The Dog Clinic » mistakes http://www.thedogclinic.com Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:50:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 How To Housebreak A Puppy – The Three Mistakes Most Owners Make http://www.thedogclinic.com/how-to-housebreak-a-puppy-the-three-mistakes-most-owners-make http://www.thedogclinic.com/how-to-housebreak-a-puppy-the-three-mistakes-most-owners-make#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:27:00 +0000 Richard Cross http://www.thedogclinic.com/how-to-housebreak-a-puppy-the-three-mistakes-most-owners-make Knowing how to housebreak a puppy is one of the most important skills for any new dog owner. There are some common mistakes that a lot of owners make when trying to house train their new dog though, so this article will take you through the three most common reasons people fail to house train their dog correctly – and most importantly how to avoid making these mistakes yourself!

The first mistake owners make can be lethal to any hope of house training the dog. Many new dog owners don’t give much thought to house training when they buy a dog – which is hardly surprising as it is a wonderful time. The problem is that this often means the owner isn’t expecting house training accidents to happen. When learning how to housebreak a puppy it is vital to expect mistakes! When they do happen, don’t blame the dog, but take responsibility yourself. If you are expecting mistakes then you won’t be as tempted into the second big mistake…

The next mistake to avoid is reprimanding the puppy for a job that he or she was not caught doing. If you do this, the puppy will assume that he is being reprimanded for the act he was doing that that very moment. You should never tell your puppy off for accidents, as this will only teach it to be wary of you when it is going to the toilet. This has the obvious effect of making it much harder to keep an eye on where it is going to the toilet!

Another very dangerous mistake that owners make is not properly clearing up previous accidents. When trying to housebreak a puppy you should remember that if a puppy can smell urine or faeces in a certain place they are likely to go there again. For this reason it’s important to properly clean up any accidents so the dog can’t smell anything in the spot in the future.

Most of all, you need to be consistent. Make sure everyone in the house knows exactly how you want the puppy trained to avoid any possible confusion.

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