There are many struggles you will have when raising your Skye Terrier. Surprisingly, housebreaking isn't typically one of the bigger struggles you will encounter. In fact, if you take proactive steps from day one to insure that your Skye will not want to make a mess or a wet spot in your home, you may never experience the struggles that puppy owners love to tell tall tales about.

There are essentially two options for successfully housebreaking a Skye Terrier puppy of bringing outdoor activities into your home. The first option is often the simplest for owners physically for the purpose of housebreaking the Skyes but quite difficult emotionally. This would be crate training your Skye. There are those that think this is cruel and harsh and others that swear by the fact that puppies enjoy the security of their crates once they grow accustomed to them and like having a 'room' of their own.

The second option is to make a literal room for the puppy that is his area of the house. The problem is that the room must be small enough that the puppy will not want to take care of business there. A mudroom works well for this purpose but make sure there aren't items in this room that can be shredded or destroyed, as it is quite possible that your puppy will do just that out of boredom or retaliation if they are so inclined.

Numerous Outings

In addition to daily walks that are very good for your Skye puppy and great opportunities for bonding with one another, it is good to plan frequent visits to those places were taking care of nature's call are acceptable. Let the puppy know that you are going out and why you are going out. Congratulate your puppy when he takes care of business. Offer treats and praise for successful outings and be quick to censure (verbally) your puppy when he has accidents. Use small words and don't use an excited tone and your puppy will get the message.

You should also schedule time for numerous outings throughout the day so that your puppy has plenty of opportunity to get the job done. Be careful that you aren't only taking her out when you're rushing to go to work, rushing to change clothes, or rushing to take care of other things. Take her when you have time to let her explore and play a bit too or you will find her faking the need to go out so that she can play some too.

Skyes Terriers are an intelligent breed. You are likely to find yourself constantly amazed by their capacity to understand. It will not be long before your Skye is giving you clues that she needs to be taken out. Pay attention to her cues and praise her for giving them before it is too late. This is a big step and one that should be congratulated.

The most important thing when training your Skye is to be consistent. Do not allow her to roam freely outside of her crate or her room without direct and undivided supervision. Make sure she doesn't have the opportunity to have accidents and she won't have them.

comments powered by Disqus