Potty Training a Puppy: What to Do for Best Results | Pets and Animals

By RosanaHart
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Potty training a puppy is not difficult to understand, though it does require patience to do! There are just a few simple points that cover the basics, and I will describe them here. Keep your puppy right with you as much of the time as possible. Take him or her to his pottying spot at certain times. Clean up any messes calmly. Repeat this over and over. Sooner or later, you will have a potty-trained puppy.

Here is more information on each of these four points:

1. Keeping your puppy with you as much of the time as possible gives you the best chance of catching him just before he starts to pee or poop. Even if you catch him in the act, it helps the potty training -- just say NO and take him to where you want him to do his stuff.

You can keep the puppy very close to you by connecting his leash to your belt. So then if you go somewhere, he does too! You may not get as much done on other projects as you are used to, but you and the puppy will be bonding.

However you do it, stay close to your puppy. Crate training is also very useful for the times you can't be together. That is beyond the scope of this article but I discuss it at length on my website.

2. Potty training a puppy means creating in him the habit of going to his pottying spot whenever he needs to. You are going to spend a lot of time in your early days together helping him to form this habit. How will you do this? By taking him to his place at all the times he is likely to need to go there. These times are:

*** Each time he awakens, whatever time of day. Since puppies nap a lot, there will be a lot of awakenings!

*** A little while after every meal, or ideally even after a large drink of water.

You may be surprised to notice how many times a day he does these things! He probably won't pee or poop every single time you take him to his place, but the habit is being created. Taking him out right before your bedtime is a good plan too.

Where will his pottying place be? If you have a yard with a fenced part to it, you can actually teach him to use a part of the yard by taking him there. If you have no yard, or an unfenced one, walking him on leash is another good way to potty train him. A third option is to paper-train him inside... often good if you live in a very cold climate or many floors up in an apartment building.

3. When you wipe up any messes that he creates, don't grumble. The dog will not understand that he has done anything to displease you. People sometimes say that the puppy "looks guilty" but really his expression is more one of unhappiness because he can tell you are unhappy. Puppies take a lot less time to potty train than humans, so just be patient!

4. Repeat these steps over and over, even when you don't feel like it. The more consistent you are, the faster the puppy will get the idea.

So these are the essential points in potty training a puppy. Best wishes to you and your puppy!

About the Author

Want to learn more about potty training a puppy? Visit Rosana Hart's dog training website, where she goes into more detail.

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