Housetraining For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019944086
ISBN 978-1-119-61029-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-61032-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-61028-1 (ebk)
When you brought home that adorable little puppy or noble-looking adult dog, you undoubtedly were looking forward to a lifetime of love, devotion, and companionship. Maybe you wanted a dog to jog with in the morning, have curl up at your feet in the evening, or talk to during the day. Perhaps you were looking forward to heaping lots of unconditional love upon a hard-luck rescue dog who hadn’t known such love before. Or maybe you remembered watching Lassie when you were a kid and were hoping that your new family member could be the same sort of friend-of-a-lifetime that the famous Collie was for little Timmy.
Every new relationship between a person and a dog starts out with at least a little bit of fantasizing on the part of the person. Soon thereafter, though, reality intrudes upon those fantasies. All too often, that intrusion takes the form of a puddle or pile deposited on the floor of your home. The puddle is gross. The pile stinks. Both leave stains. And you are totally grossed out.
Loving a pooch who turns your nicely decorated home into a canine outhouse is tough. But this problem doesn’t have to happen. You just need to teach your dog proper potty manners. In other words, you need to housetrain him.
When your dog is housetrained, both of your lives become a whole lot easier and immeasurably more satisfying. Gone are the doggie accidents, stains, and smells that keep professional carpet cleaners in business but all too often ruin the precious bonds between dogs and their people. I’ve written this book to make sure that you and your dog maintain those bonds.
Housetraining For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is a reference book designed to help you not only teach your dog the ins and outs of basic bathroom behavior but also prevent your pooch from developing potty problems — or solve any problems she already has.
Whether you have a brand-new puppy who’s piddling on your equally new Oriental rug; an unruly adolescent male dog who’s practicing leg-lifts (and subsequent anointings) right next to your antique loveseat; a matronly female dog who’s wetting her bed while she sleeps; or simply a pooch who never seems to know what he’s supposed to do when you take him out, this book can help you sort out your dog’s bathroom issues and resolve them, no matter what they are.
You don’t have to read this book from start to finish to teach your canine companion proper potty deportment. If you want to know everything and then some about housetraining, begin reading here and plow through to the end. But if you have a specific concern, such as wanting to teach your dog to tell you when she needs to go out, skip the preliminaries, look over the table of contents, and proceed to the chapter that tells you exactly what you want to know.
Finally, this book is meant to be a guide but not a substitute for the up-close-and-personal advice that other experts such as veterinarians, trainers, and behaviorists give. If the suggestions here don’t work for you and your dog, or if you have a question that this book doesn’t cover, don’t hesitate to contact any of these professionals.
To help you find your way through this book — as in all For Dummies books — I’ve used the following conventions:
Monofont indicates a web address.In addition, I’ve added some conventions of my own. For one thing, I’m not even going to try to sound genteel in this book — after all, you’re dealing with bodily waste here. That’s why I refer to canine bodily byproducts as poop and pee — although I occasionally substitute other terms just for the sake of variety.
At the same time, I refrain from using other terms commonly employed in discussions of pooch potty protocol. Specifically, I don’t use the words housebreak, housebreaking, or housebroken anywhere in this book, except when I describe the history of canine toilet training. That’s because when you teach your dogs to eliminate appropriately, you’re not breaking anything. In fact, you’re doing quite the opposite: By teaching the dog to poop and pee when and where you want him to, you’re building bonds between you two. You’re laying the foundation for a loving, long-lasting relationship.
Finally, there’s the matter of gender. Many writers like to refer to canine companions in gender-neutral terms such as it unless discussing a specific dog, such as Daisy or Max. But I don’t agree with them. Any dog, even if spayed or neutered, has a clear gender. More importantly, every dog is a living being who deserves the dignity of being referred to as such. For that reason, I use the word who, not that, along with he, she, him, her, his, and hers to refer to canine companions. I tend to alternate the genders of the example dogs in a chapter, so any of those pronouns (or a name such as Fido or Lassie) applies to dogs of either gender unless I indicate otherwise.
I’d be thrilled if you were to read every word of this book, but I know better. You’re like me: way too busy, with far too little time to accomplish everything on your daily to-do list. Plus, you want to know as soon as possible how to keep your floors and furniture from becoming a doggie latrine. To help you differentiate between what you need to know and what you can do without, I’ve made the do-without stuff easy for you to spot. That stuff includes the following:
I’ve written this book assuming that one of the following scenarios applies to you and your dog:
If you and your canine companion fit into any of the preceding categories, this book is for you.
This book can give you the full scoop on making the housetraining process as hassle-free as possible. If you read any part of Housetraining For Dummies, you can gain valuable insights on how to teach your puppy or adult dog to do his business where and when you want him to. Here’s how I’ve organized the book to help you do just that.
Before you can housetrain your hound, you need to get yourself ready to do so. Therefore, this part explains the basic principles of canine learning in general and of housetraining in particular. Here, too, is where you get the info you need to decide where you want your dog’s bathroom to be: inside or outside your home. You also get the lowdown on what equipment you need to teach your dog proper potty protocol. Finally, you discover how not only to jump-start your dog’s housetraining progress but also to give her a leg up on lifelong good health by feeding her the right kinds of foods.
Now that you’ve made some basic decisions, gotten a primer on housetraining theory, acquired the right housetraining gear, and stocked up on gourmet doggie fare, you’re ready to start the housetraining process in earnest. Part 2 tells you all you need to know to turn your housetrainee into a housetraining graduate, whether you opt for indoor training or choose to have your pooch potty in the great outdoors. You also discover some techniques that can make managing your dog’s bathroom maneuvers infinitely easier and determine when you can consider your hound a true housetraining ace.
Alas, even the solidly housetrained dog can acquire potty problems. Some of those problems require remedial housetraining, others may actually be signs of illness, and still others may reflect human mistakes, not the dog’s. Part 3 helps you determine what kind of problem your dog really has (and that problem, for some dogs, is simply that they’re very small) and what you need to do to solve it.
Part 4 is where I introduce some top-ten lists and have even more fun discussing housetraining than I do in the preceding three parts. In the process, I emphasize some important housetraining principles. And if, for some reason, you’re wondering whether housetraining is worth the trouble, this part — specifically Chapter 13 — gives you the incentive you need to keep plugging away.
If you’re interested in getting more information about housetraining and other aspects of dog care, I’ve included an appendix full of resources after Chapter 13.
To make this book simpler to use, I’ve included some icons to help you find and fathom key ideas and information.
This icon calls attention to time- and hassle-saving ideas or items that are especially helpful when housetraining your dog.
This icon denotes information that’s so critical to successful housetraining that you should read it more than once — just to ensure that you remember it as you potty-train your own pooch.
This icon flags dangers to your dog’s well-being. It also lets you know when an apparent housetraining problem is really a medical problem that demands a veterinarian’s attention.
Perhaps you want the full scoop on why dens are such a big part of most dogs’ lives or how dogs use their pee to communicate with each other. This icon flags such nonessential information for you. On the other hand, if you just want to understand the basic concepts of housetraining, sidestep this icon and move on.
If you haven’t acquired your dog yet, or if she’s just arrived, reading from the very beginning of this book and working your way through to the end is best. But if your canine companion has been with you for a while, or if you’re just trying to solve a particular pooch potty problem, don’t fret. Head to the table of contents or to the index, where you can find the topic that can help solve your dog’s specific housetraining problems.
Part I
IN THIS PART …
Before you can housetrain your dog, you need to prepare yourself for the task. In this part, you find out how to do just that, starting with understanding exactly what housetraining is. From there, you discover the importance of working with your dog’s instincts to teach him basic bathroom manners, and you get some help deciding where your dog’s bathroom should be, whether indoors or outdoors. Finally, you get a shopping list of what you need to housetrain your hound effectively and of what to feed him so you not only make the housetraining process easier but also safeguard his overall health and well-being.
Chapter 1
IN THIS CHAPTER
Defining housetraining
Understanding why housetraining is important
Discovering two ways to housetrain
Dealing with the unexpected
Clarifying the housetrainer’s role
Max, a 10-week-old Beagle, is delighting his new owner with his puppy antics but is dismaying her with his penchant for peeing all over her recently installed carpet. No matter how recently he tinkled outside, he always seems to have something left over with which to tinkle on the floor covering.
Allie, a 6-year-old Golden Retriever, would never pee on anyone’s carpet. Her people can count on her to do her business three or four times a day: first thing in the morning, early in the afternoon, in the late afternoon (sometimes), and in the evening before she retires for the night. On the rare occasions that she needs an extra bathroom break, she lets her people know by heading to the back door and scratching it — or if her tummy is giving her trouble, by waking up one of her people to get her outside in time to avoid an accident.
Cody, a 3-year-old Chihuahua, can hold his water pretty well — sometimes. Other times, though, he seems to suffer from bathroom-manners amnesia or a sudden preference for taking a whiz any place except where he’s supposed to.
Which of these dogs is housetrained? Which ones aren’t? In this chapter, you not only find the answer to those two questions but also discover why housetraining plays such an important role in whether you and your dog can live happily ever after.
To know whether your dog is really housetrained, you need to understand exactly what housetraining is. Unfortunately, most dictionaries aren’t all that helpful here. For example, the Random House Dictionary offers a two-word definition: “to housebreak.” That doesn’t tell you much — after all, you’re not teaching your dog to break anything! The American Heritage Dictionary offers the same terse definition, although it does add that the term is primarily British.
No matter where the term housetraining originates, defining it still requires precision and directness. Simply put, housetraining is the process in which you teach your dog to eliminate when you want him to and where you want him to — and to refrain from eliminating at any other time or place.
That definition doesn’t allow much room for errors or lapses. And clearly, when measured against those criteria, a dog who consistently does his duty outdoors or in a designated indoor area is fully housetrained. That’s not the case, though, with a dog who usually tinkles outdoors, never tinkles outdoors, or only occasionally tinkles outdoors (or performs with similar levels of consistency in a predetermined indoor Bowser bathroom). Housetraining is one of those all-or-nothing cases. That being the case, Allie is the only dog in the chapter intro whom you can consider truly housetrained.
Why does such precision matter? Simple: An otherwise well-behaved, healthy dog who doesn’t know proper pooch potty protocol is much more likely to lose her home than a similar dog who knows her bathroom basics. No human being likes to have his home turned into a multiroom canine toilet — and if such a human can’t teach his dog to take her bathroom business elsewhere, that dog is likely to find herself going elsewhere.
Housetraining is an either-or proposition: Either a dog is housetrained, or she isn’t. To say that a dog is “partially trained” or “a little bit housetrained” is like saying that a woman is “partially pregnant” or “a little bit pregnant.” None of those terms compute.
If you consider your dog to be “a little bit housetrained,” you’re really saying that he hasn’t completely learned proper bathroom manners yet. That means you can’t really rely on him to go to the bathroom only where and when you want him to.
Until your dog is totally housetrained, you always face the chance that Lassie will decide to use your brand new area rug as her toilet or that Laddie will choose to anoint your mother-in-law’s prized Chippendale chair. And of course, for some dogs, especially puppies, those chances are way better than even. That’s certainly the case with Max, the young Beagle from the chapter intro who’s been using that new carpet as his own personal potty.
But owners of adult dogs like Cody, the Chihuahua who’s occasionally leaving unwelcome puddles throughout his owner’s abode, also cope with unreliable canines. Cody appears to have forgotten the lessons in bathroom manners his owner taught him years ago — or perhaps he never quite understood those lessons in the first place. Chapter 9 describes typical cases of pooches who appear to have forgotten the fine art of proper canine bathroom behavior. Or maybe Cody doesn’t feel well. Chapter 10 focuses on why a pooch may pee or poop inappropriately — and what owners can do to solve such problems.
But for now, it’s fair to say that although housetraining is an either-or proposition, there’s definitely more than one way to teach a dog proper potty behavior. Before you start, though, you need to get yourself and your household ready for the task. Chapter 2 helps you prepare by giving you a primer on canine instincts and on how to capitalize on those instincts to help your dog become a happy housetrainee. Chapter 3 focuses on equipping you, your home, and your dog to ensure housetraining success. And Chapter 4 hones in on a crucial component of the housetraining process: food. After all, what goes in your dog must eventually come out, in one form or another!
Most people who choose to live with dogs want to be able to regulate their canines’ bathroom deportment. They want their dogs to poop and pee where and when they (the people) choose.
Fortunately, you can choose between two methods designed to help you achieve this goal. The right choice for you and your dog depends on many factors, some of which relate less to your dog’s needs than to your way of living. In this section, I discuss indoor and outdoor training and talk about some of the lifestyle issues that may help you choose one method over another.
The two housetraining methods I discuss in this book are all about location — as in where you want your pooch to potty: indoors or outdoors.
If the idea of turning part of your house into a canine bathroom doesn’t thrill you, you’re far from alone. That same lack of enthusiasm is probably the primary reason that millions of dog owners train their four-legged friends to do their bathroom business outside. Outdoor training involves teaching a dog to eliminate in a potty area located outside your home. The potty area can be a designated spot in your backyard or wherever you allow your dog to do his business.
Outdoor training has plenty of advantages. First and foremost, as soon as your dog knows what he’s supposed to do and where he’s supposed to do it, you never again need to worry about canine waste marring your floors, staining your carpets, or otherwise stinking up your house. You also have more floor space to use and enjoy, because you don’t have any newspapers, litter boxes, or other indoor canine bathroom paraphernalia to get in the way of household foot traffic. Finally, those who choose to walk their dogs outdoors can get some healthful, enjoyable exercise as well as some special bonding time with their canine companions. If these advantages appeal to you, head over to Chapter 6, which gives you the straight scoop on teaching your pooch to potty outside.
But outdoor training carries some disadvantages, too — just ask anyone who’s had to go outside with his pooch on a cold or rainy night. Fortunately, a little extra training can go a long way toward alleviating the problem of the pooch who takes too long to do his business during bad weather. Chapter 8 offers ideas on how to teach your dog to become a proactive housetraining graduate and provides some hints on how to help your housetrainee expedite his excretions.
Don’t think that letting your pooch potty in your yard relieves you of the obligation to clean up those deposits. Unless you like having bright yellow patches in the middle of your green grass (a problem I address in Chapter 3) or stepping in the other stuff — because that stuff generally doesn’t degrade fast enough for you to totally avoid such missteps — plan on cleaning up after your four-legged friend even if his potty is on your property.
Indoor training involves teaching a dog to eliminate in a potty area located inside your home. The potty area can be some newspapers spread on the floor in one room, a litter box tucked discreetly into a corner, or some other device located in a designated area of your abode.
A dog who’s indoor-trained makes a beeline for that indoor location whenever he feels the urge to eliminate. As soon as he’s finished, cleanup is easy: You just flush the poop down the toilet and either throw away or clean the surface upon which the poop or pee landed.
Indoor training is a viable housetraining option if, for some reason, taking your dog outside to eliminate isn’t practical. It’s also worth trying if your adult dog and his waste byproducts are very small.
But indoor training carries some disadvantages. It’s impractical if your dog is much bigger than toy-sized (consider how big that waste is likely to be). Moreover, if your canine companion is male, sooner or later he’ll probably starting lifting his leg when he pees. When that happens, his ability to aim accurately may decline. Instead of hitting the litter box, newspaper, or other toilet, he may leave a stinky puddle on your floor.
Either way, if you decide that indoor training is right for you and your dog, mosey on over the Chapter 7. There, you get the lowdown on how to get your four-legged friend to squat down in the proper indoor location.
How do you decide which housetraining method works best for you? The right answer depends as much on your way of living as it does on your dog’s needs.
Maybe you’re one of those lucky people who not only work from home during the day but also have some nice outdoor places to walk to. For you, walking a dog can be a real pleasure — and at times even a sanity saver. A housetraining method that takes you and your dog outdoors is probably an attractive option.
Perhaps, though, you’re an elderly person or a mobility-impaired individual who can’t get out and around easily. The dog walk that’s pure pleasure for your work-at-home neighbor may be pure torture for you. If this description fits you, the ideal housetraining method probably means never having to leave the house. Indoor training may be a better choice.
Or perhaps you live in a high-rise apartment building in the middle of the city. When your canine companion needs a potty break, you can’t just snap on the leash, open the front door, and head out for a quick stroll or a trip to a designated doggie toilet area. Instead, your route to the great outdoors may require you and your dog to walk to the opposite end of a long hallway, wait for the elevator to stop at your floor, ride down to your building lobby on the elevator, and finally get yourselves to the proper spot outside. And all this time, your dog is expected to hold her water. If you and your dog face such obstacles en route to an outdoor bathroom, you may also want to consider keeping her potty indoors.
Those are just a few examples of how your lifestyle can affect the housetraining method you select for your four-legged friend. No matter which method you choose, this book gives you detailed instructions on how to housetrain your dog.
Although housetraining is generally a straightforward process, chances are you’ll encounter setbacks during the training period. And even when your four-legged friend becomes a housetraining graduate, he’s bound to do some occasional backsliding. In any case, you’ll likely see situations in which your consistently rock-solid housetrainee suddenly seems to lose his edge, and neither you nor he knows why.
For setbacks during the housetraining period, Chapters 6 and 7 offer guides for troubleshooting bathroom errors. In those chapters, you find questions that can help you determine the mistakes you made that led to that unauthorized puddle or pile (and yes, during this period, generally any doggie accidents result from your mistakes).
Post-housetraining backsliding can be a little more complicated, but here, too, help is at hand. Although every dog is an individual, almost every healthy housetraining-challenged dog fits one of ten broad profiles. Chapter 9 describes these profiles in detail and outlines options so you can either help your dog overcome her housetraining challenges or, in a few cases, live with your dog and her disabilities.
That said, a lot of apparently housetraining-challenged dogs really don’t have bathroom issues at all: Instead, they’re feeling under the weather. Some of the maladies that result in doggie bathroom lapses are minor, and others aren’t. Chapter 10 lists some of the most common bathroom-related symptoms, suggests possible causes of those symptoms, and recommends steps to take.
Most dog trainers say that the most important part of their jobs isn’t training dogs — it’s training the humans to train the dogs. In Chapter 12, you discover the ten most common human housetraining hang-ups and how to prevent them.
You and the other humans in your life play crucial roles in your dog’s housetraining progress and ultimate success (or lack thereof). Not only do you teach your dog the ins and outs of proper potty protocol, but you also create the conditions that can make or break a housetraining program. For one thing, housetraining needs to be a family affair. Here’s why:
Chapter 11 helps you get all the humans in your household, including the kids, on the same page so you can all housetrain Sparky together.
But maybe getting your family on board isn’t your problem. Maybe you’re trying to deal with housetraining a dog while working away from home all day. Even well into the 21st century, corporate America still isn’t all that great about accommodating the needs of employees’ family members, whether those members are human or canine. Chapter 11 offers suggestions on how to give your housetrainee some daytime relief and still keep your job.
The same chapter also covers coping strategies for other special situations, such as traveling with a dog you’re trying to housetrain or even just providing for the bathroom needs of a housetraining graduate while you’re on the road.
Your dog or puppy has all the instincts and desire he needs to motivate him to acquire good bathroom manners — he just needs you to get him going. Do the job right, and not only will your dog become a housetraining ace, but the two of you will build a bond that goes the distance for years to come.