Your dog goes in the house

House training

Dogs are clean animals by nature. Going in the house isn't your dog being dirty — it's a routine and supervision problem before it's anything else.

Maybe it never fully stopped after the puppy stage. Maybe it came back after a move, or a new dog, or a stretch of long workdays. Now there are spots you've cleaned three times, a room you keep the door shut on, and you're finding it after the fact with no idea when it happened.

Why is your dog going in the house?

There are five roots, and yours is usually one or two of them.

Instinct is the first — social, civil, and defense drives push a dog to mark territory and possessions, and that's marking, not a potty problem.

Breeding is the second. A puppy raised in a dirty whelping box never learned to keep its own space clean, and that habit travels.

Opportunity is the third, and it's the most common one nobody counts. A dog left unattended in the house will eventually go in it.

Poor potty training is the fourth, and it's the biggest single cause. A routine that was never fully installed, or one that got dropped once the puppy seemed to get it.

Punishment is the fifth, and this is the one that surprises people. A dog that's been scolded, rubbed in it, or yelled at doesn't stop going — it stops going in front of you. Now you're finding it behind the couch and in the spare room, and you've lost the one signal you needed.

That's why we don't punish this one. The whole goal is a dog that feels safe telling you it needs out.

How we fix the house training

We install the routine, we take away the opportunity, and we build your dog's trust back so it will ask.

First your dog's temperament is evaluated — drives, disposition, engagement — and we work out which of the five roots you're actually dealing with. Marking and a missing routine are two different problems with two different plans.

Then your dog gets a map: the foundation first, then place and focus, so your dog has somewhere to be and something to do inside the house. Chapter 37 comes after that, and it's a routine — crate, leash, the same spot, a set interval, marked and rewarded the moment it happens right. Your dog is supervised or confined, never loose and unwatched, until it's earned back.

When an accident happens, nothing happens. Crate the dog, clean it thoroughly so the scent doesn't invite a repeat, and go back to the routine.

This one is on the handler more than any other door. The routine is simple, but it only works if you run it every day until it holds.

The finished picture is a dog that asks to go out, a house with no spots, and freedom given back as your dog earns it.

20+ years · author of Building A Solid Canine · every dog is evaluated first

Two ways to start.

Bring your dog to a Saturday.

Garrett reads your dog live at the Saturday workshop in Placerville, CA — that's a Working Evaluation, $200. You get the full day, the printed workbook and the full book, and your dog's written route through it. Every dog is evaluated first. Bite histories welcome with honest disclosure.

Or we come to you.

An In-Home Session at your house, up to two hours, with the same workbook, book, and written route.