Tips to How to Potty Train Your Puppy

Potty training or house training can be a difficult time for puppy owners. It is similar to toilet training in children, although puppies tend to catch on faster than kids. Like children, puppies have to learn how to control their bladder and bowels. They are not born with the muscle control for doing so. But owners can help puppies learn by sticking to positive reinforcement techniques and by keeping to a house training schedule.

  1. The First Day

    • Puppies can start learning house training on their first day with their new owners, according to "KISS Guide to Raising a Puppy." Decide where the puppy is to go potty outside the home before bringing the puppy home. Take the puppy to this place right after getting out of the car from its previous home. Puppies often need to urinate after a car ride, but it may take the puppy a few minutes to squat and relieve itself. Praise the puppy and pet it when this happens. Take the puppy to this spot, with collar and leash if necessary, every time the puppy is let outside.

    Schedule

    • Puppies need to defecate and urinate after they wake up from a night's sleep or long nap; about 15 minutes after they eat, after vigorous play such as during walks and about every two hours in the daytime. The ASPCA recommends keeping a journal of what times a puppy relieves itself in order to help better adjust this schedule. Puppies under six months old cannot hold their bowels and bladders for over four hours. If there is no one available to let the puppy outside, confine the puppy to one room in order to minimize the mess.

    Cleaning Up Accidents

    • Any accident inside the home needs to be cleaned up in order to prevent the puppy from returning to the same spot. Puppies often walk around in small circles, sniffing or scratching the ground right before they relieve themselves. They are sniffing to find traces of old urine or feces odors in order to determine where to potty. Take the puppy to a designated potty spot when this behavior appears. Never use ammonia or strong-scented cleaners for puppy accidents. These cleaners can leave behind scents similar to urine. Use only an enzyme-based cleaner.

    Misconception

    • One common method of house training is to rub a puppy's nose in its urine or feces when it has had an accident in the house. The theory was that the punishment would teach the puppy not to go in that place again. But this theory is wrong. Puppies do not have the ability to associate an owner's anger with the mess made on the carpet hours or even minutes ago. Puppies may "look guilty" when their owners arrive home to discover a mess, but the puppy is only trying to appease someone who often yells as soon as he or she arrives home.