Gretchen Pearson - How to Housetrain Your Puppy in 14 Days or Less: The Complete Guide to Training Your Dog

A few years back we lost our beloved pet dog Bear, who was not only our best and dearest friend but also the Vice President of Sunshine here at Atlantic Publishing. He did not receive a salary but worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to please his parents.

Bear was a rescue dog who turned around and showered myself, my wife, Sherri, his grandparents Jean, Bob, and Nancy, and every person and animal he met (well, maybe not rabbits) with friendship and love. He made a lot of people smile every day.

We wanted you to know a portion of the profits of this book will be donated in Bears memory to local animal shelters, parks, conservation organizations, and other individuals and nonprofit organizations in need of assistance.

Douglas and Sherri Brown

PS: We have since adopted two more rescue dogs: first Scout, and the following year, Ginger. They were both mixed golden retrievers who needed a home.

Want to help animals and the world? Here are a dozen easy suggestions you and your family can implement today:

• Adopt and rescue a pet from a local shelter.
• Support local and no-kill animal shelters.
• Plant a tree to honor someone you love.
• Be a developer put up some birdhouses.
• Buy live, potted Christmas trees and replant them.
• Make sure you spend time with your animals each day.
• Save natural resources by recycling and buying recycled products.
• Drink tap water, or filter your own water at home.
• Whenever possible, limit your use of or do not use pesticides.
• If you eat seafood, make sustainable choices.
• Support your local farmers market.
• Get outside. Visit a park, volunteer, walk your dog, or ride your bike.

Five years ago, Atlantic Publishing signed the Green Press Initiative. These guidelines promote environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks, avoiding waste, choosing energy-efficient resources, and promoting a no-pulping policy. We now use 100-percent recycled stock on all our books. The results: in one year, switching to post-consumer recycled stock saved 24 mature trees, 5,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of the total energy used for one home in a year, and the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from one car driven for a year.

Introduction

You have successfully completed the first step to housetraining your puppy you picked up this book! This book will discuss different techniques used to housetrain your puppy, preparing the environment for your puppy, safety for your puppy, safety of the home from the puppy, what kind of behavior to expect from your companion, and how to troubleshoot any problem areas with your new companion. The main goal here is to accomplish this housetraining in 14 days or less. Although each of us is an individual, just like dogs, and each of us learns at our own pace, the guidelines in this book will help you and your puppy get on the same housetraining page in two weeks!

Provided within this book is a realistic timeline for completing the training process. You undoubtedly have heard stories about parents and the frustrations they faced while potty training their children some taking years! If we keep these stories in the back of our minds, we will appreciate why potty training can be difficult at times, but the rewards are worth the work you put in.

Behavior is a vital part of housetraining and integral to owning a good citizen. Behavioral problems or lack of training are a leading cause of dog surrenders and ultimately, euthanasia. According to the American Association of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), 5 to 8 million dogs and cats enter shelters each year, and 3 to 4 million of them are euthanized. This is a staggering and sobering number, but these numbers are actually down from figures of 15 years ago, when 15 to 20 million animals entered shelters, with 75 percent being euthanized.

House soiling was one of the most common reasons that owners surrendered their dogs to shelters, according to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy ( www.petpopulation. org ). Housetraining is a paramount factor in maintaining a long, pleasurable relationship between you and your pet. Consider this when you are helping your new family member learn and avoid being another one of these devastating statistics.

Spaying and neutering your pet has medical, overpopulation, and behavioral benefits for your pet. Unaltered male and female dogs will mark their territory. Spaying or neutering your pet will help prevent wandering and territorial marking and aggressive behaviors. This will also prevent unwanted breeding or pregnancy that further contributes to the pet overpopulation of our country today. False assumptions about spaying and neutering include thinking that a dog will be less protective of the home and his family or that a female should go through her first heat cycle before getting spayed or neutered. Ideally, for medical benefit and to prevent marking behavior, altering should be done by the time your dog is 6 months old.