Your lifestyle may necessitate litter box training or paper training – especially if you live in an environment that doesn’t provide a safe or secure outdoor yard. Here’s how to get your dog to use something that’s normally used by cats!

Housebreaking With a Litter Box

1. Buy a litter box that’s about the same width and length as your dog’s crate. The box should provide ample room for the dog to comfortably turn around in.

2. Fill the box with clay litter or old newspaper.

3. Place the dog inside the litter box when the dog behaves in a way that suggests he may need to urinate or defecate. Sniffing and walking about in a circle are signs to look for. Use a verbal command to help the dog associate your words with the act so in the future, it will understand what you want it to do when you issue the command.

If the dog tries to escape the litter box, pick it up, put it back in the box, and don’t let the dog leave without finishing the job.

4. Give a reward when the dog eliminates inside the box but don’t clean the litter box right away. Leaving a little urine or even a small amount of poop will create a scent that the dog will use to confirm the relief-to-litter box relationship.

Housebreaking With Paper

1. Dedicate an uncarpeted area of your home to housebreak the dog.

2. Cover the entire area with several layers of newspaper.

3. Place the dog onto the paper when the dog behaves in a way that suggests he may need to urinate or defecate. (See behaviors described above.) Use a verbal command to help the dog associate your words with the act so in the future, it will understand what you want it to do when you issue the command.

If the dog tries to leave the paper, pick it up, put it back in onto the paper, and don’t let the dog leave without finishing the job.

4. All dogs interpret the smell of urine as a designated potty area. So when yours makes a puddle, remove just a few sheets of the top-most area. Leave the lower area in tact so that the dog can detect a faint scent of urine and understand what this area is for.

5. Slowly remove the paper until there’s just enough to ease cleaning and the dog is fully trained.

Litter box training and paper training works quite well when you remember to watch your dog’s behavior for signs that it needs to eliminate. If you put your dog on a regular schedule, you can make housetraining even easier. One of the biggest mistakes that people make while trying to housebreak a dog is failing to recognize signs and failing act on those signs. A rigid schedule will force you to acknowledge those signs and help you housebreak your dog within a matter of weeks instead of months.