Generally speaking, housebreaking your small dog is the process through which you train your small dog that lives with you in the house to urinate or defecate outside the house or in a demarcated area within the house, instead of doing it anywhere else.
House breaking small dogs is therefore one task that you may find very unpleasant. Indeed, it is possible to housebreak your small dog although the effort and the time you put into it will vary from one dog breed to another. As a matter of fact, small dogs may be very temperamental when being potty trained because a good number of them are spoiled lap dogs. Because of this, positive reinforcement is necessary and you need to praise your small dog and show him great affection.
Regardless of your dog breed, there are two recommended methods for housebreaking small dogs. The first is paper or pad training your dog while the second is confinement or crate training. In both cases, the most important thing is consistency. The main reason for this is because it is more difficult to retrain your dog when they have already started to learn something.
Although paper or pad training has been found to be effective in housebreaking small dogs, it is one method you should take up as a last resort. This is because it may confuse your dog in the long run and this is how it does that. Whereas you are trying to encourage your small dog to go outside to relieve himself, paper and pad training teaches him that it is OK to go to a potty indoors.
Crate training is a method in which you use a crate in potty training your small dog. In this method, your small dog learns to wait to relieve himself outdoors. Bear in mind that small dogs have very small bladders and hence they need to urinate a lot sooner than bigger dogs. This means that it will take a longer time before your small dog can learn to wait through the night without having to go outside and relieve himself. You therefore have to be very patient and support your small dog through this process. Indeed, with a little patience, your small dog will finally learn what is expected of him.
In housebreaking small dogs, you need to know that because of the size your dog, he is likely to go out more often because he eats more meals compared to bigger dogs. Because of this, you need to create a schedule that corresponds with your dog's age and size. This is important if you are to create a pattern that will eventually make potty training less challenging.
Also, during the process of housebreaking small dogs, be watchful of them. With time, your dog will start to show some signs and signals when he needs to go out to potty. It is upon you to learn the given signals so that you know when your dog is showing signs of going to the potty indoors. Once you learn these signs, then you can say a very firm 'NO' every time your dog shows the signal and with time, he will learn what is expected of him.
The secret behind housebreaking small dogs lies in supervising them. Once Dog bed blanket do that, you will be able to prevent your small dog from hiding and relieving himself in other areas in the house not designated for that business. If you do it over and over and are consistent, you will eventually be able to housebreak your dog successfully.