How To House Train Your Puppy in the Evening
Housetraining Your Puppy in the Evening
Housetraining a puppy can be a challenge, especially at night. Training your puppy to hold it overnight may take a little practice but isn't hard. Puppies should be able to hold their urine all night by the age of four months. As with any puppy training, the key to success is consistency in your behavior and in your responses to your puppy's behavior. Your puppy will soon settle into the routine of the house and will be happy to go outside first thing in the morning.
First:
Take your puppy out just before you go to bed. Use encouragement at all times when your puppy eliminates so it learns to associate going outside with positive reinforcement. Walking stimulates your puppy's digestive system and therefore helps the puppy to urinate and defecate. In addition, walking your puppy allows it to smell the scent of other dogs' urine, which also stimulates the puppy to urinate to to mark its spot.
Stay on Schedule:
Maintain a consistent feeding and toilet schedule. Your puppy learns from consistent, predictable behavior as well as from praise. Feeding and taking your puppy out at the same time every day helps your pet regulate its system. Take your puppy outside first thing in the morning to eliminate, then feed it. At night, do the opposite so that the last thing your puppy does is eliminate.
Puppies Need A Den:
Confine your puppy to a crate or a room with washable flooring. Make the area just large enough for your puppy to lie down. Dogs don't like to lay in a bed that is soaked with urine, so your puppy will have a great deal of incentive to wait till morning. If the crate is too large for your puppy right now, fill up the excess space with a box or large bowl.
Never Use Punishment:
Don't use punishment if your puppy has an accident. Punishing a dog because it eliminated in the house will only make the animal more likely to urinate out of fear. If your puppy develops this submissive urination, it will require even more work to help your pet regain its confidence and not fear you.
