Someone recently posted on our facebook page after seeing the Video re: housebreaking and if we are still paper training them. Here is my response:

We never paper trained BHRR’s Sleet or BHRR’s Glacier. 

As Summit came to me super young – barely 6 weeks, he had pee pads for all of 24 hours for he picked up housetraining super fast. A friend of mine took care of him while I had to be away and she also found him really brill with his housetraining too. 

Do the puppies still have the occasional accident, yes, but rare. They are only four months old and any accidents they do have is not their fault, it is the fault of the humans. 

Like any new rescue, regardless of age that comes to us – for many 1, 3 or even older dogs often come to us not housebroken – they all go through the same training for housebreaking. After every play session, nap, eating or first thing in the morning or time-wise – we start at every 20-30 minutes and work our way in ever increasing time increments, they go outside. 

We teach scent training and use a faint scent on the door we want them to use to ‘ask’ to go outside and it is a soft fruity scent. So, they learn on their own first by scent and then also by sensation – temp changes, breezes, sun, rain, snow etc., 

Most of these rare accidents will often be right in front of that door.

The Dane Trio rarely even messes in their crates either as I got up every couple of hours to let them out when they first arrived and now they sleep 6 hours straight wonderfully. 

They all go out right before bed, are given their special yummy treats – often I will find them already in their crates waiting for me after I open up the door to let them back in and go get their treat, if I had not taken any with me when letting them back in.

What any dog needs is consistency, patience, time, structure, routine and clear open communication in a positive balanced learning and supportive environment. 

In the mornings, they all now trot out the door and do their thing.

It was longer to teach then how to use the small ramp that Sean built for our mobility challenged dogs than it was to housebreak them. 

Now, they think the ramp is a big game – up and down! 

I always tell my behavioural and training clients, if you put all of the necessary efforts and work into things right from the start, you avoid bad habits developing.

We want dogs to be assets to home plus community and the Dane Trio are wonderful pups!