Housebreaking Your Dog
To successfully house train your dog, you need to keep a good schedule. Take your puppy out as soon you get up in the morning and as soon as you get home. Feed and water your dog at the same time every day. Twenty to thirty minutes after the feeding take your dog out. Use a catch phrase or a special term like "potty now" or "it’s time". Use it each time so your puppy will catch on. When your dog does "go potty", praise and love him. Make it a wonderful experience for your dog. If the puppy hasn’t used her time wisely, praise her anyway and go back inside. Keep an eye on your puppy. Watch for signs that your pup needs to go back out again and then go quickly. Soon your puppy will get the idea. Also, try taking your dog to the same place to eliminate each time. The scent will remind the dog what is going on and help them to go in the same place each time. Because of this scent recognition, it is not good to try to paper train your dog inside. This will cause confusion to the dog. If your dog is to eliminate outside always, start there and stay there.

If your puppy does make a mistake inside, make sure you clean up the mess well. Use a cleaning solution that eliminates odors. An ammonia base cleaner will not take the odor out successfully. Sometimes the smell will draw the pup back to the same place for the same mistake. Punishing the dog after an accident is not helpful, and the dog will only learn to be afraid. Don’t rub the dog’s nose in the mess or yell and scream. They will not understand. Clean it up and keep trying.

Dogs don’t want a dirty house any more then you do, they aren’t doing it on purpose. Keep them on a good schedule, feed, water and walk your dog regularly. Learn the signs your dogs exhibit. Love and praise them continually. After all, you weren’t potty trained over night.

For more info http://www.greatpets.com

Crate Training
Crate training is a common way to housebreak your puppy too. This method keeps the puppy in a cage or crate. It is a small, cozy space that the dog will think of as a den or home. The puppy usually will not make a mess in this small area. As with regular housebreaking, keep your pup on a schedule and take them out about 30 minutes after eating. After they come back inside, make sure they have time to enjoy being in the house before you crate them again. Use the crate only at night or when you are out of the house for short periods of time. The crate should only be used when you can’t be around to watch them.

To learn more about crating use the following links-
http://www.wonderpuppy.net/canwehelp/crate.htm
http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html

Command Training
Other helpful training commands that any dog can learn include- sit, off, down, and come. To start training your dog you need to faithfully spend about 15- 20 minutes each day in a ‘training session’. Keep these sessions in an area that doesn’t have a lot of distractions. You want your pet to focus on what you are doing with him/her.

"Sit"
Start this command out by facing your dog. Say the word SIT and as the dog comes to you raise your hand above the dogs head. Your dog will hopefully keep it’s focus on your hand, especially if there is a treat or toy in it. As the dog looks up at your hand it should cause the dog to sit down. When the dog does sit, reward him with praise and a treat. If your dog does not respond correctly the first time, take hold of his collar and gently push the dogs hind quarters down. Praise and treat. Repeat the ‘sit’-hand above the head-bottom to the ground-reward method until your dog starts to understand. Soon your dog will be sitting for you.

Remember that after your dog has learned this command to continue to be patient. There will be moments that are so exciting to your dog that manners will be forgotten. Remind your dog firmly but nicely and try not to repeat the command over and over again. A nagging command will soon be forgotten. Always commend your pet for correctly behaving.

"Off"
This should be the command for keeping your dog from jumping up on you and your visitors. When your dog jumps on you, try turning your back on the dog while saying ‘OFF". Continue doing this until your dog gets down. Reward your dog.

If your dog is too excited to stay down, try putting a collar and leash on the dog. When your dog is sitting, step on the part of the leash that is on the ground. When your dog tries to jump up on you he will not have enough leash to get up. Say ‘off’ and when the dog is down reward it.

Continue doing this everyday until the command is learned.

"Down"
This is best taught after the sit command is mastered. Have your dog sit and then with a treat or special toy in your hand bring it down in front of your dog. Say ‘down’ as you move the object to the ground. Most likely the dog will follow the object to the ground. Only give the object or praise to the dog after she is laying down. If this doesn’t work gently hold both of your dogs fore paws and slide them to the ground. Your pup will have to lay down. Say ‘down’ and then treat and praise your dog and try again. Eventually you will be able to phase the treat or toy part out but always continue to praise and praise.

This is a behavioral method that is used primarily for humans but, it relates well to pets. Basically it states that an immediate reward of food when the dog does the correct behavior will eventually lead to a behavior change. The dog will become accustom to the command (SIT), preform the behavior (sit), and receive a reward for correctly preforming the command (sitting down).

Eventually the reward or treat can be eliminated every time the dog performs the command and only given when the training session has ended.

There is also another theory that goes along with the ABA method. Instead of using a food treat alone, a specific sound is used. Most trainers in this area use a clicker. This is a little metal object, easily held in your hand that will make a clicking noise when you push it. This theory states that the sound is an even more immediate reward for the dog , click and then treat. When the dog preforms the correct behavior, push the clicker for the reward. Continue to do this during the training along with praise for the dog. Eventually you will not need to use the clicker for the dog as the behavior becomes learned, your verbal praise will be enough.

For more information on the clicker reward method see this site -
www.clickandtreat.com