house training small dog how much wear and tear to house?

[seriously1]

Do you think it is possible to crate train/house train a new small dog puppy without damage/wear and tear to your house/ sofa / carpet etc.  What was your experience?  We are small dog looking and living room furniture shopping too.  Somehow this just doesn't seem smart to me. . .

[nital]

Depends on how carefully you watch your dog. Admittedly, I don't do puppies, I prefer dogs about a year old, but most of my fosters have had only a handful of accidents. I don't allow dogs on the furniture, so my couch was safe.

Dogs are tethered to me until they're fully housebroken and have perfect recall in th house. If theyre not tethered to me, they're crated.

[katietornado]

It would be much easier to get a dog that's a little older and already housebroken! If you let me know the size/breed you're looking for, and roughly where you're located, I can help you find a good rescue!

[caz1221]

It can definitely be done.  We got our first dog (pug) at age 13 weeks and housebroke and crate trained him with minimal accidents, most of which were on hardwood floor, which made clean-up a bit easier.  We took him out very frequently and watched him like a hawk (or tethered him to us) while in the house.  He was crated when we weren't home.

If you are concerned about potty training (and potentially chewing), an older puppy (maybe 8 months and up?) or adult dog might be a better fit, as many of them are usually potty trained (either by the rescue or by the previous owner).  Our second dog (also a pug) was almost 4 years old when we adopted him, and he was 100% housebroken.  He didn't even have any accidents during his transition to our home.  Again, we crate-trained him and tethered him to us for the first couple weeks just to make sure he didn't have any accidents.

No matter what age the dog, make sure you have plenty of Nature's Miracle (or another enzymatic cleaner) to clean up any accidents that do occur.  Using regular cleaner won't get the smell out for the dog and can result in more accidents (because the dog thinks it's ok to pee/poo in that spot).  GL!