The first thing we did was nothing. We focused on letting Rogue get used to her new home. We certainly provided some corrections when she went potty in the house or jumped on people...but we didn't focus on it.
After a few days we started focusing more on housebreaking Rogue, because nothing will frusterate you more than an indoor dog that is not potty trained.
We use the crate training method.
Rule 1 - The crate is a fun place. It is your dogs space! Keep kids out of the crate, don't use the crate as a punishment.
Rule 2 - expect this won't go smoothly the first time.
As I stated in an earlier post, our first attempt failed with Rogue. We let her check her crate out and she seemed okay with it. We crated her for about an hour that day while we ran errands...mistake number 1. Don't leave your dog the first time they are crated. First they are in a new place, they are trapped and suddenly you are gone.
We learned. I actually slept in the living room for the last 3 nights (my back is reminding me), while Rogue slept in her kennel with the door open. One night, I closed her door and stayed by her...and she did great.
We also determined that Rogue did better when the crate was covered with a blanket. The front is still open, but we put a blanket over the rest.
Yesterday, we left Rogue for about an hour again. When we came back, she was not barking and she did not try to eat her kennel this time.
When we let Rogue out of her crate, she does have a lot of energy, so what better time to take her right outside. As soon as she was outside, she went and we celebrated like we won the lottery. Since then, we have had no accidents inside (but we fully expect another one eventually). We are going on 4 days without an accident, and considering she was never an inside dog and that she has been with us only 8 days, I think that is outstanding.
Google Crate training for more information. This is a good video on it as well.
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