# Housebreaking and expanding puppies area



## JCChaplin (Oct 2, 2007)

Hi,
I have an almost 8 month old male Havanese. He is doing very well with housetraining. He "lives" in our kitchen and we have slowly increased his area so he now has the entire kitchen. He decided he didn't want his crate anymore at about 6mos. old, but he does not usually mess in the kitchen area. He rings a bell on the door to go out and as long as we take him, he makes outside. Here's the question. The minute I let him out of the kitchen, he will run around the downstairs of our house and pee somewhere. He clearly does not understand that this is not "outside". Our trainer suggested tethering him to one of us and letting him be in the other rooms for a little while at a time to get him used to these areas. She claims that he is less likely to have an accident if I am standing next to him. Has anyone used this technique and, if so, did it work? Does anyone have other suggestions?
Thanks!
JCChaplin


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## Lina (Apr 26, 2007)

I think the tethering is a great idea, though some of them will still try to pee, but at least since he is right next to you you can see this and correct the behavior. Also, that's great that he is well trained in the kitchen but unless he will only live in the kitchen, you need to get him used to the rest of the house and soon. I would have said that you should have done this a long time ago. The way I would do it is to introduce him to one room at a time, while he is tethered to you. Sprinkle food on the ground for him to eat and make sure to play with his toys and have them in the room with you. Once you get to the point where you don't think you need him tethered to you any more, I would still watch him like a hawk and wait for a week or so to make sure you have no accidents. If he does have an accident, it's back to tethering. If he doesn't, I would move on to the next room (with a tether) and do the same thing. I think this would be the best way to introduce all the rooms of your house and to make him aware that they are also a part of his den.

Good luck!


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## littlebuddy (May 30, 2007)

tethering is a great idea, i agree!! we have a very open floor plan so when our pup was a pup we had baby gates everywhere. if we were in the fmaily room, we moved gates to keep him in the area we were sitting in. if i went upstairs to the bedroom, i took him with me and kept a close eye on him. maybe he needs to understand that the entire house is off limits and by exposing him to other parts of the house, he'll get this. dogs don't pee where they live so by not having access or exposure to the rest of the house he's not peeing where he lives. these off limit places sometimes create places for them to pee. exposing him to your home a little at a time or under supervision i think will stop the problem.


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## JCChaplin (Oct 2, 2007)

Thanks for the advice! It's clear to me that he just oesn't understand not to go in the other area of the house because he is doig so well in the kitchen. We will start to expand his area under supervision, one room at a time. Our trainer said that it could take up to a year before he fully understands. I guess we need to be patient!
Thanks,
Jcchaplin


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