House and alone log

Every potty outing and accident with its time, and every practice absence with its length and how the dog was. Seeded from your setup; stored in this browser.

For a first pass, the potty log is essential for any puppy and for any adult whose house training you are unsure of. For an adult that is reliably house trained, one day of the log is the check House training asks for. The alone-time sheet is essential once you start the ladder in Crate, pen and alone time; a dog that already settles alone needs one row, the ten-minute measured absence. Skipping the potty log means guessing at the pattern that the log would show in a week: the times accidents happen and what came before them.

Potty log

One row per outing or accident. Write the time you went out, not the time you remembered to log it.

Log accidents as well as successes, with what came before them. The timetable gives the starting schedule; after a week this log tells you how to change it.

Alone-time ladder

One row per practice absence. Describe what you saw or heard; the camera or a neighbor is the evidence, not a guess.

Build the length in small steps and log every absence. If any row says "distressed," stop the ladder and read the veterinarian section of Crate, pen and alone time before the next one.

How to use these sheets

• One outing or accident per row. "No result" rows matter: three of them in a row at the same time of day mean that break can move.
• Write the time you went out, not the time you logged it. The pattern depends on the clock.
• One absence per row on the alone sheet, with where the dog was, where you were and what the evidence shows. A camera or a neighbor's report is evidence; a quiet house when you return is not, because a dog can be silent and distressed.
• Record, do not conclude. "How the dog was" is what you saw or heard. Whether it adds up to a problem is for the chapter, and for a veterinarian if the rows say distressed.