For a very good guide to all sorts of dog training processes and dog behavior challenges, I use and recommend Clickertraining ...that link goes to the description of this terrific ebook you download immediately, wherever you are! -- Rosana

This video shows some of the ways you can housetrain a puppy using a clicker:

Every now and then I get an email from someone who is having problems with crate training. Here are bits from the most recent one:

We just recently got a new puppy and are trying to crate train it. We put him to bed (in his crate) when we go to bed, and then let him out in the morning to do his thing and run around a bit. Then when we leave for work we put him back into his crate where he stays until the kids get home from school and let him out again.

My problem is that i am constantly (twice a day) having to change his bedding as he both poops and pees in his crate. I thought that maybe putting an exercise pen up for him during the day would be better but several friends have told us NO!

What would be the best solution for this as we don’t want him to think of his crate as a “bad” place?

Well, it’s always risky to guess about a situation without knowing all the details, but to me it seems that it’s time to think outside the box… um, crate. Here are some thoughts…

Many problems of this sort can be handled by paying a lot more attention to the puppy’s bathroom needs. You are clearly already being very conscientious but if you take your attention to an even more intense level for a few days or weeks, you may be able to solve the problem completely.

On the weekends and during the night, you can get an idea of just how long the puppy can hold it. Different breeds mature at different rates, and individual dogs will vary too. We once had an Australian Shepherd pup who could hold it all night from the first night we got him, at 9 weeks (gloat), but that is unusual.

Say you discover that your little pup can go about 4 hours. (Review my potty training puppies page here for a suggested routine.) That means you’ll do best if someone can come in once during the time all your family is gone. This would be nice for the puppy anyway, since he is likely pretty lonely. A trusted neighbor, a paid pet-sitter or dog walker, or one of those friends who is telling you not to use an X-pen are all possibilities. They would take him out for a chance to pee or poop, play with him for a few minutes or longer, and perhaps take a pre-stuffed Kong out of your freezer to coax him back into his crate before they leave.

This also means that a middle of the night potty stop outing should take place. Set an alarm clock if you are heavy sleepers.

Seems to me that what you want is to break the habit of using the crate for a bathroom as quickly as you can. I personally would consider combining the crate with an X-Pen, and putting newspapers down in the pen. If the dog is tiny relative to the crate, maybe you can define two spaces in it, but I am guessing this is not the case from your description. Or if you happen to have a mudroom or other small and totally puppy-proof space (or can invent one somewhere in your home), you could put papers down in it and have the crate in there with the door open.

If you begin to think this is going on longer than it should (of course, it already feels like that!), then be sure to consult your veterinarian. It all sounds pretty normal so far, though.

So in a nutshell, I’m suggesting closer management and experimenting more with the size of his space. Best wishes!

Recently I met a woman whose two-year-old dog poops on the expensive carpets throughout her house, typically early in the morning before she is awake. She has had him for over a year and a half, and she doesn’t know what to do. She is thinking of getting rid of him, she said in exasperation.

Housetraining problems are one of the main reasons people do get rid of dogs, and what is the likelihood of such a dog coming across someone with the knowledge and the patience to deal with this problem? Not too great. Far better if people can get some help with their dog and work it through!

This woman and I talked about some of the things she could do, and I referred her to my webpage on housetraining puppies and dogs. so I’ll leave her story now, and talk more generally. What are some of the things that can be done with an adult dog who pees or poops in the house?

First, I think it’s helpful to realize that the dog has somehow learned that this is acceptable behavior — even if he gets yelled at sometimes, he hasn’t learned the desirable habits, and this is due to the messages he has gotten from his people. In other words, the context is that this situation has been created by both dog and human. And that’s how the solution will come: from the interactions of both, the communication. I’ve observed that often it’s happened at a time when the humans have had full plates with other aspects of their lives and simply haven’t found the way to deal with the dog problems too.

Do be sure to have your veterinarian examine the dog, to be sure there are no physical problems involved.

You have a management situation here. From now on, the dog should not be allowed loose in the rooms that he has used for elimination. This probably means using a crate at times — I love the many benefits of crate training dogs and that link takes you to my page about how to crate train. Do take the time to let the dog come to accept the crate!

Another way you can keep tabs on your dog in the house is to attach yourself to the dog by means of a medium-length leash which clips onto a belt you wear.

Okay, so with this level of management, you should immediately see little or none of the undesirable behavior. But what about teaching him what you do want?

Spend a LOT of time taking him outside, to where you want him to do his stuff. Luckily, since adults can hold it longer, you won’t need to follow the puppy schedule I outline on that housetraining page, but you likely will need to stay outside longer on each trip. This can be a time to play ball or walk together — just be sure to keep your eyes on the dog rather than getting distracted into weeding the petunias because then you may miss the moment when he does his stuff.

You want to notice that moment for two reasons — it means you are free to go back in the house shortly but it also is a time when you want to praise the dog effusively for being so good and smart. Tiny bits of something delicious can be given too.

Over time, this method will yield results. Just don’t slack off too soon! It’s always harder to unlearn a bad habit that to learn right in the first place, but it can be done. And it’s worth it!

Dog housetraining comes up regularly as an important dog and puppy training topic… naturally! When I check my statistics each month for which pages of my website are the most popular, almost always #1 is my page titled Potty Training Dogs.

I’ve been pleased lately that people are also finding a relatively new page on the site, my review of a very useful dog potty training ebook called The Ultimate Housetraining Guide. It’s also got a lot of good crate training information, and that’s another popular topic.

If you have any interest in puppy or dog housetraining, take a look!