House Training
Pointers Before You Start House Training
FREE FEEDING AT FIRST
1. When you first get your pup, you will need to feed him from 7:00 AM till 5:00 PM so that he will get enough food. He is accustomed to "free feeding" here. That means he has always had food available. If you put him on a schedule as soon as you get him, he probably will not eat when it is available, and if he does not eat when it is available, he will be hungry after you remove the food. Free Feed him for the first few days, to a week. Then you can put him on a schedule.
FEED THE PUP FOOD WITH WATER ON IT
2. Feed the pup wet food, as that will allow you to predict his need to do his business. He will "GO' much more quickly when the food is wet. You can feed Beneful alone or a mixture of Beneful Adult dry food mixed with Purina O.N.E. The bagged dry food is all we use. Do not use the canned food, it is inferior, is not produced to the same rigorous standards of production and has very little meat in it. Wet the food before feeding.
Wet Purina O.N.E. and Beneful Original, adult food, [mixing the two foods half and half will work well], or you can simply use BENEFUL original, adult, with no Purina. Add water to the food. Add equal amounts of water and food, or more water than food, and let the food sit for 30 minutes, and stir prior to feeding. This will make him go to the bathroom about 5-15 minutes after he eats. This allows you to know when he has to go out. This predictability increases your effectiveness in house training exponentially, especially after you feed him on a schedule.
FOOD AMOUNTS
3. How much food do you need to feed him? First rule of thumb is to be sure there is always some food left over after he finishes eating. You can start with 1/4 cup and if that is gone in 10 minutes you need to feed him more. NEVER PLACE HIM ON A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF FOOD and limit his intake. This is totally unnecessary, as they will not over eat if they are given plenty of food. Be sure that after you start scheduling his feedings that he always has food leftover at the end of each meal. This assures that you have provided enough food.
DO NOT LISTEN TO A VET WHO TELLS YOU TO LIMIT HIS FOOD INTAKE.
I HAVE NEVER HAD AN OVERWEIGHT HAVANESE. THEY WILL NOT OVEREAT IF YOU FREE FEED AND HAVE FOOD LEFTOVER AT THE END OF EACH MEAL. Limiting the amount of food you give them will make them gobble their food. Gobbling food is a sign that you have been STARVING him.
IMPACT OF WALKS to get him to "GO"
4. If you take him on walks you will probably increase the probability that he will play and not do his business. He will likely be very distracted and possibly look at everything with wonder and interest, instead of "Going". His curiosity will direct his main activity, rather than his need to "GO".
HE SHOULD "GO" AT THE SAME PLACE
5. Take him to a designated area each trip outside. He will want to "Go" there.
SCENT ATTRACTS HIM TO THE PLACE
6. So sorry to mention this, but if you want to increase the probability of success, you might place poop in the designated area, so that your pup will have the olfactory cues he needs to do his business there, habitually.
CARPETS WILL INCREASE TIME IT TAKES TO HOUSETRAIN
7. We prefer to keep the dogs off of carpets. If you cannot keep him off of the carpet then please experiment with different products to see which ones work best to clean them. The old vinegar solution worked for us, but you can decide what will work best for your particular type carpets. I don't know if the vinegar will bleach the color, as we used it on white bedroom carpets when a wild flying trip through the house ended up with a sprinkle across the floor.
REMEMBER, FEBREEZE contains something that harms the dogs. It nearly killed my cocker spaniel.
HOUSEHOLD SCENTS
8. SCENT: He will "GO" anywhere there is a scent from former mistakes. When he uses the bathroom inside the smell that is left behind is an issue. You will want to remove the smell in carpets with the available odor remover cleaners. It is very important to remove the scent because, if you do not, he will surely go right back to it to "GO" when you are not watching. The dogs might be able to pick up the scent after the cleaners are used, as their olfactory abilities are very good. Some people have mentioned that they have used the cleaners twice to be sure to remove as much of the scent as possible.
GOING IN THE CRATE
9. CRATE: What if he "GOES" in his crate at night.
PLEASE REMEMBER THIS: If he "GOES" in his crate, then the crate tray should be washed before replacing him in it. The scent in the crate will cause him to use the bathroom in the crate over and over again. Clean the tray with a 25% CLOROX solution, or a vinegar solution or even dishwashing soap and water.
TOWELS & BEDDING IN CRATE
8. Towels:
If he wees on a towel it must be removed or it will train him to "GO" on the towel.
We use hotel towels that we buy at Sam's for their bedding. The Sam's hotel towel package has about 8 towels, for about $20.They are inexpensive, and thin enough to wash up and dry quickly. We wash them with Clorox. As you probably know by now, the dogs have their own towels and hamper. And, their towels are washed separately from our towels. We always wash them with Clorox.
There is the old fashioned Clorox and there are many new Clorox Mixtures that are worthless for our purposes:
We clean our crate trays with a spray bottle and a mixture of 25% Clorox and 75% water. This bleach mixture must be made with the old fashioned Clorox because the newer versions of it do not contain enough bleach to really kill the 1% of serious bacteria that we want to kill. When the bottle of the newer product states that it will kill 99% , etc., remember it is not going to kill the other 1% of bacteria. And, that other 1% of bacteria is the 1% we need to kill. So, always use the old fashioned product.
I cannot over stress this fact:
Urine scent in your home will cause your dog to return to the site of the crime and "GO" again.
HALTER & LEASH, NOT COLLAR & LEASH
9. Remember, we do not use a collar, only a halter and leash, because a collar, can and probably will, cause life threatening trachea damage. Trachea damage can cause a tiny crack in the trachea which causes a slow death over a few years. A crack in the trachea can cause a slow progression of breathing troubles.
If you are training him on the end of a leash, you will substantially decrease your effectiveness in his house training. Sometimes it is necessary, however we do not suggest using a halter and leash unless you must take him into an unfenced area.
However, if you do not have a fence, you must use a halter and leash, as Havanese have a tendency to run like wildfire at the most unexpected time. Playing chase is one of their favorite activities and they understand that outside is the best place for a high speed chase.
Fences or leashes - One or the Other is an absolute necessity!
Havanese tend to be so submissive that they will consider it their duty to follow you around when on a leash. After you return to the house, your pup may use the bathroom. He may think he has done his job in following you on leash, and after you return home, he may think it is his time then, so he may use the bathroom in the house. Unfortunately, it may be on your favorite carpet.
House training on a leash will work as soon as he catches on to the idea, but it does take a little longer than letting him run free in his own fenced yard! One way to get him used to the halter is to put it on him and leave it on him for several days. He will learn to like it!
Do not walk him on leash for more than about 5 minutes if he is not being productive. If you walk him for 10 min. each hour he will soon be looking forward to his PLAYTIME on leash, rather than going out to do his business.
10. Lavish the pup with immediate praise when he does his business in the right place. One of the red Beneful dry dog food, kibble, will work well as an additional reward. A small animal cracker will also work well. Be very careful not to give him more than a couple of animal crackers a day. He will start to look forward to it when he goes outside, and then he will try to get it as soon as you go out. You can hide it, until the right time.
CORRECT WAY TO CORRECT YOUR PUP
11. Certain corrections of your pup when he has used the bathroom in the house will not be effective.
Corrections that will not help:
1. Rubbing the pup's nose in his business will not be effective in house training.
2. Folded newspapers, and swatting are not necessary in house training, and may even cause the pup not to perform well, and at the proper time.
3. Screaming and lectures are not effective.
Proper Corrections Of Your Pup That Will Work:
THE STERN "NO"
10. A stern "NO" in a deep voice is very effective. Stand with your head over his head and say "NO" in a deep and harsh voice. (No need to scream.) This will create a quick change in your pup.
FIRST TRAINING
11. He will learn to go poop outside and do that successfully before he learns to wee wee outside each time.
12. Keep him on a cleanable floor and off all carpets, until he is housetrained.
13. When he is with you on a carpet, do not take your eyes off of him, until he is housetrained. Please remember each time he makes a mistake and "GOES" on the carpet he will leave a scent and increase the likelihood that he will repeat the performance.
CRATE AT NIGHT
14. Let him sleep in a crate at night. Put him to bed in the crate right after taking him out for the last time, say at about 9-10:00 PM. The last trip outside is the one time he should not have water. He also should not have water in his crate at night. Change his bedding if it is soiled. Use towels as bedding until he is house trained. Don't use towels with holes in them because they may get caught on his legs, and they can even cause amputation.
15. If he wees on a carpet you may not notice it, as pups do not have a strong smell. But, he will know it is there, as his sense of smell is far better than that of humans. He will continue to go back to a spot with urine on it. Be mindful of this, please.
16. If other dogs have used the bathroom on your rugs, that will drastically impact his desire to use the bathroom on those spots. For best results, clean or remove soiled rugs. If he keeps going back to those spots after the rug is cleaned, and if all else fails, do not let him on the rugs until he is housetrained.
Neutering male dogs prior to 6 months prevents them from ever learning to lift their leg. They will go to the bathroom like a female all of their lives if they are neutered prior to 6 months.They should never be neutered prior to 5.5 months of age. They will not mark territory after they are neutered. In older dogs it may take a few months for the male hormones to disappear from their body and until then they are capable of marking.
URINATON - NEED TO USE THE BATHROOM
Spraying and Marking: USING IT WHEN THEY DO NOT HAVE TO "GO"
Unnecessary weeing is Hormonally induced urination when there is no real physiological need to urinate, other than placing a scent mark on a territory to establish dominance.
The scent mark is meant to ward off other males, and signal that a male has a particular territory. Males are hard wired for this and at a certain stage of maturation this behavior will appear without training from others in the pack. In other words, it is instinctive and not learned. Learned behavior, or modeling of other dogs spraying, may increase the probability and number of incidences. Triggers of other male urine will increase the probability as well.
Lifting the leg: Males learn to lift their leg for urination at about 6-8 months of age, or at about the age of sexual maturity. Once they learn to lift their leg, they will continue to lift it all of their life, usually. If they are neutered right after it starts they may stop if neutered ASAP.
However, EVEN if they are unneutered, and EVEN if they know how to spray or mark their territory, they will stop marking territory if they are neutered. It will take a while for the male hormones to leave their body after the neuter, but most people see a difference within a couple of months after the neutering.
Lifting of the leg is done by:
1. All unneutered males which are past the age of sexual maturity
2. All neutered males who were neutered after sexual maturity
Spraying is done by:
1. Intact Males which are past the age of sexual maturity
2. Neutered males who were neutered after sexual maturity, but they will spray only for a short while and only until the hormones leave their body.
In other words, if you neuter a male at 4 years of age, [or any age after he has learned to lift his leg] he will always urinate by lifting his leg. But, remember, if he has been spraying and then he is neutered, he will stop spraying after the hormones leave his body. It may take a few months for older dogs to stop spraying after their neuter because the male hormones will still be circulating in his body for that long. So, older males that are actively marking territory will stop that soon after they are neutered, however they will probably still lift their leg to "Go", when they have to urinate.
Here is a schedule that you can use to start house training your pup.
1. Wake Up Call: 6- 7:00 AM---quick trip to litter tray or outside
2. Moistened Food presented to pup for 15-30 minutes.
3. Trip to litter tray or outside--- and, repeat every hour.
4. Between 4:00-5:00 dinner---food available for 15- 30 min.
5. Trip to litter tray or outside every hour till bedtime
6. Do not take pup out at night--even if you must clean up in the morning as it sets a bad precedent, and then you will be doing it for years---and, you need your sleep.
7. 10:00 PM --- Bedtime.
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