So, your puppy adoption was a success, and now the real work begins. You have to start training your puppy while they’re young and one of the first things you’re going to want to do is start potty training them.
This article is going to share some tips for potty training your puppy so it can be as stress-free as possible.
Keep a tight eye on your puppy
Installing some baby gates and keeping doors closed is one of the first things you want to do to ensure that your puppy isn’t using the bathroom when you’re not looking. The last thing you want to happen is to find your home smelling like urine and have no clue where the smell is coming from.
Plus, by keeping a tight eye on your puppy you’ll be able to stop them before they begin to potty in the house AND you won’t have to untrain them from being comfortable with just going in the house whenever they have the urge.
Don’t yell at them if they have an accident
Similarly to when potty training children, the last thing you want to do is yell when an accident occurs.
Accidents are going to happen during the training phase, which is why potty pads and No Go Spray are new puppy essentials.
The only thing you’ll be accomplishing with yelling is making them nervous and confused, which results in more accidents in the house.
Instead of yelling, calmly tell them “no” and point to the area where they had the accident and immediately take them outside and tell them ‘this is where you potty” (or use whatever term you’ll be using to let your puppy know that they need to go to the bathroom).
Keep in mind that everyone in the house will need to use the exact phrase to avoid causing confusion.
Reward them with treats that are specifically used for potty training
Whenever your puppy uses the potty outside reward them with a treat.
However, you want to make sure that you’re being consistent with the treat used so they can associate getting that specific treat with using the bathroom outside.
For example, when we were potty training Hoss, we used PupCorn as his potty treat. The reasoning for deciding on PupCorn is it is low in Crude percentages so it didn’t upset his tummy and the serving size is generous so he could have multiple ones throughout the day. Plus, the best part is it is reasonably priced so it didn’t cause a huge spike in his food budget.
Take your puppy outside every hour during the day
Don’t give your puppy a chance to even have to think about using the potty in the house.
Take them outside every hour like clockwork.
With Hoss, I would set a timer for 1 hour after each time we’d come back inside to ensure that the connection between outside and using the bathroom was made.
Each time the timer would go off, we’d go outside for about 5 to 10 minutes and then resume with our other activities until bedtime.
This schedule went on for about 2 weeks, and then we were able to back off and go less frequently, such as 30 minutes after meals and every 4-5 hours.
Pay attention to their signals
Once the connection is made between pottying and outside your puppy will give you signals that they need to go – you just have to watch for them.
For example, Hoss will walk by the garage door to let us know he needs to go outside and at night he’ll jump up in the bed and lick your face.
When he was younger some of his potty signs were smelling around on the carpet and pacing back and forth.
You can successfully potty train your puppy
Potty training your puppy doesn’t have to be hard. In my experience, I found that patience and consistency will get you the furthest.
For the most part potty training, Hoss went smoothly, besides his phase where he was obsessed with going in the shower. Thankfully, with some tips from an online vet, we were able to break that habit quickly and now he doesn’t have any accidents at all.
