Housebreaking Tools & Crate Training

How will control at the beginning of housebreaking and potty training affect later the dog in a year from now?

puppy training

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puppies and their care, advice from a professional groomer

housebreaking

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Build control for housebreaking with crate training, exercise pens, and puppy gates

Our housebreaking plan will start by accessing the natural traits of our training subject. Not all dogs, but most dog will avoid soiling their immediate living area. It starts first with their sleeping area and expands to a larger living area. The instinctive hygiene trait will be used and accentuated in the housebreaking program. Most dogs can develop very good control over their elimination habits. It’s through training that we enhance the hygiene trait.

Until housebroken you will need to control your dog until it can control itself. Just as there are several teaching method for training our dogs, so too there are several ways to control your dog

Crate training and housebreaking

I prefer starting a housebreaking program with crate training. As people become more familiar with crate training they’re also more open to using a crate for house breaking. Fortunately crate training has become quite popular over the years and is now a standard part of housebreaking and training. Many pet owners have come to understand that most dogs feel quite comfortable in their crates. Puppy parents have an easier time overcoming emotional objections to the crate when they can see their dogs willingly accept crate training. The majority of people who crate train their dogs soon realize the immense value of crate training.

Traditional Vari-Kennel dog crate

There are two types of dog crates that are practical to use for housebreaking. The first is the traditional plastic crate and the second is the collapsible wire crate. They each have their advantages.

Housebreaking and the exercise pen

I begin transitioning to an exercise pen fairly soon after the dog feels comfortable staying in its crate. An exercise pen is typically made of eight wire panels. Sometime they also include a top. The top is a good idea if you have a dog that climbs the wire panels to get out of the pen. The exercise pen is basically a playpen for dogs without a bottom. When the dog is reliably waiting in the crate and going potty in a designated spot is a good time to let the dog spend more time the exercise pen. Exercise pens are very adaptable and can be used several ways to help housebreak pet dogs.

Exercise pen tricks and tips
(Omitted from free housebreaking article)

Leash (Omitted from free housebreaking article) helpful and often used but not always necessary

Tie down (omitted from free housebreaking article) helpful but in most cased not necessary

Using the Bed for housebreaking

Usually if the dog is staying on its bed it’s not getting into trouble. Most dogs will also keep their beds clean. This makes the bed a fairly safe place to leave the dog when the humans are busy. When dogs are staying with me for training I will usually have them stay on their bed by my desk while I’m working. In the beginning stages teaching the dog to stay on its bed does require time and effort. Teaching the Bed command and teaching the dog to stay on the bed is covered in the online dog training program, the in home training, and board and train programs.

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Puppy gates for housebreaking
The time to give a dog more responsibility is when you know it can handle the extra freedom of extended house privileges. This may include giving the dog more freedom when it’s never going potty in the exercise pen and only going potty in its spot. After the exercise pen training the next step to potty training is to section off the house with puppy gates. The puppy gates give the dog more room to practice responsible behavior while preventing it from having access to the whole house.

As the dog shows it can keep the sectioned off part of the house clean you can move the puppy gates in a way to give the dog more access to the house. Do this until the dog is reliable in the entire house.

For most housebreaking and potty training programs I use these tools for control and confinement in this order

• Dog Crates and crate training
• Exercise pen
• Puppy gate

Housebreaking Rhythm and tool use (omitted from free housebreaking article) interesting but not always necessary

Adaptive Dog Training specializes in housebreaking and potty training. Adaptive Dog Training is here to help guide you on the proper use of over the counter and custom housebreaking and potty training equipment
Call for information about my dog obedience training programs
714-827-4058. My service area includes Long Beach, Orange County, San Gabriel Valley, and the Los Angles metro area

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If you liked this article you may also like this article about housebreaking problems that also includes two important dog behavior housebreaking tips

This is the second part in a housebreaking and potty training series
You can comment and keep up to date on this series at our dog behavior blog