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House training a puppy can be an absolute nightmare. Pieces of newspaper that was supposed to be a 'bathroom' may be shredded up and strewn all over the house by the puppy. Your puppy might track urine and other unpleasant messes throughout the house. By the time it is said and done, you might be wondering why you got a puppy in the first place.

Puppies are like babies and need to be taught the difference between right and wrong. Your number one "ingredient" for properly training your puppy is to have a lot of patience. It might be a matter of days or a matter of months before you have your puppy house trained so that it goes to the bathroom outside.

To start with, you might want to create a special sleeping area for your puppy's naps and night time sleeping. This is usually an enclosed space, like a crate. When the puppy understands that this is its special sleeping area, it is unlikely that it will go to the bathroom there. You need to be sure to put the puppy in this enclosed bed area every night and for naps so that it will recognize and "own" this special sleeping enclosure.

When it is time for bathroom breaks, have a consistent schedule. Go to the exact same place for the puppy to go potty, such as a corner of the back yard. Take the puppy out on a fairly long leash so it can walk around, sniff things over and explore. When the puppy finally goes to the bathroom, give it a treat. You will also want to congratulate the puppy in what I call "happy dog voice" ... you know, that stupid voice that you use only for your cute little dog. When your puppy is young and active, you might need to take it outside every other hour for bathroom breaks. As it grows older, it will not need to do its duty quite as often, so you will be able to wean the outside trips from your schedule.

When your puppy is not taking its nap, keep an eye on it so that it does not go to the bathroom in the house. If your puppy starts running around sniffing the floor or running in circles, this might be a sign that it has to go to the bathroom. Take it outside to its designated potty spot.

On the outside bathroom breaks, be sure to use words like "go potty" or something similar that your puppy will begin to recognize. Over time, when you say something like "It's time to go potty," the puppy/dog will understand that it's time to go outside for bathroom break.

When you take the puppy out for bathroom break, do not attempt to play with it or talk with it until it "does its thing." Then, reward it with a treat and/or encouraging talk. Be careful about giving the puppy too many treats! Your puppy will appreciate treats a lot more if you do not have bowls of food in the house. You should, however, have plenty of fresh water around at all times.

Your puppy will probably need to go to the bathroom about 20 minutes after eating, so plan your schedule accordingly.

No matter how well you train your puppy, and even when it grows into a dog, you still might have some ugly messes, especially if you do not let the dog out on time because you are running late from work or have overslept on an overcast, rainy day. Your dog can only handle a full bladder for so long! There is an innovative way to prevent indoor accidents. Visit the Blurbosphere's indoor dog bathroom accessory page for a review ... and discover other entertaining and useful pet blurbs at http://www.blurbosphere.com/critters