Ways & Tips to Potty Train a Puppy

Puppies are cute and playful household pets that are loved by all the family, but when they poop and urinate all over your house their charm can wear thin. Establishing a proper training regimen as soon as you bring your puppy home is the key to a happy, obedient dog and a clean home. Patience and consistency are the keys; it is up to you to show a puppy where it must relieve itself and in a language that it understands.

  1. Establish a Routine and Stick to It

    • A puppy needs a set routine to learn where it should and shouldn't go to the toilet. If its routine is constantly changing, it will become confused and this will reflect in its toilet habits. Give it food at set times every day so that you can gauge when it will most likely need to relieve itself. Food should not be given near bedtime, and you should remove its water bowl at night and put it back first thing in the morning. Establish a spot outside where you want it to go to the toilet, and take it there every 60 minutes and always 10 minutes after eating and drinking. Use a cue such as "go potty," and don't use this time for play. If you repeat this routine every day without interruption, your puppy will learn and enjoy the boundaries that you have set for it.

    Be Attentive

    • You must pay attention to your puppy at all times and not leave it to roam freely around the house so you can watch for any warning signs that it needs to go to the toilet. If you see it sniffing and squatting in an area of your home, quickly pick the puppy up and take it to your designated spot outside. If you can't be around to watch your puppy at all times during the first few months of its life, invest in a crate. This will provide a safe and secure place for it to play, eat and rest, and it will enable you to restrict the puppy's run of the house. According to Dog Obedience Training Review, dogs are unlikely to relieve themselves in the same area where they sleep and eat, so by confining it to a crate for no more than three to four hours during the day, this will prevent accidents. Take the puppy outside as soon as you let it out of the crate.

    Use Positive Reinforcemnt

    • Instead of punishing your puppy by yelling or, worse, hitting it when it has an accident in your home, gently tell it no and take it outside when you notice a poop or wee and then clean it with an odor-busting cleaning product. In addition to this, praise your pup when it goes in the right place by giving it a tasty treat and petting it. This way, it will learn to associate going to the toilet in the right way as a positive appearance, instead of associating it with fear and punishment if it makes a mistake.

    Be Patient

    • Your puppy can't practice the same control over its bladder and bowels as an adult dog, so be prepared for mistakes while it is young and still learning. Don't fret, though. You just need to be patient and keep reinforcing the routine you have put in place. If it makes a mistake, it could be something you have done wrong, too. Did you forget to take it out at regular intervals? Or did you give it food at the wrong time? You will find that nighttime poses the biggest challenge because your puppy is not physically able to hold its bladder and bowels for a long period. Set an alarm at four-hour intervals during the night to take the puppy outside and keep the sense of routine until it develops more toilet control.