One of the first things you should teach your new puppy or dog is not to go to the corners in the house, looking for a place to relieve. Housebreaking a dog is best accomplished when he is a puppy, but even if you adopt an older dog that is not trained you can still housebreak him.

Housebreaking dogs can be a very trying experience, and can be frustrating especially for anyone who is a new dog owner. Small successes are often marred by frequent accidents. Most of the time when a dog being housebroken has an accident it is actually the failing of the owner, more than the puppy itself. This is usually because one of the fundamentals of animal housebreaking training was broken.

The secret to successfully housebreaking a dog is to never let it make a mistake in the house without being corrected. If a puppy does it and you haven’t corrected him, that means its ok to do it again. Conversely, if a dog never eliminates in the house, it won't know it's an option.

The cardinal rule of housebreaking bears repeating: Never discipline or correct a puppy for an accident you've discovered after the fact. The puppy won't connect the two, concluding only that you're irrational and irritable.

Housebreaking a dog is easier than you think. It's up to you to be consistent and watchful. Look for signs that the dog has to 'go'. It will usually start sniffing the floor, pacing around and acting kind of odd. He's giving you signs that he has to go potty.

Learn to predict when your dog will have to go to the bathroom: Immediately after waking, eating and playing are all good bets. The number of hours a puppy can hold its bladder corresponds to how many months old it is. So that wriggly 2-month-old needs to be walked every two hours. At night, crate or confine the puppy, and get up and out the minute you hear her stirring or whimpering.

There are many ways you can use to housebreak your puppy and one of the most effective is crate training. Once you get your dog used to the crate by crate training him, you can progress into housebreaking him using the crate. This method is very effective and is usually quicker than conventional techniques of housebreaking dogs.

With some patience and techniques you can train even the most impossible of dogs to housebreak.