Miller: Severe Housebreaking Case Study

One of the most important things for an adopted dog to learn is house training. No owner wants to have to clean up their dog’s waste every day inside their home. Many owners that get puppies or young dogs immediately work on housebreaking. In general, teaching house training to a puppy or dog is not that difficult. However, there are few exceptions, particularly with dogs that have never learned the concept of eliminating outside the home.

Three weeks ago, I welcomed Miller here, along with his owner Stacia. Miller is past his puppy years, and Stacia adopted him when he was around two years old. He is now four and he has YET to use the bathroom outside. Stacia dealt with the situation by using puppy pads and attempting to teach house training on her own to no avail. She had tried using a crate, stop feeding and giving Miller water after 6pm, and everything she could think of or read from the dog training articles she found online.

One of the common tools many dog trainers will recommend to teach house training is the crate. I believe that the crate should always be a positive place for the puppy or dog, and never used as a punishment. When purchasing a crate for a puppy, it is important to get one that will be an appropriate size for when the puppy grows. In the beginning though, it is still important to keep the crate the right size: only big enough where the puppy can comfortably lie down in and turn around in. Many crates, especially the metal ones, will come with dividers to put in the crate, so that there is more control of the sizing, especially as the puppy gets bigger.

Crate training, when done right, is a great way to not only overcome housebreaking, but also to build confidence. In my training, the crate will always be used positively and simply for management. In Miller’s case, we had to change the size of the crate, as he basically has a penthouse hotel room with his crate. This was giving him the opportunity to eliminate inside his crate and still feel comfortable in it (because he could avoid the spot where he went to the bathroom). Dogs do NOT want to be sitting in their own filth, but if given the chance to do it somewhere and then comfortably sit somewhere else, then they will do it.

But the major thing that was missing from Miller’s house training was the lack of associations for him. The crate and consistent scheduling helps with the house training, but proper associations need to be instilled, especially for a dog that has NEVER gone to the bathroom outside of the house. With Stacia, she had to really crack down on her scheduling and not allow Miller to go potty inside. Along with this, she had to show Miller that going to the bathroom outside was a very positive thing. I am not a fan of just building negative associations and punishments. Dogs need to see what is the right thing to do and be encouraged to do so!

Last night, I got a call from Stacia: Miller had not had an accident since I saw them three weeks ago. He uses the front yard to eliminate and his crate is not only a positive place for him, it is clean and waste-free now! Housebreaking is not a difficult thing to teach a dog. And don’t think just because your dog is no longer a puppy that he is doomed to be eliminating in your home for good. Just establish a schedule, take away the opportunity to fail, build proper associations, and BE CONSISTENT!!!

If you have a puppy or dog that still needs to be housebroken, call me at 800-649-7297 to set up an initial training consultation.