Precious Bichon Frise – Bichon Frise Sales, Breeder

HOUSEBREAKING TIPS

Your puppy can only hold it one hour for every month they are old. For example:

2 months = 2 hours, 3 months = 3 hours and so forth.

Take your puppy outside first thing every morning when you wake up. Take your puppy outside after they eat and drink. It could take anywhere from 10-20 minutes before they are ready to go potty. Do not let your puppy eat or drink “free choice.” Always monitor them as they eat so you will know when they are finished. Always feed and water your puppy at the same time every day. If they eat at regular intervals they will eliminate at regular intervals. Watch for signals like circling, sniffing, whining, or pacing as these are signs they are looking for a place to go. Take them to the same place every time to do their business. Take the puppy outside and say something like “go potty” to trigger them to do their business. Don’t bring your puppy back inside as soon as he does his business. Let the puppy stay outside and play for a short while. Praise them or offer them a treat after they go. Never scold your puppy unless you catch them in the act. Tell them “no” in a firm voice and take them outside immediately. Never rub their face in the place where they have had an accident. Never leave your puppy unsupervised, not even for a minute! When you can’t supervise your puppy, put them in their crate. Get your puppy on a schedule and stick to it! Remember, consistency is the key to success! The older the puppy gets the longer they can hold it so the good news is this won’t last forever!

SEVEN STEPS TO A HOUSE TRAINED PUPPY

STEP ONE: GET A CRATE

Crates tap into a dog’s basic desire to keep its den clean. It’ll do anything to avoid

pooping or peeing there. That avoidance gives your pup the incentive to develop the

bowel and bladder control that’s essential to effective housetraining.

In addition to housetraining, your puppy will learn to see the crate as a place to relax and

sleep. House training is much easier on you and your puppy if you use a crate.

STEP TWO: PICK A POTTY SPOT

Before you can teach your dog to do its business on a designated spot, you must pick the

designated spot. Generally, the best place for that spot is in the backyard near the house.

That way, you and your pup won’t have to go very far when it needs to go.

Make sure the area is easy to clean. Dogs don’t like to go in a dirty potty area anymore

than we do.

STEP THREE: MAKE SCENTS

Your puppy’s sense of smell is much better than yours. The canine snout has about 220

million cells designed to specifically detect scents while humans have only about 5

million such cells. The moisture around your puppy’s nose amplifies those scent

molecules.

Simply put, you can use the scent of a previous bathroom spot to show your puppy where

you want it to take its next potty break. The next time your puppy pees, wipe its bottom

with a soft paper towel or cloth and save it. At the next bathroom break, take the cloth

and your puppy to the designated spot and place the cloth on the spot. Your puppy most

likely will sniff the cloth and go on it. Repeat this process a few times and soon your

puppy will do its business on the potty spot without the cloth or any prompting from you.

STEP FOUR: MAKE A SCHEDULE

Now that you’ve shown your puppy where you want it to go, you need to show it when

you want it to do it. For a while though, the timing of its trips to the potty spot isn’t

completely up to you. Puppies under four months have to take several bathroom breaks

until its bladder develops fully.

Puppies need to take bathroom breaks when they wake up in the morning, after a nap,

after it eats, and after it plays. The best way to keep track of all those bathroom breaks is

to establish a feeding schedule, play time, take it out, and put it in the crate for a nap.

Such a schedule not only gives you some predictability during the housetraining process,

but your puppy will also become housetrained more quickly. That’s because if you take

it out to potty the same time everyday, its body will become accustomed to the schedule,

and it will be conditioned to do its business when you want it to.

STEP FIVE: WATCH FOR CUES, GIVE A CUE

Now that you know how to teach your puppy when and where to potty, you need to know

what to do when it actually eliminates. Once you’re at the potty spot, you’ll see your

little one sniff the ground intently, pace or circle, or maybe come to a stop. All of these

behaviors are cues that in just a few seconds, your puppy will either produce a puddle or

make a deposit.

No matter what your puppy’s pre-potty signal is, you need to give it a cue in return as

soon as it starts to eliminate. This cue, or potty prompt, should be something like “do

your business” or “go potty.” Use the same phrase each time your pup goes. It’s

important to limit the use of your potty cue only to the times you want your puppy to do

its business.

Eventually, your puppy may associate the phrase with the deed and potty exactly when

you tell it to. This helps on cold or rainy days or when you don’t want to wait too long

for your puppy to go.

Once you puppy finishes its business, praise the pup lavishly and give it a small treat.

Then bring it back inside. Potty time shouldn’t turn into play time.

STEP SIX: BE VIGILANT

While your puppy is still learning the housebreaking basics, your job is to make sure that

it doesn’t have the opportunity to make mistakes (or at least as few as possible). For this

reason, when your pup is not in its crate, you must watch it carefully, in fact, don’t take

your eyes off it! If your puppy shows any signs of needing to potty, scoop it up in your

arms and immediately go to the designated potty spot. After it goes, praise it.

If you’re too late, and your puppy graces your carpet with a puddle or a deposit, put the

puppy in its crate and clean the mess up without comment. Use an enzymatic cleaner

designed specifically for pet stains to eliminate the odors that might encourage your pup

to potty at the same spot again. Then, promise yourself and your pup that you’ll keep a

closer eye on it in the future to prevent such an accident from happening again.

STEP SEVEN: BE PATIENT

Don’t expect your puppy to learn its bathroom manners overnight. Housetraining takes

time, patience, and understanding. Your puppy needs time not only to figure out what

you want it to do, but also to develop the physical ability to control its urges to eliminate

until it gets to the potty spot.