Potty Training a Lab Puppy

Purchase a small crate from a pet store before bringing puppy home. Labrador retrievers grow into large dogs, but the puppy will be small. If you purchase a crate that will fit a full-grown Labrador, place a cardboard box or other makeshift partition to ensure that the puppy has only room to stand up and turn around. If a puppy is given too much room in the crate, it will learn to eliminate in one area and move to another to sleep. Dogs have a natural instinct not to soil where they sleep, so keep the room available to a minimum.

Fold and place a towel into the crate to make the puppy comfortable. In the case of an accident, this towel also makes cleanup easier. If the puppy has an accident on the towel, be sure to wash and bleach the towel to erase all trace of the accident, or the puppy might begin to make a habit of eliminating in the crate.

Take the puppy out to the desired elimination spot immediately after bringing it home. Pick a cue word to use, such as "potty," and encourage the puppy to relieve itself. Always use the cue word repeatedly; the puppy will learn to associate this word with the act of elimination.

Take the puppy outside every time you feed the puppy, after playing with the puppy or when it awakes from sleeping. Young puppies relieve themselves soon after eating or drinking. Keep a strict feeding schedule to help determine the puppy's elimination schedule, as well. First thing every morning, take the puppy outside before you do anything else. Make it the last thing you do at night before going to sleep.

Anytime puppy is sleeping or you are otherwise occupied, keep the puppy in the crate during this training period. It takes only a moment for the puppy to make a mistake, and the key to effective house-training is accident prevention. Your Purebred Puppy's website recommends no more than four hours a day of crate time.

Keep the puppy from having full run of the house. For the first month or two, limit the amount of space where puppy has access so it cannot roam out of your view and make a mistake. The puppy should have access to one room (where you feed it) and the backyard. Use child gates, if possible, to confine the puppy into the area of the house.

Wake up intermittently throughout the night to take your Labrador puppy outside. Puppies are not capable of holding their bladders overnight, and they must be taken outside every two to three hours. Feed the puppy for the last time one to two hours before bedtime to be sure the puppy has a bowel movement before going to bed. This will help to make sure that the puppy needs only to urinate overnight.

Repeat all the steps consistently. In the next couple of months, the puppy will grow to a bigger dog who can be crated for longer lengths of time, and you can slowly wean the nighttime outings. By six months of age, you should be able to crate the Labrador retriever overnight without needing a night visit to the backyard.