House training your Border Collie puppy is the first priority you have when your Border Collie comes home. House training your Border Collie puppy is not as hard as you may think it is.
The first thing to do is to establish routine and a schedule. The sooner you start teaching Border Collie puppy where to relieve itself, the less likely it is to have any accidents in the house.
Although there are many different ways to housebreak your Border Collie, here are some foolproof instructions to help you....
All Border Collie puppies learn at different rates. By setting boundaries and schedules for housebreaking your Border Collie puppy it will not take as long as you think.
The last thing you want to do is set up a place in the laundry with newspapers for your Border Collie to use while it learns to go to the toilet outside. Border Collies are naturally raised in a den environment and do not want to soil their homes. Putting newspaper out in the house for it to use is actually teaching it to eliminate itself inside the house.
There is a much easier and less messy way to teach your Border Collie where it should go to the toilet. Puppies naturally want to do their business away from their den so it is up to you to guide your Border Collie puppy along this natural process. If you are patient and consistent, it should only take about 3 weeks before Border Collie puppy is asking to go outside on its own.
Every time you Border Collie puppy finishes any activity, take it outside to go to the toilet:
Do not punish your Border Collie for having an accident in the house as it teaches your Border Collie puppy to go to the toilet when you are not looking. If you catch your Border Collie puppy having an accident in the house give it a sharp ‘No’ and take it outside to the designated toilet spot.
Do not give your Border Collie the wrong message or rub its nose into its mess if it has an accident in the house. Praise is important for house training your Border Collie and you have to reward and praise your Border Collie for relieving itself when you take it outside. You always want to be able to catch your Border Collie in the act so you can reward and reinforce the positive behaviour.
Choose words like ‘go potty’ to use when you want your Border Collie to relieve itself. Teaching your Border Collie to go potty on command will be handy throughout your lives together.
Always feed your Border Collie puppy at the same time each day so you know when it needs to go to the toilet. As soon as your Border Collie puppy finishes eating take it to the toilet spot and use the words go potty. When Border Collie puppy starts to go potty, praise it for doing its business.
By doing this, your Border Collie puppy will soon associate the words go potty with going to the toilet and it will not be long before your Border Collie goes to the toilet on command. There is nothing handier than having a Border Collie that goes to the toilet on command.
When it comes to little accidents at night you will need to take Border Collie puppy out at least once during the night. Make sure you put Border Collie puppy on a lead so that Border Collie puppy knows it is go potty time and not playtime.
And, if you do not wake up to take Border Collie puppy out, your Border Collie will soon let you know it needs to relieve itself with loud cries. It will not take long for you to understand the difference between a cry of distress and a cry for attention. Make sure you respond to your Border Collie’s distress cry or your Border Collie puppy will have an accident in the house.
While accidents in the house may be frustrating, they can be a sign of more than poor house training:
Sickness. Your Border Collie may have parasites or a urinary tract infection. Watch your Border Collie puppy and if it frequently relieves itself and there is only a small amount of urine each time, it may have a urinary tract infection.
Marking Territory. If your Border Collie is lifting its leg all over the house then this is likely to be a sign of marking its territory which is a behavioural problem.
Anxiety. Some Border Collie’s become anxious when left alone for long periods of time or when there are loud noises such as thunder and urinate out of fear.
Lack of Understanding. Your Border Collie may be not understand what you want from it and you have more work to do on your housebreaking. Go back to the basics and start again.
Remember, persistence, consistency, and patience are the keys to housebreaking
Once you understand why your Border Collie is having accidents, and you have ruled out a medical problem, try these steps to help you solve the problem:
If you are having more problems with housebreaking your Border Collie puppy get help from your vet or a qualified trainer.