Dog Toilet Training Products

Housebreaking, also known as toilet training or house training, is an important process your dog must master to become a pleasant living companion inside the home. Dogs begin learning housebreaking habits from their mothers. Puppies as young as seven weeks old are capable of beginning toilet training, according to “KISS Guide to Raising a Puppy.” The various housebreaking products sold are only to be used in certain situations and so will not be appropriate for every puppy or dog.

  1. Crates

    • Housetraining crates not only help a puppy or dog to learn when and where to eliminate but also helps train him to get used to staying in kennels similar to the crate. Puppies and dogs do not want to eliminate in their own dens because they’d have to sleep in their wastes. Crate training, though, may not work for dogs raised in puppy mills because they have learned to live in their own wastes since they were never allowed outside of their cages. Crates should be large enough for the full-grown dog to lie down on her side and stretch out. Crates should be a place the dog wants to go into for rest. Never send a dog to the crate as a punishment.

    Scented Objects

    • These include pads, garden stakes or objects often shaped like fire hydrants to help clue the dog or puppy where to go. They are often coated with pheromones or a synthetic dog urine scent. When a dog needs to eliminate, he walks around in circles sniffing the ground to find a trace of urine or feces, which he recognizes as a designated toilet area. These products work with varying success, depending on how many other scented spots the dog or puppy can find. Disposable training pads replace newspaper in the age-old training method of delineating a small area for the dog's evacuation area, and subsequently reducing the target area or moving it outside. Try the pads as a training aid or use them permanently for smaller dogs as a less expensive alternative to the litter trays noted below.

    Dog Litter Trays

    • These products work similarly to a cat litter box. They are best for dogs who are confined indoors for long periods of time and cannot get outside. Toy dogs can be trained to use a cat litter box, although dogs do not have the instinct to cover up their feces like cats do. Other, much larger, litterless trays resemble large square patches of artificial grass. Under the artificial grass is a grate to let liquid pass through and a tray. This needs to be cleaned every day.