Early on (8-12 weeks) your puppy will need to go potty frequently. After eating, after napping, after playing, after drinking… you get the idea. Take your puppy out at least once per hour during the day. A good rule of thumb is that most puppies can hold it for one hour per month of age, so a two month old pup shoud be able to hold it for two hours, a three month old pup for three hours, and so on.

Here are some tips to make housetraining a breeze!

1) Feeding Schedule/Potty Schedule- First, get your puppy on a feeding schedule. Three meals a day until four months old is recommended. The added benefit of a feeding schedule is that what goes in on time, comes out on time. Rather than leaving food out all day for your pup to nibble on, feed them at set times and take them out for a potty break immediately after each meal. Take your puppy out at least 8 times per day.

2) Crate training - Crate training is the second component of your housetraining program. Dog naturally dislike pottying where they sleep. The crate quickly becomes your pup’s new den, and a place they don’t want to soil. It's important that your puppy's crate is not too large for him. If it is, he will potty in the back of the crate and hang out in the front portion. If you buy a large crate, be sure it has a divider panel to make it smaller until the pup grows larger. During the night, and anytime your pup is unattended, he/she should be in the crate. Be sure not to leave your puppy in the crate for longer than 3-4 hours at a stretch and be sure he’s getting plenty of exercise and playtime when he’s out.

3) Umbilical cord training - Whenever your pup is out of his crate, but you are not directly interacting with him (i.e.: you’re on the computer, watching TV, making dinner, etc.) he should be attached to you by a short leash. This prevents the puppy from wandering off to another part of the house and leaving you a nasty surprise. It also allows you to learn your pup’s individual signals that he needs to go. These signals may include sniffing, circling, whining, staring at you, etc. Watch for these cues and when you see them, scoop your puppy up and take him directly to his designated potty spot. When he potties, praise lavishly.

4) Management - Don’t allow your new pup freedom to roam at will around the house until he is potty trained. Most dogs are reliable by about six months old. If you make a mistake, and leave him loose in the house, and he leaves you a mess, DON’T SCOLD THE PUPPY! He does not understand why you are angry. If you didn’t witness the accident, SAY NOTHING. If you catch the pup in the act, clap your hands to interrupt the behavior, then quickly scoop him up and take him directly to his potty spot.

By Bernadette Pflug , Certified Pet Dog Trainer
As printed in the Louisville Times / Superior Observer 2007

From time to time, you see the perfect pair. Whether engrossed in a lively game of frisbee, or working nearly as one on the agility course, when a dog has found his perfect partner, it unlocks an amazing relationship. I’ve been blessed to share such a relationship with my 11 year old German Shepherd, “Ranger.” For years, he was my partner in Search and Rescue. After training and searching together for lost children, hikers, climbers and the like, Ranger and I can almost read each other’s minds. To say it’s a special relationship is an understatement. As a trainer, here are a few of my observations on how to create an amazing dog.

1) SOCIALIZE, SOCIALIZE, SOCIALIZE – I believe with every dog, half of what you get is genetic, and the other half is what you make of it. Picking the right puppy, whose parents are sound in both body and mind will save you a lot of headaches from the get go. What happens with the puppy from then, is up to you. One of the key factors to having a calm and well adjusted adult dog, is socializing it early and often. This means making sure your pup is introduced to lots of different people, places and other dogs before reaching four months old. This is when the key socialization window begins to close. Things he hasn’t been exposed to by then could cause fear, shyness, or aggression later in life.

2) LEADERSHIP – Dogs are pack animals. By adopting a dog, you have made him part of your pack or family. In order to lead your dog, you must attain his respect through leadership. Leadership is an attitude, a state of mind. It’s not about strength or harshness. Leaders are fair, kind & consistent teachers. Be sure you are clear with your dog on your expectations. Require him to use some self control. Be sure he’s not pushy, bossy, or demanding. A good leader makes sound decisions, allowing your dog to just be a dog.

3) EXERCISE – Most dogs in America, along with many of their people, are not getting adequate exercise. Our dog’s closest ancestor, the wolf, travels great distances each day hunting for their food, while many pet dogs spend their days as glorified lawn ornaments. Your dog needs exercise! A minimum of two 30-minute walks a day. Many dogs need and want even more. Take up speed walking, jogging, hiking, snow shoeing, skijoring, or Frisbee. Your dog will love you for it and as a side benefit, destructive behaviors like digging holes in the yard or chewing on the sofa will often disappear. A tired dog is a good dog.

4) MENTAL STIMULATION – Along with exercise, a busy mind is one of the best ways to prevent problem behaviors in dogs. Rather than feeding your dog his breakfast from a bowl, give it to him in a food puzzle like a Buster Cube or a Kong packed full of frozen canned dog food. He’ll spend the next couple of hours working for his breakfast, rather than getting into trouble.

5) TRAINING – Training is medicine for so many problems. It provides exercise, mental stimulation and improves your leadership with your dog all at once. Sign up for a training class so your dog has a solid understanding of how to walk nicely on a leash, sit, down, come, stay, and leave-it. These foundation behaviors will give you the control you need to build a satisfying relationship with your dog.

6) RULES AND BOUNDARIES – Now that Rover’s got an idea of what you’re talking about, it’s up to you to decide the house rules. Make your training commands part of your daily routine. Ask your dog to lie down and stay on his bed while the family eats dinner. Ask him to wait at the stairs before toppling your toddler. Ask him to walk at your side instead of forging ahead. The obedience commands you both learned during training are not just for the show ring, they’re to make life with your dog more manageable all the time.

7) CONSISTENCY - This means every member of your family is consistent with expectations. You can’t feed the dog from the table sometimes and expect it not to beg. Dogs don’t understand “sometimes” very well.

8) CARE AND FEEDING - Your dog’s behavior, happiness, health, longevity and overall well-being are closely related with what you feed him. Look for high quality foods that do not contain corn, wheat, soy, or meat by-products. High quality dry kibble, canned food, raw meat and bones are all excellent choices. In addition, take some time at least once a month, to give your dog a little tlc. Clean out his ears, trim his toenails and give him a bath. Long coated breeds should also be brushed daily. This type of maintenance will help you to discover health problems before they become serious issues.

9) LOVE AND AFFECTION – Your dog needs to know he is loved but many of us give attention at the wrong time. Do you pet your dog when he pushes his nose under your hand? You’ve just rewarded pushy behavior. Do you speak soothingly, saying “It’s ok,” when your dog refuses to get into the bathtub, fights having his nails clipped, or when the vet is trying to restrain him for an exam? Sweet talk at the wrong time reinforces bad behavior. Let your dog know you are in control and would never allow anything harmful to happen to him. A calm, confident manner will help your dog to feel safe during uncertain times.

10) GET OUT AND PLAY! – Now that you know the secrets to a super dog, get out and spend some time with your furry friend. Make him a part of your life! Run, play, fetch, swim, ski – whatever you do, he would love to do it with you!

Bernadette Pflug is the trainer and owner behind Unleashed Ultimate Dog Center, a training center, dog wash, and retail store carrying just about everything a dog could want! She can be reached at 303-554-9343.

By Bernadette Pflug, CPDT
as printed in Rocky Mountain Dog Magazine
October, 2007

He was four months old when I first laid eyes on him back in 1996. The little German Shepherd pup was bred by my mother, out of strong working lines. She picked him out of the litter for me, and held onto him until we could pick him up from her farm in Tennessee. When my husband Joe and I arrived, he was friendly but a bit shy. He’d never left the farm and the security of his mother. As we drove away, he cried and climbed onto my lap. We named him “Ranger.”
For the first few months, Ranger was a typical pup, but that would soon change. As he grew into adolescence, Ranger became more active and destructive. He could escape from any crate, open any door, and once free in the house, he would chew through books, newspapers, mail… anything he could get his teeth on. He even peeled up the lineoleum in our kitchen!
At the time, I wasn’t a dog trainer as I am today. But I knew he was meant to work, not sit in a crate all day. I researched some fun activities, reading books on agility and search and rescue. After playing some of the scent games in the book, it was clear Ranger had a talent for finding people. We began attending practice with a search and rescue team in Boulder, honing his skills at “trailing.” Trailing is when a dog roughly follows the path a person has walked, leaving a scattering of skin cells which the dog can detect. Ranger became expert at trailing not only across open fields and wilderness areas, but also through neighborhoods and parking lots, just about anywhere. Ranger was incredibly talented, but as his handler, I had a hard time trusting his instincts. You know, we humans are supposed to be smarter after all. I often doubted him and made him rework the same problems over and over. As we began readying for our formal testing, we attended a search and rescue exercise or SAREX as they are called. Everything at a SAREX is run like a real search, including the fact that the dog handlers have no idea were their lost subjects have gone. Ranger and I would be looking for a woman who became lost after leaving her campground. I scented Ranger on the woman’s sleeping bag inside her tent, and we started circling the area looking for her trail. Ranger soon picked it up and trailed her out of the campground. After several hundred yards, we located a shirt belonging to the subject. This confirmed Ranger was on the right track. He continued from the shirt to a small creek that was running strong. On the other side was a mug bog, with mud often knee deep. We trailed across the creek and into the mud but being the human at the other end of the leash, I though I knew better. “There’s no way anyone would willingly tromp through this mess” I thought. So, I took Ranger back to the t-shirt and restarted him. Patiently, he following the same route right back to the creek. “You just don’t get it” I thought. And again we went back to the t-shirt. For the third time, Ranger repeated the trail right back to the creek. Frustrated, I began walking a grid over the rest of the area. For hours we hiked. Ranger must have thought I decided to take a walk instead of work the trail. With night approaching, the SAREX was cancelled. My subject walked to her car and drove down the road. She stopped to pick us up and Ranger was very glad to have finally been allowed to find her. I immediately asked where she had gone. Turns out, Ranger was right all along. She had crossed the creek and the mud bog. Serves me right for doubting my dog. Dogs don’t lie. They’re not capable of it. But trusting them can sometimes be hard. Our group inscribed on all our hats “Trust Your Dog,” to remind us of this when we were searching.
In 2001, we were ready for our qualification test. After meeting our team of evaluators at Beaver Reservoir, we were given a last seen point for our test “victim,” a man who had gone lost 16 hours earlier. Ranger and I circled the area and soon he picked up the scent. We followed it for two and half miles, across a hillside covered in blown down trees. I had to lift Ranger over many of these, but once on the other side, he took right off on the trail again. Along the way, he located several items dropped by our subject, and eventually found him sitting in a small chair in a clearing. After a big game of Frisbee, Ranger’s favorite reward, we were able to compare gps paths of both the subject and Ranger. He was dead on.
Over the years, we assisted law enforcement on many searches, finding both living and deceased subjects, young and old alike. At times, I still doubted him, but he always proved me wrong. When you work with a dog as closely as a SAR handler does, you develop a relationship deeper than the average pet / owner relationship. The dog becomes an extension of you.
On September 16, 2007, I lost Ranger to a kidney tumor. The loss is at times unbearable. I’ve been thinking a lot about our times together, all the searches, practices, hundreds, maybe thousands of hours working as a team. Ranger taught me a lot of things, most importantly, trust and forgiveness. You can’t call anyone your partner unless you trust them. And as for forgiveness, he gave it me unconditionally.

Pflug’s Pfurst Red Ranger – March 16, 1996 – September 16, 2007