House training a puppy requires time, vigilance, patience and commitment. Following the procedures outlined below, you can minimize house-soiling incidents, but virtually every puppy will have an accident in the house (more likely several). Expect this — it's part of raising a puppy. The more consistent you are in following the basic house-training procedures, the faster your puppy will learn acceptable behavior. It may take several weeks to house train your puppy, and with some of the smaller breeds it might take longer.

If you have adopted an adult dog from an animal shelter, your new dog was probably house trained in his previous home. While at the shelter, however, he may not have gotten enough opportunities to eliminate outside, and consequently, may have soiled his kennel areas. This tends to weaken a dog's house-training habits. Additionally, scents and odors from other pets in the new home may stimulate some initial urine marking. Remember that you and your new dog need some time to learn each other's signals and routines. Even if he was house trained in his previous home, if you don't recognize his "bathroom" signal, you might miss his request to go out, causing him to eliminate indoors.

Therefore, for the first few weeks after you bring him home, you should assume your new dog isn't house trained and start from scratch. If he was house trained in his previous home, the retraining process should progress quickly. The process will be much smoother if you take steps to prevent accidents and remind him where he's supposed to eliminate.

Establish a Routine

• Like babies, puppies do best on a regular schedule. Take your puppy outside frequently, at least every two hours, and immediately after he wakes up from a nap, after playing and after eating. Take your adult dog out at the same times every day. For example, first thing in the morning when he wakes up, when you arrive home from work and before you go to bed.

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