stay there with her until she's finished(or just leave her there and watch her) and then praise her and pet her. It's the best method recommended by trainers and vets. It's how I trained my dog. I live in an appartament, so we only take him out 3 times a day most days. We don't have any problems with him. Good luck!