If this is your first dog (or puppy), you – and your dog - have lots to learn, but don’t be alarmed. Neither of you can learn it all at once. Take it a step at a time and enjoy each other throughout the process.
Make it a fun experience for your pet. Your dog should enjoy these sessions instead of being fearful.Some breeds are easy to housetrain as they don’t like for their living quarters to be messy or smelly or they really like to please their owners. Other breeds are more difficult to housetrain. Others may take a special type of training. However, with patience and persistence, nearly every dog can be housetrained.
It is important to learn as much about the breed of your dog as you can. Talk to other owners, veterinarians, breeders, etc. and read books about the breed. If your dog is a mixture of breeds, learn about all the breeds you can identify in your dog.
Just a note: You may have gotten a puppy or you may have gotten a dog from a shelter, but whatever dog you have will be referred to as he, him, her, she, your dog, your friend, or your companion in this book.
Also, this book assumes the dog will spend the majority of his time in your home and that is why you are “housetraining” him. If he is going to be an “outdoor dog” then housetraining will be much harder to accomplish as it will not be habitual for him.