House Breaking Pups

[redmistkennel]

What is the best way to housebreak 2 pups at the same time? Never had a problem doing one at a time but we are trying 2 right now and not having good luck.

[QCKLime]

I've always had the best luck with crate training. The thing about training two at a time, is if one has an accident, the other thinks it's "okay" to have an accident there, too -- but you can't very well punish the pup that didn't have the accident for what the other did, and what he may do later. You just have to be twice as vigilant as you would with one puppy in the house, which can be a total pain in the ass.

The puppies we have now have been crated at night on a bed of cedar, and an advantage to this that I didn't think of before is that they're almost "litter trained" now -- that is, they won't generally use the bathroom unless it smells of cedar where they're going. So, even when they're running amok, if they have the urge, they'll stop and sniff their way back to the crate to use the bathroom, we change the cedar, no mess no fuss.

[Officially Retired]

The best way I have found to train pups is to have an older house dog or two for them to watch and mimic.

Also, having a regular schedule is everything. Get up at the crack of dawn and put them outside. First thing you do in the day. Then they get the idea that the first thing they do when they wake up is "go outside" to pee/poop, and soon they'll just think "outside" when they have to go. This is especially enforced if they follow older "lead" dogs, that are already trained, and get to watch what they do.

The rest involves instant punishment on site, on every infraction, when it happens, not "after the fact."

Any naturally-smart dog will quickly "get it" and adapt to the routine :mrgreen:

[redmistkennel]

Gonna have to try the cedar. Has to smell better than newspaper. lol. Just seems like I can't get them to follow the same routine. They are getting better though. They will only be 10 weeks toorrow so still pretty young. Just was hoping maybe somebody knew a trick that I wasn't doing. Thanks for the help though.