Puppy Potty Training
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Dog and Puppy Potty Training
You should start housetraining your puppy as soon as your puppy comes home.
Your goal of house training is to ensure your puppy always eliminates outdoor, in his specific potty area, rather than indoor (unless you are living in a high rise apartment and finds it difficult to let your puppy potty outdoor - then consider indoor dog potty).
As with all aspects of dog and puppy training, potty training requires a great deal of patience and consistency. Some puppies, especially the smaller breeds, may be more difficult to toilet train as compared to the larger breed. However, you will be delighted to know that most dogs are capable of being fully potty trained.
When you bring your puppy home from the breeder, it should have been exposed to and accustomed to a clean den environment. This is because as your puppy grows bigger and more energetic, the breeder would have taken him outside for a short period of time. Your pup would have learned to eliminate and defecate in the outdoor environment, and get accustomed to a clean indoor den. This would make your pup ready to follow your household cleanliness rule.
This article focuses on potty training puppies as opposed to potty training adult or senior dogs. The process of potty training an adult dog is slightly different. You may find potty training a puppy is somewhat easier than toilet training an adult dog because the puppy will not have a chance to develop lifelong bad habits yet.
In addition to this article, you may want to consider a comprehensive dog and puppy training course, or an easy multi-media basic dog training package.
Establishing a Potty Area for your puppy
You should immediately establish a specific potty area for your puppy in your yard once you bring him home.
The specific potty area should be separated from the rest of your yard by a small fence, or potted plants. This will keep the children out of the potty area and also hides the area away from the rest of the yard.
A few dog trainers will consider specific potty area training as counterproductive for your puppy. It is felt that accustoming a puppy to a specific potty area or surface will make him unable to “perform” or eliminate if he is brought to an unfamiliar place like a motorway cafe or gravel courtyard. However, puppies are generally adaptable and it is best to establish a specific outdoor potty area in the potty training process.
Teaching your puppy potty cues
Once you have established an outside potty area, you will now need to teach your puppy commands or potty cues. Start by teaching him the command “outside” if you see him eliminates in an inappropriate area inside the house.
Remember to use firm tone when you say the command “outside” as it will startle him and cause him to stop eliminating. You have to quickly walk your puppy to the outside potty area for him to finish eliminating there. Praise him once he has finished eliminating in the appropriate potty area.
Now, you can also teach your puppy to eliminate on command. It does not really matter what word or phrase you choose, just pick something that you can say in public without embarrassment. Whatever cue you use, make sure you use it consistently when you take your puppy to the potty area. If you use “do your business” or “go potty”, ensure that you and your family members use the same cue every time you want your puppy to eliminate.
Importantly, praise your puppy quietly after he eliminates after your command. Reward him with a calm praise that includes cue words like “good go potty”. Eventually, your puppy will be able to eliminate whenever you say you potty cue word. Read here for more puppy potty training tips.
Your goal of house training is to ensure your puppy always eliminates outdoor, in his specific potty area, rather than indoor (unless you are living in a high rise apartment and finds it difficult to let your puppy potty outdoor - then consider indoor dog potty).
As with all aspects of dog and puppy training, potty training requires a great deal of patience and consistency. Some puppies, especially the smaller breeds, may be more difficult to toilet train as compared to the larger breed. However, you will be delighted to know that most dogs are capable of being fully potty trained.
When you bring your puppy home from the breeder, it should have been exposed to and accustomed to a clean den environment. This is because as your puppy grows bigger and more energetic, the breeder would have taken him outside for a short period of time. Your pup would have learned to eliminate and defecate in the outdoor environment, and get accustomed to a clean indoor den. This would make your pup ready to follow your household cleanliness rule.
This article focuses on potty training puppies as opposed to potty training adult or senior dogs. The process of potty training an adult dog is slightly different. You may find potty training a puppy is somewhat easier than toilet training an adult dog because the puppy will not have a chance to develop lifelong bad habits yet.
In addition to this article, you may want to consider a comprehensive dog and puppy training course, or an easy multi-media basic dog training package.
Establishing a Potty Area for your puppy
You should immediately establish a specific potty area for your puppy in your yard once you bring him home.
The specific potty area should be separated from the rest of your yard by a small fence, or potted plants. This will keep the children out of the potty area and also hides the area away from the rest of the yard.
A few dog trainers will consider specific potty area training as counterproductive for your puppy. It is felt that accustoming a puppy to a specific potty area or surface will make him unable to “perform” or eliminate if he is brought to an unfamiliar place like a motorway cafe or gravel courtyard. However, puppies are generally adaptable and it is best to establish a specific outdoor potty area in the potty training process.
Teaching your puppy potty cues
Once you have established an outside potty area, you will now need to teach your puppy commands or potty cues. Start by teaching him the command “outside” if you see him eliminates in an inappropriate area inside the house.
Remember to use firm tone when you say the command “outside” as it will startle him and cause him to stop eliminating. You have to quickly walk your puppy to the outside potty area for him to finish eliminating there. Praise him once he has finished eliminating in the appropriate potty area.
Now, you can also teach your puppy to eliminate on command. It does not really matter what word or phrase you choose, just pick something that you can say in public without embarrassment. Whatever cue you use, make sure you use it consistently when you take your puppy to the potty area. If you use “do your business” or “go potty”, ensure that you and your family members use the same cue every time you want your puppy to eliminate.
Importantly, praise your puppy quietly after he eliminates after your command. Reward him with a calm praise that includes cue words like “good go potty”. Eventually, your puppy will be able to eliminate whenever you say you potty cue word. Read here for more puppy potty training tips.
Potty Breaks by Age of Puppy
The age of the puppy at the point of potty training is an important consideration.
It will help you to establish how long before your puppy needs a potty break and how many potty breaks he needs in a day.
The puppy potty break table below gives you a good indication your puppy’s needs:
Age of Puppy Average Potty Breaks A Day
6 to 14 weeks 8 to 10
14 to 20 weeks 6 to 8
20 to 30 weeks 4 to 6
>30 weeks 3 to 4
Once you understand the number of potty breaks your puppy needs in a day, it is also important to prevent your puppy from eliminating inside the house in between breaks. If he does this soiling too often, it may reinforce the behaviour that it is acceptable to eliminate inside the house.
Many dog owners find crate training an effective solution to control this situation and encourage a consistent behaviour.
There are many affordable quality resources on puppy training. Click here for a great resource on crate training, and there are also online package that provides interesting case studies on puppy training.
The age of the puppy at the point of potty training is an important consideration.
It will help you to establish how long before your puppy needs a potty break and how many potty breaks he needs in a day.
The puppy potty break table below gives you a good indication your puppy’s needs:
Age of Puppy Average Potty Breaks A Day
6 to 14 weeks 8 to 10
14 to 20 weeks 6 to 8
20 to 30 weeks 4 to 6
>30 weeks 3 to 4
Once you understand the number of potty breaks your puppy needs in a day, it is also important to prevent your puppy from eliminating inside the house in between breaks. If he does this soiling too often, it may reinforce the behaviour that it is acceptable to eliminate inside the house.
Many dog owners find crate training an effective solution to control this situation and encourage a consistent behaviour.
There are many affordable quality resources on puppy training. Click here for a great resource on crate training, and there are also online package that provides interesting case studies on puppy training.
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