Housebreaking is more than teaching a dog not to pee and poop in the home. Housebreaking is about training your dog to be left unsupervised in the home for reasonable amounts of time, without you returning to find any damage or unpleasant surprises.

To improve or prevent housebreaking problems, The Foundation Style Dog Training System™ must be in place up to this point. The seven previous levels, all include important guidelines to follow, which are necessary for successfully troubleshooting this difficult problem.

- From level 1, you must have a good understanding of your dog's behavior and his natural tendencies.

- From level 2, your dog must be in good health. You must make sure that elimination behavior is not related to a variety of health problems, that will make success impossible if not addressed. Examples include, but are not limited to: loose stool, urinary tract infection, bladder stones, kidney infection, incontinence, congenital abnormalities of the digestive or urinary system, diabetes, and much more. Consult your veterinarian if you have any suspicions.

- From level 4, you must have the right attitude. If you are losing your temper or yelling at your dog at any level, it will only cause problems. Submissive urination during greetings, can be worsened by an owner, who does not remain calm during this act. Remember that submissive urination is an involuntary action, which reflects the state of the dog’s submission, and cannot be controlled until both dog and owner become more calm and confident. Also, patience will be important as solid housebreaking seldom happens in less than 6 weeks. Until then, diligence and consistency are important.

- From level 6, you must understand your Golden Rules of dog training. Timing, Motivation, and Consistency must ALL be used perfectly to housebreak a dog. If you don’t remember the details of these rules, you must review them before you attempt formal housebreaking.

- From level 7, pack structure MUST be in place – The same exercises outlined in pack structure to passively promote your leadership, are also necessary to control the environment, so that you can clearly teach your furry student house manners. For instance:

o If you feed your dog at the same two times per day, they will generally have predictable bowel movements twice a day. This will aid when troubleshooting the best time to schedule walks or trips to the yard. Keep a log of when your dog or puppy has a bowel movement. Use this information, along with modifying feeding times, to determine the best schedule to take your dog outside.

o If you maintain your dog on a system as outlined in the leadership section, the dog will also learn better bladder and bowel control as opposed to a dog, who is used to instantly relieving himself at the first urge to eliminate. This is just one of the reasons, why teaching or encouraging your dog to scratch at the door, bark, ring a bell, etc, is not a good idea for housebreaking.

o If you do not let your dog on furniture and beds, you should not have to worry about the urge for your dog to mark (with pee and poop) on those items.

o If you do not allow your dog to own possessions, there will be a smaller likelihood, that he will feel like he owns and must therefore mark around the house. Also, it is easier to teach a dog that they are allowed to chew NOTHING unless handed to them and supervised, than to try to teach the dog that several items are theirs and allowed, while other items such as slippers, are not allowed. Remember, the simpler and clearer we make this for the dog, the greater the chance for success.

- From the section on Drive Balance, you've learned that you must satisfy your dog’s restless spirit in order to teach him, what he is allowed to chew and to reduce his urge to seek out something to chew on his own.

It doesn't really matter if you are dealing with a puppy or an adult dog, many of the exercises are going to follow the same structure:

- Puppies and dogs must be placed on a schedule. Going out three times per day is sufficient for most adult dogs. For puppies, take their age in months, and use that as a starting point for your schedule. For instance, a 3 month old puppy should go out every 3 hours. They can last a little longer at night, when sleeping. Dogs and pups must know that if they hold themselves, they can rely on consistent times during the day, that they will be able to relieve themselves. Do not teach your pupppy/dog to tell you when he wants to go outside. The puppy may be taken out more than your scheduled times, if you see signs of an accident about to occur, such as circling. If you can, quickly take the dog outside, before the accident occurs. 

- Dogs and puppies must be confined to a small enough area, when not supervised. Canines raised in hygienic conditions, do not like to relieve themselves where they sleep. Restricting him to an area, where he's able to sleep comfortably and turn around to change positions, will encourage the dog or puppy to hold his poop and pee. Dog crates and kennels are excellent training tools for this purpose.

- Dogs and puppies must be tethered to owner or kept in the same room when loose. If they have good hygiene, they will be more likely to want to relieve themselves in another room, further away from you. They MUST not get a chance to pee or poop in the house, without you seeing.If you see signs of an accident, immediately bring your dog outside. If a dog makes a mistake, when you are not watching, do not EVER get mad at the dog - it is YOUR mistake, not the dog's. Just bring the dog outside to finish, if you catch the dog in the act. The worst thing you can do at this stage, is to teach your dog to hide from you, when he wants to eliminate in the house. Don't let your dog feel that you are angry with him going inside.

- Puppies and dogs should be rewarded for relieving themselves outside for the first month. Enthusiastic praise and treats will work.

If you are completely consistent with this plan for at least a month with an adult dog, or until a puppy is at least 6 months of age, you likely don't need to implement corrections to achieve fairly reliable house-breaking.   However, it is rare that a dog will be perfect by abiding by all the rules we desire in our house such as not taking food off of countertops, invading the garbage, or picking up certain items.   Therefore it is recommended that you read this article as an intro to corrections in dog training here: Corrections in Dog Training

Additionally, It is highly recommended to use a housebreaking chart as a tool to help with your plan.  Find ours here: Housebreaking Chart (Habitation Chart)

Here is an older but silly video for you. Don't worry, the poop is FAKE! 🙂