Amazon.com: How to Housebreak Your Dog in 7 Days...
That's the one I got.
The idea of it is to use a crate, and to have a strict schedule of feeding (and watering during the first seven days), pottying, and playtime.
During the seven days the dog is only supposed to be fed and watered during the specific times, in their crate. Then a half hour later you take them out to potty. Then free playtime, followed by a few hours of crate time.
The book has different schedules for people who are home during the day vs. working and also for different dog/puppy age groups.
She says that after seven days (or so) of adhering to the strict schedule your dog will know where to go potty, and will learn to hold it until brought to the potty spot.
I believe for this to work you need to continue with the schedule, but can increase the free time and lessen the amount of confined time until you are just confining when you are not home.
My puppy is just 15 weeks now, we've had him for a month. We've been crating him, letting him out into his pen (which at first was covered completely in papers and now just has his Rascal dog potty and bare floor) and after he potties he is allowed free time out in the house and then we repeat the process. Overnight we leave his crate door open in the pen so he can potty when he needs to.
He's been doing really well with this, in that he now uses his Rascal and does not have accidents on his pen floor. BUT, I slipped up yesterday and did not wait for him to poop in his Rascal before letting him out with us and the minute he ran into my daughter's room he pooped on her floor. My bad, because at this point I feel it is our responsiblity to make sure he is "empty" before he gets free time - but I also learned that he does NOT completely understand that the Rascal is the only place he can go in the house.
