For many of us, when we picked out a pet, whether it's a puppy or an older dog, we usually have some very specific thoughts that made the decision to get a pet. While crate training probably didn't figure into the equation, maybe having a companion animal that would just spend time with you was the desire. Now unless you plan on being outside all the time, it's natural to want your pet to come inside with you.

It's at this point where many dog owners run into problems. This is especially true of owners whose puppy has grown up without house training rules. The result is that your dog may have picked up that behaviors and habits that need to be broken first. While this is not difficult to do, it does require an extra step for effective house training.

Those bad house training behaviors put bluntly, is when your dog has used your home as their personal bathroom.

The key when working with an adolescent or adult canine with bad house training habits and behaviors is  limit their freedom while in the house.

Understand, we're not talking to cage the animal up but only limit his freedom to the time that you can give him 100% of your attention. The idea is to limit and if possible completely eliminate any bathroom accidents in the home.

Dogs typically can pick out a place to go and start peeing in only a few seconds, so it's important that you are attentive and all times. It's absolutely critical that you stay this attentive until you have broken the bad house training behaviors. Depending on the effort you give to break those habits and create new behaviors will determine the amount of time he may need to be 100% attentive. Once your dog knows what you want him to do, and where you want him to do it bathroom breaks become a simple matter of opening the back door to let Rover out.

So the first step in crate training for adult dogs is to teach them that when they're in the house they need to be in the crate unless you let them out. This step is accomplished by placing your dog on a leash if he isn't already before coming into the house. Take them directly over to the crate, and entice or encourage him to enter. There are many ways to get your dog to cooperate but there are other articles on the site that outline the strategies.

While some dogs are obstinate and headstrong, this is yet another opportunity for you to take back control. A good example is when you get poop in the crate or a dirty dog problem. The answer to this is twofold. First, make the crate smaller so they have less room to defecate, and the other is to schedule going out so your pet doesn't need to relieve themselves when crated.

Once you get your dog in the habit of going directly to his crate when in the house, you're beginning to gain control of the situation and you're well on your way to successfully housebreaking your dog.