House/Crate Training

House/Crate Training: House training a dog or puppy takes a lot of patience and establishing a routine. A routine is the most important part of house training your puppy/dog whether you plan on leaving your dog loose in your home or confined in a crate while away. Puppies may hold their bladder for one hour for every month of age, not exceeding 8 hours. A dog should never be left to hold their bladder for more than 8 hours at a time. Take your dog outside frequently, at least every one to two hours starting out and slowly increase the time as they are able to hold it. Dogs should always be taken out immediately after they wake up, eat or drink, or after playing. Rewarding a dog is very important to the success of potty training. Dogs want to please and will need praise to enforce learning these things. Expect to be outside with your dog for at least 30 minutes to an hour to give them sufficient time to use the bathroom. Puppies are easily distracted, so wait until they are finished using the bathroom to reward them, otherwise they may forget to finish. Every time your dog uses the bathroom, in the house, tell them in a firm voice, "No", and quickly take them outside so that they know that is where to use it. Make your dog's crate a safe haven for them to go to comfortably by putting blankets or toys in it so they don't view this as a bad place to go. Remember that house/crate training takes time and patience, but will happen with consistency and routine.