Blue Heelers are natural herding dogs.
"Blue Heeler" is one nickname for the Australian Cattle Dog. These dogs have distinct blue-grey coats that distinguish them from their red counterparts, aptly-named Red Heelers. They respond well to training; this breed welcomes structured training and strong leadership from their owners. According to Dr. Stanley Coren, Blue Heelers rank 10th in intelligence for all dog breeds in the world. Use the dog's intelligence and aptitude for following leadership to your benefit by offering consistent and regimented housebreaking training in the first few months of life.
Instructions
1. Examine whether your household can handle a strict housebreaking routine for a few weeks before you bring a new puppy into your home. Someone must be willing to let the puppy out every three hours during the day and no longer than every six hours at night. Coordinate a schedule with your family or have a friend or dog-walking service take your puppy out while you're away from home.
2. Write out a daily schedule that will be followed religiously. Your puppy will need to be taken out in the morning, after eating, after excited play sessions and at night, so base the schedule around when those events may occur and assign times to each person in your household and/or coordinate with outside help.
3. Designate where your puppy will be taken to eliminate. If you have a backyard, it must be let out in that yard and nowhere else while housebreaking. If you don't have a backyard, plan out a route for the puppy to be taken on around your neighborhood and maintain that exact route until training is over.
4. Walk your puppy on a leash while housebreaking. Even if the puppy goes in your backyard, it must be on a leash. This not only helps train your puppy to walk on a leash, it also ensures you have control over its behavior and can confirm that it has done its business every time.
5. Take the clicker and treats with you when walking your puppy. Watch it carefully without saying anything and when it starts going, make a quick click next to it so it can hear the click and feed it a treat the moment it's done. Then give some restrained praise, such as a quick rub on the back. Do this consistently even when it's only urinating lightly to mark territory.
6. Use crate training. Don't allow your puppy to run rampant around the house, especially while housebreaking. Lay down soft towels in the crate that can be thrown away or washed when accidents happen. Keep the puppy in the crate while eating so it can learn to love and respect its space (i.e., it will be less likely to soil the area it sleeps and eats in) and don't let it out for 10 tp 30 minutes after it's finished eating, at which time it should be walked.
7. Take all food and water away two to three hours before bedtime and do the last walk of the day about 30 minutes after it's eaten the last meal of the day.
8. Give your puppy more freedom to explore the house as the accidents get fewer and further apart. For example, allow it to eat one meal a day in the kitchen instead of in its crate so it will begin to feel the same respect for the rest of the house that it has for its crate. Feed it treats in other areas of the house to expand on this idea as it moves along in training.
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