Lesson 12: Expanding Space for Your Pup

In this last module, you will learn how to expand your pup’s “room” from an ex-pen to a small room in the house and then eventually into whatever space you want your pup to consider its own. We suggest that you not even consider adding another room to your puppy’s until it is at least six months old and finished teething. For many pups, this is more realistically between nine and twelve months old.

Increasing the size of your puppy's room by 20-25%

It's time to give your pup a larger room. Here's how to do it:

• Figure out how much space your pup currently has. Measure the width of the panels and multiply the number of panels you are using to determine the size of your puppy's "room." If you are using four panels of an ex-pen the room is eight square feet. 4 panels x 2 feet = 8 square feet.
• As you increase the size of the "room" you should add a tiny bit of space at a time. Ideally, you add no more than 20-25% more space each time you increase the "room" size. For our ex-pen example that would be adding a single two-foot panel giving your puppy a total of 10 square feet of space.
• Remember in order for you to enlarge your puppy's space it has to be accident free for at least seven days!

Slowly increasing the size of your puppy's "room" is the key to successful house training! In case you did not catch that, and even if you did, it bears repeating: Slowly increasing the size of your puppy's "room" is the key to successful house training! Following this 20- 25% rule will allow you to avoid the most common mistake people make when house training their puppy--giving them too much space too soon! Your puppy is just weeks away from a mature bladder, which means it is so close to being able to hold its urine for longer periods of time! Don't confuse your puppy now - add space to its "room" slowly!

Believe us when we say we know at this point taking your puppy out regularly on leash is getting old! Your puppy still has to potty fairly often and it does not matter if it's raining, snowing, or 100 degrees outside, you still have to diligently follow the potty training rules. Unfortunately, after people have had a few successful weeks in house training, it is not uncommon for their pups to start to have more accidents in the house.

Here's why....

They have been really good about watching for any signal their pup may give to indicate it has to go out. They have been doing this for weeks and their pup is lasting longer between potty visits. As they become more comfortable with their pup being loose in the house, they also are likely not paying as close attention to it as they should. Their pup gives them a signal (perhaps more than one) that it has to go, but they missed it, so it finds a place in the house and has an accident. We'll be honest, it happens to a lot of people, including us. The thing is, if you let the pattern continue your puppy will be confused about the house-training rules, it will set your pup back tremendously.

Now is not the time to be complacent!! If you cannot keep a close eye on your puppy, confine it! You do not want to confuse your pup now by missing its cues and allowing it to have accidents. You are so close to your goal - keep your eye on the prize and keep up the good work!

Add a New Room

When you feel you really must give your puppy even more space and you know it is ready, here's how to do it:

Choose a small room in your house to be your pup's next step. It can be a small bathroom but we often have the most success with the room the pup sleeps in, say the bedroom. Since the pup is already used to sleeping in there, it's likely it will just go to sleep.

• Puppy proof the room by removing everything your puppy could pull down from the shelves or counter, or even off the walls.
• Cover or hide any wires that are hanging down or plugged into outlets that your puppy can get to.
• If there is anything in the room that cannot be removed that your puppy might chew on, such as baseboards, cabinets, furniture, rugs, etc., spray them with Bitter Apple before you put your puppy in the room.
  NOTE: If using a bathroom, close the toilet seat and take the toilet paper roll off the holder and put it in a cabinet or on the counter.
• Place some toys and a few chewies, such as pig's ears, bully sticks, and a Kong® stuffed with delicious stuff in the room. You want your puppy to chew on chewies instead of your baseboards, walls, or cabinets.
• Turn the TV or radio on to a station/channel with some talking.
• If you can, set up a camera to either video or even livefeed what the pup is doing to your phone. Use one with sound so you can hear if your pup is whining or barking.

Now that the room is set, plan to leave your pup when you'll be gone for a short period, no more than an hour.

• Exercise and potty your pup before leaving.
• Secure your pup into the room with a baby gate or two that your pup cannot climb over. That will enable your pup to see out so it will not feel isolated.
• Toss your pup some treats and leave.

How you leave and return home matters a lot. Don't have long, drawn-out good-byes or exciting greetings. We just say "Be Good" and go. Upon return, we don't say hello to our pups until we've put our stuff away. While you are doing that, let your pup out of the new room and take it outside. This is actually a great moment to be on your phone so you are distracted when your pup greets you. Casually say "Hi" but don't make a big deal out of your return, just get your pup outside to potty.

Your puppy may bark while in the room. In this new location, as in all situations, barking rules remain the same--quiet brings good things, noise brings isolation. If you are home and your puppy barks, simply close the door. If you left the house, be sure you do not return to your puppy if it is barking. The best way to ensure your puppy does not bark is to give it FABULOUS things to chew on while you are in the room!

When you come back in, check to see how things went. If your pup did no damage while you were gone, note that success. If your puppy had an accident or chewed on the wrong things, don't say anything to your pup now. Getting angry or upset will only cause your puppy to become anxious about being alone and worse, you coming back home. If your pup was not successful, it simply was not ready for more space. Keep using the ex-pen or crate for a while longer, giving your puppy a chance to grow up a bit more and finish teething before trying again.

Once your puppy is successful for a week of short sessions you can begin to extend the amount of time you leave it in the new room in 15-minute increments.

Planning and preparation before leaving your puppy in a larger space set it up for success. You are teaching your pup what to do each time you give it access to new locations. Be sure you are teaching the lessons you want your puppy to learn!

Why should you wait to give your puppy more space?

Let me tell you a friend's embarrassing but true story about what happened when Marcy left her seven-month-old golden retriever puppy, Bunky, for her sister, Lise. Before Marcy left on her honeymoon she dropped Bunky and his gear: a collar, a leash, a bowl, a baby gate, and a bag of food. No crate, no ex-pen because back then, they both thought using a crate was "mean" and neither had ever heard of an ex-pen.

Lise left Bunky in the bathroom behind a gate when she could not watch him. During the first two days Bunky was wonderful, only having two accidents on a tile floor--certainly no big deal, she thought. On the third day, Lise came home and found Bunky had stripped all the wallpaper off the bottom half of the walls, had chewed through part of the walls, and was working on a corner of the bathroom cabinet.

Lise had no idea why Bunky had been good for two days and so destructive the next, but she certainly could not let him continue to do that, so she took him to a local kennel to be boarded until Marcy returned from her honeymoon. We know now that Lise should never have given Bunky that much space in a new situation--she had unknowingly set him up for failure. Hey, as Maya Angelou says, "When you know better, you do better!"

So what about YOUR puppy? By now it is likely teething, which means it will chew on anything and everything it can get its mouth on. During this developmental stage, you need to use the crate and ex-pen to control what your puppy has access to in your house so it does not destroy things. In addition, since your puppy NEEDS to chew things at this stage, you need to provide it the right things to chew on.

Here are some things we would suggest you have on hand, not just now but throughout your pup's life:

• Kong® toy stuffed with great treats
• pig's ears
• bully sticks
• tendons
• marrow/knuckle bones
• elk or deer antlers
• rawhide from pastured cows and pigs. Be careful about where your pup's rawhide comes from. We use WholeDogMarket.com, WhiteDogBone.com, and Farm Hounds.

Before you give rawhide to your puppy, soak an end of it in warm water overnight. Having a soft end for your puppy to start chewing on will aid in the teething process.

Time for a Review

As you begin to think about expanding your puppy's room, we would suggest you look back on the previous few lessons to see how successful your puppy has been. Keeping in mind the more freedom your puppy has the more trouble it can get into, we encourage you to move slowly to maintain success! As your puppy earns the right to more space you can change its confinement from a crate or an ex-pen to a small room, slowly adding another area of the house until eventually, its "room" is the entire house. Following this method your puppy will ultimately learn that whatever space it is in is its "room," and your puppy will know not to soil it.

So, do you think your puppy is ready for more space? Every few weeks ask yourself the question again and when you truly feel your puppy is ready, execute your plan, and give it a chance to show you how brilliant it can be!

As Good Dog's House Training class comes to a close we want to remind you that our commitment to you continues. We will be here to help if any problems arise You have all the tools you need to successfully complete your puppy's house training, but if you run into any problems or just want to check in, don't hesitate to send an email during office hours or join us for a call.