There is no great mystery in housetraining, it’s very simple and down to plain common sense.

A dog is likely to want to relieve himself :

	After eating;
	After exercise;
	After play;
	On waking;
	Before bedtime;
	On a regular basis!

It’s important to take him outside after all these activities and preferably once an hour. As a baby he will not have wonderful bladder control so by taking him out on a regular basis, you will show him exactly what is expected of him.

A dog will use its nose to select a suitable spot so as soon as you see him sniffing the floor (especially circling), pick him up and place him outside. As soon as he performs, lots and lots of praise plus a treat – you will be surprised how soon he will get the idea!

It’s important to stay outside with him to give him the chance to do his business, he won’t always select the first few seconds. If nothing has happened after 5 minutes or so, take him indoors and try again later on. Remember lots of praise when he performs. When he has the idea, you can introduce a specific command so he knows what you want him to do.

Always stay with your pup so you can praise him – most important!

Never punish him for an accident, you run the risk of making him fearful of toileting in your presence and we don’t want this. If you stick to a regular schedule, the accidents will be extremely minimal.

If any distraction is introduced, it must be when your pup in the act, not afterwards. It’s preferable to say nothing, just pick him up and get him outside. As he begins to regard the home as his, he will not want to foul it.

If you do have an accident, it’s important to clean the area well or your pup may think it’s acceptable to use that spot due to the scent. The best way to clear up any accidents, is to get some tissue or other absorbent paper and stack it on the wet patch. Stand on it, it will force the paper to absorb most of the liquid, repeat until all the excess liquid is gone. Then clean the area with a suitable washing solution – in the event of any stains, use Vanish foam spray, it’s extremely good!

Your pup will find it difficult to get through the night so you will invariably have some accidents. Use polythene sheeting as we mentioned earlier with newspaper then cleaning up is simple.

If your pup wakes you in the night, go downstairs and let him out. If he toilets, lots and lots of praise. Only praise him for this though, it’s important that he doesn’t think he can cry and you will come to fuss him!

House training is a very speedy process and providing you use common sense, you won’t have any problems.

It’s quite common for Rotts to be house trained within a week but remember not to expect too much of him when he has to go through the night.

Happy house training!