Management is the “hands off” things we do in order to discourage some behaviors while encouraging other behaviors.
Since all living beings are behaving constantly, It only follows that if we prevent our puppy from doing one behavior, it will by default do another behavior.
For example,
If I put my dog in a crate, my dog cannot run around, but my dog will likely lay down.
If I walk my puppy on a leash, my puppy cannot run away and jump in the river. This also means my puppy is going to exhibit different behaviors, like walking beside me or relieving itself.
In order to create clean toileting habits, we must prevent our puppy from learning unclean habits while helping them learn clean habits, independent of us.
There are a wide variety of tools and tricks we can use to create desirable toilet habits, while preventing undesirable toilet habits.
Almost all effective house training will involved several different types of management tools and techniques.
Further, these are going to change as our puppy grows up and develops physical maturity. Physical maturity is not subject to training and instead takes as long as it takes for the body to mature.
Rules of Good Baby Puppy Management:
Puppy is supervised when not in it’s crate or playpen.
Supervision = Buddy Leash or confined to a single room WITH a person who is actively supervising the puppy.
Responsible Party for that time period should focus ON THE PUPPY (phone down, TV OFF or Muted, Computer Shut). I know, I know, it’s hard but try to live in the present and be fully attentive to your puppy when they are out. They are only puppies for a few weeks, make memories and work hard building a strong bond.
Supervised Puppy Time should start in rooms closest to the “potty door” for the first week, and each few days areas further away from the potty door may be introduced. Young puppies can’t hold it long, by the time they realize they need to go time is almost up!
Set up a play pen: Playpen must be escape proof (if it’s only a little escape proof your puppy WILL learn to break/climb/jump out …… not a good habit), puppy safe, and large enough for your puppy to have a play zone, toilet zone (if needed) and a resting zone (such as a bed or crate).
Use the play pen for those times your puppy cannot be supervised fully by a human, and for routine nap/rest time. This will keep your puppy safe, and prevent accidents.
Set your playpen up during week one VERY close to the potty door, each week you can move the playpen a bit further from the back door to the “heart” of the house, or for those who work from home, to the office. But ONLY if your puppy NEVER needs to potty inside the playpen can you start moving it (ensuring the litterbox stays near the potty door. Later, your playpen can be replaced with a crate for when you are away from home. Neither crate or playpen should be over used.
Create a bedroom area separate, with a crate for sleeping.
The Bedroom area size will depend a bit on your puppy’s age. Very young puppies (usually under 12 weeks) may benefit from a litterbox in their “bedroom” confinement area. A small litter box can be placed in a roomy crate or playpen so the puppy can potty during the night instead of waking the family. Older puppies will generally not use the litter box and can sleep overnight in a crate beside or even on the bed.
Remember, for the first month or more, puppy is either directly supervised by a Responsible Party (who knows they are babysitting) in a single room (use baby gates or x pens to block off other rooms), tethered via a buddy leash to a Responsible Party, or in it’s playpen whenever it’s inside. If you follow these guidelines you will have far fewer accidents and puppy damage.