Pointers Before You Start House Training
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.
2. Feed the pup wet food, as that will allow you to predict his need to do his business. Wet Purina O.N.E. and Beneful Original, adult food, [mixing the two foods half and half will work well]. Add water to the food. Add equal amounts of water and food, 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 predictability increases your effectiveness in house training exponentially.
3. If you take him on walks you will probably increase the probability that he will play and not do his business.
4. Take him to a designated area each trip outside.
5. 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.
6. Remember, we do not use a collar, only a halter and leash, because a collar, can and probably will, cause life threatening trachea damage. If you are training him on the end of a leash, you will substantially decrease your effectiveness in his house training.
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. Unfortunately, it may be on your favorite carpet.
House training on a leash will work as soon as he catches on to the idea.
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.
7. Lavish the pup with immediate praise when he does his business in the right place. One of the red Beneful 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.
8. Correcting your pup a while after he has used the bathroom in the house will not be effective.
9. Corrections that will not help:
Rubbing the pup's nose in his business will not be effective in house training.
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.
Screaming and lectures are not effective.
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. This will create a quick change in your pup.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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. They will not mark territory.
Urination: need to use the bathroom
Spraying/Marking: Unnecessary weeing. 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 it will appear without training from others in the pack. In other words, it is instinctive and not learned. Learned modeling does increase the probability and number of incidences though. 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.
However, if they are unneutered, and they know how to spray or mark their territory they will stop marking if they are neutered. It will take a while for the male hormones to leave their body after the neuter, but most see a difference 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 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.
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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