Potty Training

There are a few things you need to know before you actually start potty training a puppy or adult Boston Terrier.

You need to understand your dog’s body language. Watch for signs that will indicate to you when your pet wants to eliminate.

If you own puppies, remember that they need to go potty at fairly frequent intervals – as soon as they wake up, after short naps, after play-time, after meals, before and after being crated and finally, before retiring for the night.

Take your Boston Terrier for walks at the time that he usually does his potty. Take him out to the yard and then to the same place there every time he needs to answer nature’s call.

Praise your Boston Terrier after he eliminates at the right place. Some Boston Terrier owners even give treats to their dogs. But remember to do this every time he does it right. He will relate the rewards to his having “done it right” and zero in on the spot where you want him to defecate regularly.

With time, you can try signal training. This is so that you know when your doggie wants to go. You can hang a bell at his level near the door and teach him to push it with his nose or pat it with his paw on his way out.

Until your Boston Terrier has been fully potty trained keep him under strict vigilance. Do not let him roam around the house freely.

Use a crate. A crate-trained Boston Terrier is usually very happy to get his own den. The advantage of crating is that dogs do not soil the place where they sleep. So, he will naturally not eliminate inside the crate.

If you have a small dog and if you live in a high-rise building or in a place that does not have a proper backyard, you can try litter pan training. What you do is create a space for your pet to eliminate in your house itself.

Use positive reinforcements while housebreaking puppies or adult dogs. Do not scold or hit him as you will gain nothing by doing that. He will only associate punishment with your return from outside. If you catch him in the act, a stern ‘NO’ or ‘FREEZE’ will do. It will startle the Boston Terrier enough for him to stop pooping.

Be prepared to return to a soiled home if you are keeping your Boston Terrier home alone for more than 4 hours as separation anxiety is quite common among home – alone dogs.

Accidents will happen. It is unusual for a trained adult Boston Terrier to work against its house training. But medical problems or health disorders may lead to sudden accidents.

Many dogs mark their territory. These can be a leg of a table or a particular wall. Intact male and female dogs mark their territories by urinating. Use deodorizers to spray on the places where your Boston Terrier has marked.

If you are patient and are ready to accept that house training a dog takes time, even months sometimes, you will end up having a good housetrained Boston Terrier.