How to Train a Puppy to Go Outside

Teaching a puppy to go outside is perhaps the most crucial aspect of its training. Puppies can be taught to eliminate indoors on pads and newspaper, but unless you want the puppy to do so for the rest of its life, you must teach it to go outside. This training takes patience and dedication.

Things You'll Need

  • Treats
  • Enzymatic cleaner
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Instructions

    • 1

      Entice your puppy to go outside with treats, if necessary. Some puppies simply do not like the weather outside and will refuse to go outdoors. Others are afraid of the outdoors and feel safer inside. To teach your puppy to go outside, pick it up and walk outdoors with it. Once you are outside, pet it and offer it treats to reinforce this behavior. If you cannot pick the puppy up, use treats to bribe it to come closer by holding them in your hand while you are walking outside. Eventually, your puppy will learn that going outdoors results in treats and will feel more comfortable doing so.

    • 2

      Take your puppy to the same spot outside each time you want it to eliminate. Dogs learn best with the help of cues. The designated elimination area is a cue for your puppy to go potty there. Similarly, walking your dog through the same door and along the same path each time on your way to the potty area offers it other cues, such as the door and landmarks along the pathway. Eventually, your puppy will begin to associate these cues with eliminating outdoors and will know what is expected of it when it sees them.

    • 3

      Give your puppy a treat and praise when it eliminates where you would like it to. Doing so will encourage your puppy to keep eliminating in the right spot.

    • 4

      Clean up any accidents your puppy has in the home with an enzymatic cleaner. These types of cleaners remove any waste odor better than typical household cleaners. If your puppy detects the scent of its waste in your home, it may be encouraged to go back to the same spot.

    • 5

      Place your puppy on a potty routine. For the most part, puppies can follow schedules pretty well and doing so helps them learn how long to hold their bladders and bowels. Take your puppy outside after it eats and when it wakes up, along with other times in between. If your puppy starts to exhibit signs it needs to "go," such as sniffing the ground, take it out immediately, then give it a reward for eliminating outside and not in the home.