Housetraining Your Puppy - When A Doggy Door Is NOT A Good Idea

A few weeks ago, we had a PetSafe Doggy (Pet) Door installed in the back screen door. Both Alvin and Simon are past the "housetraining your puppy" phase and we were just plain tired of playing doorpersons. The idea was to allow them free access into and back from the fenced-in yard.

Alvin overcame his fear of the door's clicking magnets first. Simon decided that if Alvin could go through the door, so could he. Easy entry and exit happened in one day.

The whole doggy door concept is wonderful, even though you tend to loose control of their whereabouts. And quiet dogs outside usually means some kind of trouble.

And the loss of control and visibility is exactly the reason why you do NOT want to install a doggy door until AFTER your pup is house trained. It's a convenience for older dogs, but a nightmare if you need to keep a puppy on a schedule.

If a young pup disappears outside, how do you know what he did or did not eliminate? And how do you know the next time he's supposed to go out? Seems like a doggy door might set back house training a few weeks!

So a doggy door is a good thing AFTER house training your dog is finished. Gotta remember that when Theodore makes his entrance!

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In case you need a little help housetraining your puppy!

Trust the experts from Kingdom of Pets:

New Puppy Owners: How To Make As Few Mistakes As Possible House Training Your Puppy

House Training Your Puppy requires the best and most effective method from the first day you get your pup.

Really, there's no room for mistakes, because accidents beget MORE accidents. If you like cleaning up poop and pee, screw around with a bunch of different house training methods until one finally works (by chance alone).

The other morning year-old Simon (who had not had an accident in months) left a big, smelly present in the family den. As I was cleaning it up (with Sir Simon watching), I was ever so tempted to reprimand a dog who would not know what the reprimand was for (ranting make you feel good?). But then I remembered a quote from the Kingdom of Pets Ultimate House Training Guide:

The GREATEST RISK (in house training a puppy) is often not a matter of whether or not your puppy will learn, but rather how much CONFUSION AND STRESS your training methods may cause.

Pick a puppy house training guide that will lead you through the process the right way the first time. With the Ultimate House Training Guide, you’ll get:

A comprehensive explanation of the 3 PROVEN house training METHODS: you’ll be able to decide which method will work best for you and your dog AND

SOLUTIONS to all kinds of common problems associated with house training.

Get your Ultimate House Training Guide NOW!

Tired of Your Dog Sleeping In Bed With You? Getting Kicked Or Growled At All Night? Try This Method

Are you tired of no sleep, being kicked in the head or growled at, but are still putting up with the dog sleeping in bed with you? Isn't this carrying the pack psychology a little too far?

You know the dog has to sleep elsewhere. Are you procrastinating because it's too difficult to get your best friend OUT of the bed and where he belongs - on the floor?

Here's My Short Story About Simon The Kicker
After not sleeping soundly for several weeks because Simon likes to stretch his legs and kick sleeping humans, it was time for action. (If you want to know how they got into the bed in the first place, it's a real long story!)

Try This Method
After consulting the dog training bible (Secrets to Dog Training), this is what worked:

• Get dog beds or pillows for the dog(s) to sleep on.
• At bedtime, tell the dog(s)to go to bed. You can lure them onto the dog beds with treats.
• Get ready for bed as usual except do not let the dogs on your bed.
• Luck has it that my dogs cannot get on the bed because it's too high, so it was protected with towels so they could not scratch the wood. They cried for about half an hour, then went to their pillows. You cannot let the dog onto the bed. If the dog is insistent, he goes into another room. You should try this on a weekend in case you're up a lot.
• Amazingly, they slept until 5:00 AM the next morning when Simon insisted it was time to go out.

A Related Issue
One little glitch - Simon recently got into the habit of getting up at 3:00 AM. Since he is housebroken and can go for 8 hours without going out, he mainly gets up to get attention.

The solution to this problem aired on an episode of It's The Dog Or Me with Victoria Stilwell (It's Me or the Dog: How to Have the Perfect Pet).

Ignore him as long as you can. Use your judgment - if he's insistent, take him out. Simon's been moved to another room so he can't wake anyone. But do NOT keep getting up with the dog. He can sleep during the day - you most likely cannot do the same.

Tired of the dog sleeping in bed with you? Do something about it today and stop complaining! There is a solution!