House Training Your Puppy Using the Crate/Kennel Method

Many owners find housebreaking their puppies an unending and onerous chore. Dog pounds, animal shelters, and dog rescue centers are filled with dogs failed to to learn this vital skill to their dogs. The owner, unable to to break Fido of repeatedly soiling the carpet and floors, throws up his hands in defeat and dumps him at the local pound, or worse, the nearest park. These abandoned dogs, whose only crime is doing what comes naturally in the wrong place, end up being euthanized needlessly for lack of a welcoming owner willing to retrain a dog with ingrained bad habits. Therefore it could be easily argued that housebreaking your pet is the single-most important thing you should teach your dog. If you are going to have a dog living in your home, training him not to eliminate there is essential- both to his survival, and to your sanity!

Lets talk a little about "dog psychology". Knowing how to communicate your wishes to your canine friend is at the heart of of all training tasks. Many pet owners simply lack a good understanding of what motivates their dog. Most people are inclined to treat their dogs like recalcitrant children, cajoling them, lecturing them, yelling at them. They even assign them human traits like sneakiness or revenge. While our canine companions are similar to us in some ways, dogs aren't people, and they think and behave in very "dog-specific" ways! Much to the contrary of popular belief, they don't seek revenge or try to be sneaky or punish their owners! What they do do (no pun intended!) is behave instinctively and predictably.