How To Potty Train A Puppy And End The Nightmare!

Learning how to potty train your puppy can be a bit of a nightmare - but with some patience and a good amount of consistency this experience will form the foundation for a great relationship with your dog.

Bringing home a new puppy is always an exciting event – their wagging tail, glowing smile and eagerness to please instantly lights up your world. They are probably the most adorable creature you could imagine and the best new addition any family could hope for. You wonder why you’ve waited so long to get a puppy, and forget about all the nightmare stories you’ve heard about other people trying to raise their own dogs. Until about five minutes later when they start to piddle or poop on your living room floor. And then the nightmare begins…

Learning how to potty train a puppy is one of the most urgent concerns for any new dog owner – especially if you intend on having your puppy live inside with you. This can be a particularly stressful and trying time, as you can be sure that with even a handful of small accidents your carpet will potentially be ruined. The worse part is how often they need to go – seriously, how much poop can one small puppy make? You’ll no doubt find yourself tirelessly cleaning up messes in an effort to make your carpet spotless once again, only to turn around and see your puppy has already left another one for you. It can quickly become very hard to stay on top of, especially when you don’t know how to potty train a puppy the right way.

The first thing you should know is that a puppy is a baby animal, and just like human babies they do not yet have full control over their own bodily functions. Next, dogs do not necessarily see a toilet the same way humans (or even cats) do. As long as it’s not in their designated eating or sleeping area then they don’t really mind where or when they do their business. Unless you give them proper guidance on where they should be doing said business then they will quickly learn to see every inch of your house as a potential toilet. The good news is that they naturally want to please you, and if you show them that going potty in the right place is a good thing then they will naturally want to continue doing it. The bad news is that their undeveloped body doesn’t allow them to do this with any great level of consistency yet – so you will need a lot of patience, and be ready to wait for several weeks before your puppy is able to be properly house trained.

Methods For Potty Training A Puppy

So what is the best way to house train a puppy? There are three main methods that people will generally use, and they will often share several characteristics. These puppy potty training methods are:

• Just let your puppy out every hour – This is a path fraught with danger, and this is the method that the majority of people attempt when first learning how to potty train a puppy. It can work, but it may take longer and it can result in a few more accidents. Ideally, if you use this method you should confine your puppy to one section of the house and be ready to watch them very carefully for any signs that they need to go out.
• Using puppy potty training pads – This is the next most common approach on how to house train a puppy, and you’ve likely seen these specialized pads in your local pet store. The idea of using them is that you place them in a section of your house so your puppy does their business on them instead of the floor, and then gradually you move them outside so they learn to do their business out there (or they may remain inside if you live in an apartment). The trouble is your puppy won’t always get it right, so it can actually become more complicated than the first method.
• Using a dog crate – Many people are opposed to this method due to the use of a dog crate, but it is widely regarded as the fastest way to house train a puppy. It is the only method that truly teaches a puppy to hold their business in, as it involves confining them in a crate that resembles the den of their ancestors so they are unable to go to the toilet until they are let outside. This can have your puppy potty trained up to twice as fast and results in far fewer messes than any other method.

Guidelines For Potty Training A Puppy

Whichever method you choose there are several guidelines that will apply whenever you go about house training your puppy:

• Learn how to recognize when your puppy needs to go to the toilet – watch for signs that include sniffing and circling, or perhaps even your puppy starting to panic as if they are desperate to find a spot to do their business. Generally sniffing will be quickly followed by your dog peeing and circling means they are about to do a poop. If you see either of those signs, it’s time to go outside.
• Also be aware of how regularly your puppy needs to go out to do their business. As they are very small young animals they are not able to hold it in for very long, so virtually any time something goes in something else also immediately needs to come out again. This means you should be prepared to take them out after every drink or meal, but you should also take them out regularly at least once an hour while they are very young. Puppies also need to go to the toilet shortly after waking up, so it’s best to get up early and take them out first thing in the morning as well as any other time they wake up from a nap.
• You need to establish a routine to be able to potty train your puppy with any level of consistency. Ideally, you should be home for the first week or two after you get a new puppy so you are there to watch them and begin to house train them. After getting up in the morning you should immediately take them out to do their business, then at least once an hour after that as well as after each meal or drink they have. By being consistent you will increase the chances of having your puppy house trained a whole lot faster.
• It is also important to associate the act of taking them outside to go to the toilet with a certain word or phrase – whether this is “go potty” or “toilet” or something else entirely, it’s up to you and it doesn’t really matter as long as you’re consistent with it. Your puppy will quickly catch on and understand that whenever you use this phrase that is their cue to go to the toilet in the designated area. When they do this successfully, use another phrase like “good potty” or “good boy” in a very positive manner so they know they’re doing the right thing.
• Always continue to be patient and positive with your puppy. Remember to reward them as if they’re the best dog in the world for anything they do right, but ignore the bad and act like it never happened. Rubbing a puppy’s nose in an accident they’ve had will not achieve anything, except potentially damage the relationship you are trying to build with them. They are not perfect and will make mistakes, but if you learn to get past them and focus on the positive those mistakes will eventually come to be few and far between.

The Process For Potty Training A Puppy

Putting all these ideas on how to potty train a puppy together, you can start to come up with a basic process to use for house training your puppy. While the exact approach may vary slightly, depending on which method you use and perhaps whether you live in a house or an apartment, the following process can be used as a solid foundation to begin your puppy potty training routine:

1. Pick a place for your puppy to go potty, whether this is outside or on a puppy training pad, and introduce it to them using your chosen phrase.
2. Decide on another place inside your home where you can stay for most of the day and keep a close eye on your puppy. This should ideally be in one room that can be closed off from the rest of the house using some sort of gate so they can’t escape your view. Your chosen place will essentially form your puppy’s primary sleeping area – keeping it entirely separate and not easily confused with a doggy toilet. A dog crate may alternatively be used to make this a whole lot easier.
3. Whenever you decide to begin your routine, pick up your puppy and take them from their sleeping area once they’ve been there for about an hour to their designated toilet area (with a little more time you will be able to call them to follow you). Use your chosen phrase to tell them to go potty. Wait a few moments in the one spot to give them a chance to do their business.
4. If they are successful then give them a reward and lots of praise to let them know they are the best dog in the world and are doing exactly what you want them to. If they don’t go potty just yet, take them back to their sleeping area and then keep returning every 10-15 minutes until they are finally successful.
5. Immediately after they are successful and you praise them for being such a good dog, give them 10 minutes of playtime with a favorite toy or by running around the yard with them for additional positive reinforcement.
6. After this take them back to their sleeping area and begin the whole process of taking them to their toilet area once an hour again, plus additional breaks immediately after each meal and any time you see them wake up.

Final Thoughts On How To Potty Train A Puppy

You may have a few accidents that can’t be helped, but if you are consistent enough with the above process you will have a puppy potty trained in no time – even if they aren’t perfect, you will be able to see rapid improvements on a day-to-day basis as long as you just stick with it. Exactly how long does it take? It varies with the breed of course, but given small dogs have even smaller bladders they are typically the hardest to house train whereas larger dogs take less time due to their size. Either way you should be prepared to be patient.

You’re probably also wondering what happens overnight. For much of this time you and your puppy will be asleep, though they will wake up at least once and will not be able to hold their bladder. For this reason you should set an alarm to go off halfway through the night so you can take them to their toilet area and allow them to do their business. It will only be a couple of weeks or so before your puppy (and you) are able to sleep soundly throughout the night without having to make the early morning dash to the toilet.

While you are away from home is another story, as your puppy will not be able to hold it in for several hours during the day for quite some time yet. The best you can do is ensure they have exercised and gone to the toilet before you leave, and to minimize any major problems leave them in a room with an indoor potty where they won’t be able to do too much damage if they have an accident.

Eventually, you will be able to leave your puppy for many hours at a time with a great deal of confidence that you will return to a perfectly clean and mess-free home. That is one of the great benefits to having a house-trained puppy, not to mention being able to take them to a friend’s house and know they won’t make a mess or stay in hotels or rental homes with your puppy where dogs may not always be allowed. You will no doubt look back on the experience of learning how to potty train your puppy with a certain amount of fondness – not remembering it as the stressful nightmare it was at the time, but rather a special period in your life where you and your puppy first learned to understand each other and develop your own unique bond.

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