How to housetrain when you're out of the house

When you have to leave your dog home alone (or if you're too busy to follow the three-step housetraining program), keep her confined to a puppy playroom with an indoor "doggy toilet."

Being kept in the playroom with an indoor doggy toilet prevents your dog from eliminating in other parts of the house--something that can quickly turn into a bad habit.

Elements of a good playroom

A good playroom has:

* easy-to-clean, non-absorbent floors and gets a lot of traffic from the family, so the pup won't feel isolated.

* a gate or an exercise pen so you can cordon off a small section of the room

* a comfortable crate or bed

* a bowl of fresh water

* plenty of hollow chewtoys stuffed with dog food

* a doggy toilet in the corner opposite the crate or bed.

To make one of these "toilets," cover a litter box, a metal tray (such as a removable crate bottom), or an old piece of linoleum with whatever will be your dog's eventual toilet material. For rural and suburban pups, for instance, you might lay down a roll of turf. For urban puppies, use a few thin concrete tiles. Perhaps this goes without saying, but be sure to clean off the surface regularly.

--by Ian Dunbar