The day you bring home your new puppy is a day of joy and excitement, but also apprehension and anxiety for you, your puppy, and your whole family. Your relationship with your puppy must get off to the right start if she is to grow up to be a respectable member of society. The first step in this process is housebreaking your puppy, and it must begin right away.

The period of house training your puppy is especially laden with potential hurdles and setbacks. The key thing to keep in mind is that it's not actually a race. Get good habits established early, and stay consistent. We love them, but dogs are simple creatures and prefer stable habits and rituals. This makes it easier to prevent mistakes and set up a good precedent for later training. Establish a food and water schedule, serving your puppy at the same time every day, and take away her water bowl before bed time. (Don't forget to replace it in the morning!) Young puppies can only hold their urine so long, generally about an hour for every month of her age, plus an extra hour. So, a three month old puppy can hold on for about four hours.

When accidents happen (and there is no way to completely avoid them), don't freak out about it. Simply clean up the mess, use an odor neutralizer, and get on with the training. The thing is, in their simple-mindedness, dogs don't distinguish between a 'good' and a 'bad' place to go to the bathroom. The world is their toilet, and when they feel like going, they just do it. It is a human construction to designate a special place to eliminate. Dogs do, however, have a natural instinct to keep their bedding or sleeping area clean, and you can use that to your advantage.

Make a strong distinction between your puppy's sleeping area and her bathroom. It's very important that, if you live in an apartment or in a house without a yard, that you buy a doggy pad for your puppy to use when you can't take her out. It's like a litter box for dogs, and will constitute your dog's special place to go. If the dog considers the whole house her bedding area, she won't want to muck it up, and will prefer to use her specially designated "bathroom" area- the doggy pad.

The process itself is fairly simple. Keep the puppy in a little penned off area, or bedding area, for most of the day. Every hour or so, bring her to the area that you have deemed acceptable, be it outside or a doggy pad, give her a verbal command (like "go potty" or "business time") and wait for her to go. Build up the association between the word and the action-- as she's going, give the verbal command again. When she's finished, shower her with praise. Right after a jaunt to the bathroom, you can give her some time out and about.

If you take her to the bathroom and she doesn't go after a minute or two, bring her back to her pen and try again in twenty minutes. Try to stick to the hour schedule, though, and you'll be rewarded for your perseverance. Yes, this means also waking up in the middle of the night to bring her to the bathroom. You can do this only twice or so a night, though, since you've taken her water away and she won't have to go as often.

Remember, be patient. Your puppy is a simple creature, and training won't happen all at once. She needs routine and reassurance. And never use physical force to train a puppy. This will only teach her to fear punishment and mistrust you. You must encourage her to try for reward and make training into a game that she is interested in winning. Best of luck!