Housetraining is probably the most important thing that your pet will learn, and correct training at this stage will prevent months of frustration later. The first principle is to reward the dog for eliminating where you want him to, and not giving him an opportunity to have “accidents”. Punishment is a very ineffective method of training, and punishing the “accident” will simply stop the dog from urinating or defecating while you are present and you won’t have the chance to reward him for eliminating in the proper places.

Positive reinforcement (rewards, praise, treats) is always the most successful and humane training method. In order to reward the pup, you must be present when he eliminates in the proper place, and so you must anticipate those times when he has the greatest need to go. After the pup has been sleeping for some time, take him outside immediately to the appropriate place and wait (you need to go out with the puppy, even in bad weather).   The moment he eliminates, reward and praise the puppy and bring him back inside (unless he is allowed to stay outside and play as a reward). Similarly, take him out just after eating.  This is the most likely time that he will need to have a bowel movement. A time limit is often helpful. If he does not “do his business” within 3 to 5 minutes (or if he urinates but does not defecate when he needs to), bring him back inside and keep him closely confined (a crate is preferrable), then repeat the trip outside after a minute or so.  The more frequently the puppy is taken outside during the day, the less need he will have to eliminate in the house; hourly trips outside are idea.

The second important part of housetraining is very strict confinement.  In the wild, dog and wolf pups spend most of their time in a tiny den, where they are safe when mom goes out to hunt.  Puppies have a strong instinct not to "soil the den", and this can be used to our advantage during housetraining.   Confining the puppy to a proper sized crate at night or during the day when no one is in the house is a natural way to teach the puppy to "hold it".  When people are at home, but not directly supervising the puppy, he should be confined to a small "puppy-proof" room with the floor entirely covered with newspapers. Once you see where the pup chooses to eliminate, you may paper only that area, but don't actually reward elimination on the papers unless you want him to be permanently paper-trained. Once the “puppy-proof” room is no longer needed, you may want to close it off for a while to eliminate the temptation to sneak in and use the familiar spot.

Once the housetraining is going well and your puppy understands where you want him to go, you may interrupt him when he has starts to think about having an accident.  A quick and startling "NO!" will halt the puppy long enough for you to scoop him up and take him outside, where you can put him in the appropriate elimination area and tell him in an encouraging voice that he should eliminate outside where he has been taught.  This is not a punishment, but an "interruption"; you can use a little scolding in your voice, but avoid any harsh action that will scare the puppy.

Anticipation of the puppy’s need to relieve himself and the vigorous use of positive reinforcement should results in rapid housetraining with a minimum of conflict between you and your puppy.