I am guessing that you either do have or have recently had a problem house training a new puppy. I think everybody has that problem sooner or later. However, when you finish reading this article you will see how easy it is by just following the rules.

Before we get started I do want to mention that you have to be consistent and follow the rules. Also I want you to remember that this is usually only a 4 – week program depending on your puppy’s age. So you will not have to do this forever.

I have literally helped 1000’s of people house train their puppies and some of them have really been difficult cases for one reason or another. This program works!

There are 3 places that your dog must be at all times during this program for it to work.

The first place is a crate. We are using the crate to help the pup have control. There should be nothing in the crate because we don’t want the puppy peeing on a blanket or towel. We want the pup to learn that if it pees it will have to stand, sit or lay in it. Mother nature will say don’t do that again.

Remember that a crate is the GREATEST gift you can give your dog because it is a den animal. Here is an article I wrote about which crate is best.

The second place your dog can be is on the GRASS. That is where we want it to do its business in the future so the more time your dog is on the grass the better. Dogs develop a preference for where they do their business. The more it uses your hardwoods, tile or carpet the more of a habit it becomes.

The third place your dog can be at all times is IN FRONT OF YOU. I mean that literally so here is how it is done. You put on the dog’s collar and then attach a leash. Now take the leash and attach it to your belt.

If you don’t normally wear a belt throw one on. The reason we want the dog attached to us is because most puppies do not want to do their business in front of you in the house. You know what I mean. You have probably seen where your puppy likes to go behind the couch or around the corner so you don’t see it.

So as you can already see if you follow these very simple rules your dog will not have a chance to have an accident in your home.

Be sure and remember that puppies pee when they wake up from a nap, get excited, and drink water so make sure that you take them out at all the
appropriate times.

Give these tips a try and I think you will be amazed how quickly your pup will be potty-trained.

If you have an older dog and not a puppy it will work the same way but sometime easier that with a pup.

Just one final thought. Following these rules will also help keep your pup from being able to chew on items around the house. That means your dog will not develop that horrible chewing on everything I can get to habit.

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Do you need help potty training your dog?  We can help. If you are in ,  Chattanooga, TN,  Clarksville, TN, Knoxville, TN, Huntsville, AL, Indianapolis, IN and Corpus Christ, TX visit our website and give us a call.

Please remember we can help you with dog training or problem solving no matter where you are located.  In fact we have clients all over the U.S.

P.S. Do you need some advice from a Canine Behavior Specialist?  If so CLICK HERE now!

About Wayne: Wayne Booth is owner of   which is headquartered in Nashville, TN but serves clients all over the U.S..  If you have a dog with aggression, behavior problems or simply needs training feel free to contact him.

Wayne has also been teaching people how to become Professional Dog Trainers since 1990 and he is the Training Director of Canine Behavior Specialists Network.  If you would like to become a Professional Dog Trainer he can get you started.

If you’ve ever seen your dog getting a little rough with your child then you know how scary it can be.  You may have felt scared and angry, or even yelled at your dog to stop, or punished him for his behavior.  Most of the time a dog doesn’t have any idea he was doing something wrong.

Most dogs are very playful animals.  They’re social animals and they learn to play and interact with the other dogs and people in their pack.  To a dog, a child looks more like another dog than you do, and they are closer in size to other dogs.  It’s little wonder that your dog wants to play with a child.  However, when dogs play with kids they can often get rough.  They can go too far by accident, or treat a child as though he’s really another dog.

Of course, there are lots of reasons why this kind of behavior isn’t good.  Your child can be scared or could be injured.  Or, even if your child isn’t scared or injured, another child might be, such as a neighbor’s child, or a child at a dog park.

If your dog runs into a dog park and starts playing with a child like he’s another dog, that child’s parents will be upset, but your dog may not have any idea what he did wrong.  Instead of letting your dog play with children in this way, you have to be able to stop this behavior right away.

Correcting Behaviors

You’ll need to correct your dog’s behaviors.  It’s not enough to tell your dog not to play roughly with children. Your dog won’t be able to understand this kind of command.  You will only confuse your dog and that will make him more dangerous than a dog that plays roughly.

Don’t try to set “conditions” for your dog’s behavior.  Instead, you need to stop certain behaviors completely.  You need to eliminate all of your dog’s rough behavior.  These rough behaviors include jumping, mouthing (when a dog wraps his mouth around your hand or arm), and chewing.

These are all behaviors that dogs do with each other, but they are not acceptable when dogs do them with children or with other humans.  The best way to stop your dog from engaging in these behaviors is to immediately stop playing with your dog whenever he shows one of these behaviors.  You shouldn’t punish your dog when he does these things, as that will confuse your dog, but you should immediately stop playing with him.

You need to draw a clear line in the sand about each one of these rough behaviors and why your dog should be calmer.  If you do this then it will be much easier to keep control of y our dog’s behavior.

Coping With Children

You also need to tell your children to stop playing roughly with your dog.  This isn’t always easy, especially if your kids like to wrestle or rough house with your dog.  However, it’s very important for you to set consistent boundaries for your dog.  Your children shouldn’t encourage your dog to play roughly when you are trying to teach your dog not to be rough.

You should also practice keeping a calm and assertive stance toward your dog when your children are near.  This kind of attitude will help eliminate chances for your dog to get worked up and overly playful.

When you and your dog are in open spaces, such as dog parks or in your yard, keep a close eye on your dog.  Teach your dog a command for them to immediately relax.  You can use a command such as “sit” or “stay” or even “come,” but the command needs to be completely understood so when you use it your dog responds.  This can stop possible problems before they get started.

Remember that when your dog plays roughly with children he’s not trying to hurt them. Your dog is just having fun.  Your dog is just trying to let your kids know how much fun he’s having.  The problem is that most kids have a different idea about what’s fun than your rowdy puppy.

One other thing to keep in mind is that if there’s any real aggression when your dog is playing roughly, that makes things completely different.  In that case you have to treat the situation more seriously.  You should never allow an aggressive dog near children.  If your dog is aggressive, and not just rambunctious and rowdy, then you should seek help from an expert before things get out of control.  Rough play is normal with many dogs and puppies.  Aggression is not normal and you will need the help of a professional.

Until next time……

About the Author: Wayne Booth is owner of in Nashville, TN.  Wayne has been teaching people how to become Professional Dog Trainers since 1990 and he is the Training Director of Canine Behavior Specialists Network, www.K9-University.com .

I have written about separation anxiety many times and I always mention that it is always possible that the dog is not suffering from separation but is simply a poorly behave dog.  Well I just found another poorly behaved dog that was misdiagnosed and I thought I would tell you how we solved the problem.

This dog was a 9 month old lab mix that came from a shelter and then was moved a couple of more times with its new family.  The owners were using a wire crate (YUCK) for the dog when they were at work.  Unfortunately the dog had learned how to escape and was doing it on a regular basis.

The new family vet suggested medication along with training and behavior modification to help solve the problem.

When I met the dog owners they had already received complaints from neighbors along with a warning letter from their new apartment management.

We started the training and the dog seemed to do well with its new exercises however it was still noisy when they were at work so they decided to leave it loose in the apartment while they were gone. That wasn’t good because it became destructive and started a new bad habit chewing.

When I received their phone call asking for help they told me this was the final chance for the dog it had to be fixed or else it was back to a shelter.  I hated hearing that but understood so I suggested a new plastic crate that gives more of a den feeling than the old wire crate and a bark collar.

They followed my instruction and got the bark collar as well as an internet camera so that they could see what was going on with their dog using an app on their smartphones.   The barking continued even with the bark collar properly fitted.

That evening they took the final step and purchased a plastic dog crate set it up and allowed the dog to play some retrieve the treat from the crate games.  The next morning the dog went in the crate as they left for work.  The dog barked for less than 5 minutes and then quit. Yes, peace for the neighbors at last.

So was it separation anxiety, no.  That was my diagnosis from the beginning. What fixed the problem the bark collar?  He barked through it with the wire crate.  Was it the new den like crate?  I think it helped tremendously.  I have had several clients switch from wire to plastic with very similar results.

If you have a dog that barks and whines in the wire crate upgrade to plastic and see if that solves the problem.  Remember that separation anxiety is not always the problem.

Do you need help with your dog?  If you are in Nashville, Tn,  Chattanooga, Tn,  Clarksville, Tn or Huntsville, Al visit us at Canine Behavior Specialists and give us a call. Please remember we can help you with dog training or problem solving no matter where you are located.  In fact we have clients all over the U.S. simply visit    for more information and the give us a call.

Until next time,

P.S. Do you need some advice from a Canine Behavior Specialist?  If so CLICK HERE now!

About the Author: Wayne Booth is owner of Canine Behavior Specialists in Nashville, TN.  Wayne has been teaching people how to become Professional Dog Trainers since 1990 and he is the Training Director of Canine Behavior Specialists Network.