“KEEPING YOUR NEW COLLIE HOUSETRAINED AT THE NEW HOME”

A collie that is housetrained will not understand housetraining at a new home without retraining procedures at least the first week.  Sometimes a collie is easy to adjust but most of the time a dog does not understand where to potty at a new home.

The most important thing from the start is to not let the collie have the chance to make the mistake even one time.

Our collies do know how to use the outdoors but since we do not have carpet in our home one of our collies might think your carpet is like the absorbent outdoors that we have here.

The trick is to begin the adjustment by leaving the collie outside most the time. The collie will need to explore your yard as the main place to be. (Collies are fine in almost all weather as long as they have shade and a simple cover from the bothering rain.)

We too love our collies with us in the house to cuddle and feel safe. We do not like them to be dirty or lonely outside so the goal is to let them get used to the yard where they feel the most comfortable for peeing and pooping. Soon you will know they can stay in more often and then all the time.

If you bring your collie inside for relating and play you should keep the collie on a leash, maybe tie it to your waist, or make sure you stand over him the whole time while eating or playing. Because when you stop he or she will have that chance to potty.

You should have a crate inside anyway. They love to sleep in crates and it is a good way to keep the collie in one place if you have company or other reasons later on, but for the mean time since our collies are all crate trained pretty early you can be sure they will hold it a long time and will wait till you let them out.  Whenever you let a collie out of a crate it is ultimate important to put him or her outside right away. There is something in their mind that makes them think about going potty as soon as they go through a door, wake up from a nap, after eating a meal, and even after a hard play or exercise is done.

Do not expect the collie to suddenly be ready to be alone in your house. It will happen slowly over time before he identifies the back yard as his place to go. He has to succeed in using the back yard a bunch of times before that is the most comfortable place to go. So the easiest way is to pretty much make him live out there awhile before living in the house.

My collies are used to sleeping in our room at night loose. We never let most of them have run of the whole house while we are gone or asleep. Some have gotten our trust for total freedom with no problems so it can happen for you over time. Collies will learn.