How to Potty Train a Puppy: Step-by-Step Training Guide

Starting will help to keep your house cleaner and can help to build a good relationship between the two of you. Many trainers and organizations such as the AKC agree that following a routing and rewarding when your puppy does something right is best.

This guide provides information about potty training that you will find easy to follow no matter what your experience with dogs may be.

Understanding Your Puppy’s Natural Tendencies

If you closely observe your puppy when they’re trying to communicate with you that they need to go out, there are many signals that they give. Such as (but not limited to) walking in circles, sniffing around or producing soft sounds.

Identifying Potty Signals

He will now associate them with going outside to relieve himself, which will greatly assist in the development of your communication between each other. Your puppy’s age has a large effect on how long he can hold his potty.

Building a Consistent Routine

In an effective way, the most important aspect is having consistency. Without this, our puppies can become confused over why there seems to be no pattern to this whole potty objective.

Having a consistent feeding, play and potty schedule will help our puppy understand what their potty training expectations are. Taking your puppy outside as soon as you get up, after each meal, following any nap they have had, and then again prior to going to bed will cover the times most puppies need to relieve themselves.

By doing this your puppy will have the easiest and most consistent potty schedule to adapt to.

Important Times to Get Your Puppy Outside

Knowing when is the best time to take your puppy out is just as important as how often you take your puppy out. Some of the times of day can create a larger risk of having an accident than others.

• Shortly after you wake up.
• After every meal or drink.
• After any excitement or while playing.

Managing Eating and Drinking Habits

Your puppy’s eating habits can impact when and how often they potty more than one thinks. Although water is essential to a dog’s health, it’s wise to limit drinking pretty close to sleep times as this helps to reduce your puppy’s chances to “have an accident” overnight.

Choosing the Right Potty Training Method

Deciding on Which Potty Training Method Works Best for Your Environment. Virtually every dog has a different method of training.

Most professional trainers believe that selecting one method and using that method until your puppy is successful will do more for your dog than anything else you can provide.

Outdoor Potty Training Method

Using the Outdoor Potty Training Method. The outdoor method is the most popular method of potty training, and this method works well!

Training Environment Consistency

In addition to developing their abilities and skills, puppies require a consistent environment – that includes the area they are going to the bathroom (ideally outdoors) and the area where you are using to train them.

If you continue to constantly move their training pads around, they will not usually associate their behaviour with the area they go to the bathroom. When you maintain only one specific location, your puppy has a greater chance of forming an attachment to the location as their designated “bathroom” area.

This will also keep you from having concerns of your puppy becoming confused or frustrated by being moved between different bathroom areas on a continual basis.

Using Positive Reinforcement

Once you utilize positive reinforcement on your puppy, you need to reward them as quickly as possible after the occurrence of desired behaviour. Puppies are fast learners and can make connections between what they do and what they receive.

If you take too long after the occurrence of a proper behaviour to reward your puppy they will lose the association between the action and the reward. You will also need to experiment with the different types of rewards that your puppy responds to the best.

• Some puppies will respond to food.
• Other puppies will respond to only attention and/or play.
• All reward types are accepted by puppies.

Dealing with Accidents Correctly

Accidents happen as a part of the Toilet Training process and ALL puppies make mistakes. Do not get frustrated with your puppy for making a mistake as they are all a part of the learning curve.

Your response will either help your puppy to get better faster or will slow down the process. In fact American Kennel Club Certified Trainers all agree that staying calm will work 100% more than trying to punish your puppy.

Proper Method of Cleaning

Cleaning up accidents are far more important than most people realize. While most cleaning products will clean up the mess, they will not remove the odours from that mess.

Since puppies are very sensitive to smell, if they can still smell it, they will likely continue to go to that location. Use a cleaner that is enzyme based, as they work best at removing residual odours.

• Most trainers recommend using enzyme based cleaners.
• Do not use ammonia based cleaning products.
• Keeping the dog’s area free of any residual odours will help.

Crate Training Basics

Crate training will also give you a way to monitor when you dog needs to relieve themselves. To assist your puppy in establishing his or her territory and to get him or her to use the crate as a place to relax, you must first introduce the crate in a slow manner.

When your puppy is comfortable with the crate, he or she will come to think of the crate as a safe and comfortable environment. At that point, you will find it easier to follow your puppy’s routine and you will also cut down on the amount of accidents your puppy has in the house.

Crate Training Do’s

• Allow your puppy to investigate the crate freely.
• Praise and reward your puppy when entering the crate.
• Be consistent with your schedule for the crate.
• Use the crate as a quiet, calm & comfortable place.

Crate Training Don’ts

• You should never put your puppy in the crate for punishment.

Nighttime Routine for Puppies

Additionally, keep things calm before bedtime. Prior to going to sleep, avoid engaging in playtime or stimulating your puppy prior to going to sleep.

If you get your puppy too excited or play too vigorously your puppy is much more likely to need to go to the bathroom again prior to going to sleep.

Setting Up a Night Routine

A set bedtime routine will greatly assist in establishing productive and easy nighttime potty training for both you and your puppy. Puppies can learn very quickly when provided the same experience repeatedly throughout their day.

Consistency and Patience in Training

Remember, your puppy is an individual, and every pup will learn at its own pace – so be patient. Trying to force your puppy into doing something faster than he/she is capable of doing is only going to frustrate both of you.

Switching your training environment will cause confusion because your puppy will not know what is appropriate and he/she will not know where to go potty. Therefore, when there are mixed signals your puppy will have many more accidents.

Choose one training method and stick with that method until you feel that your puppy understands what to expect from you. Puppies will learn faster and better when training at the same time of each day, using the same cues and repeating the same actions over and over.

This will create other patterns of association and enable your puppy to learn new commands quicker when using these same patterns.

Final Thoughts

By following these guidelines you will create a strong bond with your puppy over time which will result in your puppy learning to have excellent behaviors. In turn you will be able to have a fully trained puppy sooner than you think and thus be more efficient with both of you.