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Housetraining Mistake # 2: Walking Your TraineeA second common way to mess up housetraining your puppy or dog is to
walk her when she needs to pee or poop. And walk her, and walk her, and then turn right around and go home as soon as she delivers. The lesson is, “My little outing ends the minute I pee and poop, so I’m hanging on as long as I can.” Pretty soon “as long as I can” means “until my person gives up and takes me home.” Behold the puppy who goes on lockdown during walks but
drops a bomb in the living room two seconds after the front door closes.It’s easy to avoid teaching this lesson and, as usual, a bit more work to undo it. Either way, the trick is to
make your puppy’s walk a reward for eliminating. Bring the puppy on leash to your chosen elimination spot and just stand there. Do nothing, say nothing. Give the puppy 2 or 3 minutes to eliminate. If she does, praise her warmly and take her for a walk. If she doesn’t, just bring her back inside without comment, and crate her or keep her on leash next to you. Ten to 15 minutes later, bring her outside and try again. Sooner or later she’ll pee and/or poop and earn her walk reward. Result: she learns to evacuate her bladder and bowels as soon as she’s outside, because that’s how she gets walks. By the way, prompt elimination is a convenient habit for rainy days.
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