Crate training is about the most efficient and effective ways to accomplish housebreaking. Never forget to reward your dog if he has done something right!

I have had so far two dogs that have not been housebroken by the time I got them. The first was a 4-month-old purebred Rottweiler that lived on the breeder’s farm, the second a tiny 3-month-mix whom I found at a pet shop. Training the Rottweiler with a crate was a breeze compared to training the tiny mix with training pads.

First and foremost make sure the crate is large enough. Large dogs need a large crate. They should be able to lay down relaxed, turn around and get up. You have to first establish a routine that increases the chances that your dog will eliminate in the right place in your presence. Then praise and reward. That will prevent that your dog will do his business at the wrong place at the wrong time. Animals are normally reluctant to soil their bedding that helps with crate training. Put a comfortable blanket and maybe a chew toy into the crate and let the animal stay there for 2 - 3 hours. As soon as you are ready to go for a walk, take the dog out and immediately go outside. I have a command for walks and started saying this word every time I opened the crate door and put the leash on the dog. Soon your dog will associate the word with you taking him outside to do his business. Praise him, pet him, and show lots of affection. When you think that the dog is ready to go back, after about 5 - 10 minutes, let him eat, maybe play a little with him and put him back into the crate. For puppies around 4 months you might have to do this at least 5 - 6 times a day and one more time shortly before you go to bed. It took about 5 weeks for the do to be perfectly housebroken, we had only one accident, but in that case the dog was whimpering in his crate and I misunderstood and thought he wanted attention only. In fact, the dog had diarrhea. My mistake. After about 6 weeks I let the dog sleep outside the crate - no accidents happened. He did though come and wake me up around 7 a.m. demanding his morning walk. But by that time he had already learned that walking to the door in case he needed to “go” is a good sign to show me his need.

Training the little mix was much more difficult. I thought that I would not need a crate but could use training pads and paper on my balcony. Well, my dog thought different. He totally disliked the training pads, and paper was something he was not too eager about either. I ended up walking this dog every two hours, and we still had accidents. He was good at night, he slept up to 8 hours without a problem, but he was rather difficult during the day. For months we had miscommunication when it came to him announcing that he needed to “go”, because this animal is a born whiner in the first place. He likes to use his “cuteness” to get attention. Housebreaking took over 3 months, and was rather exhausting. Now, with 2 years, he is perfect. No accidents, 9 hours sleep without a problem, and he knows to go to the door if he feels the need to do his business.

My recommendation: for your sake - use a crate. It makes things much easier on you and gives the dog, especially a young puppy, much clearer signs what will happen next. Don’t forget to praise, and never get upset if an accident happens. (You won’t be mad at your baby either, right?).

After you are pretty sure that a crate is not needed anymore, but in case you are not home all the time, use the confinement method for some more weeks, or even months. Confinement means that you limit the dogs access to certain areas of an apartment our house, preferably with easy to clean floors, no carpets. In case an accident happens, the damage is not severe but can quickly be cleaned up.

If you keep your dog in confinement don’t forget to put his basket/blanket, toys, his food and water bowl within reach. Same as when opening a crate, as soon as you take your animal out of confinement, put a leash on it and walk it immediately. For some dog owners a confinement during the night is a good solution, though dogs are known to prefer their owner’s beds