Training Puppies

Lesson 3: Housetraining and Manners

Paper Training

If your puppy has access to outdoors, paper training is not recommended, however, it can be an alternative for people who are homebound, or have a small dog, or live in a hi-rise apartment.

Choose a small uncarpeted area such as a bathroom or kitchen and place your puppy’s bed there. Spread newspapers over the rest of the floor. Puppy will not want to soil his bed so he will use the papered area. Be sure to praise him when you see him using the paper. After about a week, using the paper should become a habit for your puppy and you can decrease the area covered with newspaper by just a few inches every few days until only an area the size of one newspaper is covered. If you find mistakes, do not correct him after the fact. He won’t make the connection and will not understand why you are punishing him. Just clean up the mistake and go back to papering a larger area. If you catch him going off the paper, give him a stern ‘no’ and place him back on the paper and then praise him when he finishes there. Leaving a small piece of used paper in between the top and bottom layers will give puppy enough of a scent to help him realize where he is supposed to go.

Occasionally a puppy will think of the small papered area as his den and will begin to potty in other areas of the house when given freedom. This problem can be solved by simply using the crate training method but taking the puppy to the paper instead of outside.

As with any training, patience and a sense of humor are imperative. Never harshly punish your puppy as this can only backfire in the long run. Punishment will cause him to fear you, and fear is the root of many behavior problems, including aggression.

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