Please see our expanded breed education website at http://www.bmdinfo.org for more information on Bernese Mountain Dog care and training.
A FEW WORDS ON HOUSE TRAINING
Consistency and attentiveness will help in housebreaking your puppy. After feeding your puppy or after playing are usual a times when puppies need to relieve themselves. Another sign from your puppy in a need of an outdoor break is smelling the ground while circling. Of course puppies need to go out immediately after they have woken up. Often young puppies need to be given the time to eliminate 2-3 times since they are often distracted and are off to investigate a new smell before the whole business of relieving themselves has been taken care of. Encouraging focused concentration by using the command ‘go poddy’ can be helpful to train your dog to relieve himself when needed on command. Giving a puppy lots of praise after they have relieved themselves out of doors is important to instilling that outside is the place to go. If you catch your puppy in the act of relieving themselves indoors, calmly pick up the dog or escort her out of doors to finish while saying ‘we go outside for poddy’ or another appropriate phrase. Lots of positive reinforcement for a job well-done outside quickly helps your pup to understand where you want her to relieve herself. A common reaction to an indoor accident that will not further a puppy’s housebreaking, is an owner making a big fuss over or punishing a pup or dog for an indoor accident discovered long after it happened.
Clean up accidents with clear water and vinegar and blot carpeting till as dry as possible. General rules of thumb are: young pups less than four months should be taken out often, at least every two hours, by six months of age a pup should be accustomed to signaling when an outdoor visit is needed and most six month olds should be able to wait from 4-6 hours but may not be completely reliable when left unattended. By one year a dog should be fairly reliable if house training methods have been consistently applied.
Many owners use crates overnight while they are sleeping to keep their puppy safe. Puppies may not be able to go all night during the first few months without having to relieve themselves. Often at 4-5 in the morning a pup will need to be taken outside if she has gone to bed at 10 - 11PM the night before. Calmly take care of business and return your pup to the crate so that you can continue to sleep. Of course puppies are ready to play after being let out after a long rest. But if you want to sleep, then make that clear to your pup by not offering to play and encourage quiet and calm instead. Usually after just a few weeks most pups will be able to go all night without a 'poddy' break overnight.
Making sure your pup takes care of business before placing them in the crate when you go to bed is very important. Sometimes several trips out of doors before bedtime are needed. Establishing a feeding and watering schedule that maximizes sleep time overnight needs fine tuning. If your puppy takes a big drink just prior to being put into her crate she will have to go outside sooner than if her drink was taken an hour before bed and she had an opportunity to relieve herself. Puppies often have to relieve themselves right after eating solid food. 2-6 hours after eating solids they often have to go again. If you are feeding a last meal at 8 PM and plan to go to bed at 9 PM you can pretty much count on getting up with your young puppy sometime during the night. Whereas feeding at 5-6 PM with a 9 -11PM bedtime allows more time for what food went in to your puppy to come out of her.
It is important that your puppy knows that the crate is a place that will be safe and clean and that she can get out when necessary to relieve herself. Dogs that are raised in a clean environment will not want to soil where they sleep. So keeping any bedding clean and dry and cleaning up any accidents in crates will be important for your pup's understanding that the crate is her den and it is a safe pleasant place to be.