How do I teach my puppy the whole house is his den during housetraining?

Housebreaking puppies can be tough, especially the little guys. With Leo, what I recommend is that when you take him outsid, you go out with him, use a leash if he can’t stay focused and give him 5 minutes to go. Keep saying, Go Potty! or whatever command you want. If he goes, tell him, Yes! And give him treats outside immediately. It’s important to mark that behavior you want. Now, if Leo doesn’t go. Bring him back in and do one of the following- put him in the crate for a bit, carry him around, or leave him on his leash and hold onto him. The trick is to not let him out of your sight or have him in a crate. This is important! Then wait a 5-10 minutes and take him out again. Repeat until he goes. If he stays to go inside, clap your hands, say NO. and take him right out. Reward him profusely when he does go outside. The key is not to let him have an accident inside by watching him like a hawk!

Put him on a leash and take him outside to his designated spot. Do not walk around. Just stand there and repeat "go outside" or a similar phrase. As soon as he starts to go, repeat "go outside" and praise "good dog!" as he goes. When he is finished, or if it appears that he is not going to go, bring him inside but do not remove the leash, e3ven if he has done his business. Attach it to your belt loop and keep him with you. Don’t let him out of your sight! When you see him start to circle or sniff, take him right outdoors again and repeat the process. If he does mess in the house, do not scold him unless you actually catch him in the act. In that case, say "NO!" and take him right outside. Tell him to "go outside" and praise as he finishes. Keep him in a crate at night, or for short periods when you are not at home. For further assistance, click on the prompt to start a consult, where we can discuss this at length.

Crate training is great and definitely the way I have always house trained my dogs. Basically any time you cannot be at home to watch him he needs to be in the crate. When you get up in the morning or get home, you take him outside to a specific spot and tell him to "potty". When he does, you praise him. If he doesn't, then you put him back In his crate. The crate needs to be large enough for him to stand up and turn around but not so big that he can pee/poop on one side and sleep on the other. Also I do not recommend putting him in his crate with water as that is just setting him up for failure. If you are home on the weekend, make sure you watch when he eats and drinks and take him outside about 30-45 minutes after that. If you catch him IN THE ACTION of peeing or pooping, you can tell him "no" then take him outside to his spot and tell him to go "potty". If you don't see the pee or poop until after he has done it, it doesn't not benefit him to run his nose in it. Crate training is the best way to house train in my opinion. Just remember that he is young and it will take some time. You can also go to veterinarypartner.com and look up crate training to find some more reliable information. I hope this helps!

Potty training is tough. Just stay consistent! Use a pet enzymatic cleaner to clean up any accidents in the house. Start noting when the accidents are occurring to see if there is a timeline. If you are gone, she should be in her kennel. Make sure to take her outside 30 minutes after eating. When she goes outside, give her a special treat. When she has an accident, tell her "no" firmly and clean it up without giving her extra attention.

It is not uncommon for puppies to identify boundaries which are different to what we would like, preventing access to this room unless he is closely supervised and on a leash until he no longer looks to use this as a toilet area may help

It sounds like you may need to go back to the basics with Percy. I sometimes recommend a house training 'boot camp' weekend where you keep Percy either confined to a crate or tethered to you so that he is within your sight at all times. Let him out every 2-3 hours on a leash and don't pay any attention to him until he urinates or defecates, then be sure to give plenty of praise and good treats. Some people will train dogs to ring a bell in order to ask to go outdoors, but if Percy likes to go out and play training this behavior could backfire and you might be letting him out constantly. Good luck!

Poor Loki! I'm sure he's very confused by all of these changes. If he's always been accustomed to "doing his business" off leash in the yard, he may not know what to do when he's on-leash - this is a common problem for many dogs who have never pottied on-leash before. Rather than using a retractable leash, which keeps constant tension on the collar, I would recommend getting a long line for him - this is a very long, lightweight leash (up to 40-50' long) that he can easily drag without noticing. Attach the leash to his collar, and follow at a distance keeping the leash loose with no tension at all. This will allow him to feel like he's loose, and he should have an easier time going to the bathroom without tension on his collar and having you so close to him.