House training your puppy

The key to house training is prevention, prevention, prevention!!! Puppies require constant supervision in the early stages of housetraining. If you are unable to supervise your puppy, then he needs to be in a crate. You may need to use baby gates or a leash to keep your pup in the same room as you so that you can supervise behavior.

Don’t expect your pup to become house trained if you open the door, send him outside and don’t watch to see if he goes or not. This is one of the biggest mistakes I see! Puppies get distracted easily and forget to go when outside. Or they go a little, get distracted and don’t fully empty their bladder.

The Basics.

Take your pup out the same door and go to the same spot in the yard every time and tell him to “go potty.” I like to slowly move around the area, not paying much attention to the pup. This is not play time, so be sure not to engage in play. Moving around helps stimulate the pup to go and prevents him from laying down and chewing grass or sticks.

Don’t forget the reward! Another common mistake I see owners make is waiting to reward the pup once they have returned inside. Be sure to take a treat outside with you and reward immediately so your pup can understand what the reward is for. Once your puppy starts to eliminate outside, calmly say “good potty” so you don’t distract him. Once he finishes, excitedly praise him and reward with the treat. Rewarding immediately will also encourage your pup to get his job done faster to get the treat.

If your puppy doesn’t eliminate while outside, bring him back inside under constant supervision (or crate) and try again in 10-15 minutes. You can’t take your puppy outside too often in the early stages of housetraining! Puppies haven’t yet developed full bladder control until 20 or 30 weeks of age, so they need to urinate at least once every hour or two that they are awake.

Accidents Happen.

If your pup does have an accident in the house and you didn’t physically see him in the act, it’s too late now to do anything about it, other than clean it up. You cannot punish the dog after the fact, he will not understand. If you do catch your puppy beginning to squat in the house, make a loud noise to distract him, rush him outside and praise him when he finishes the job outside. The goal here is to startle the pup enough to interrupt the behavior, not to punish him. Punishing puppies for accidents teaches them not to eliminate in front of you, which only makes it harder to reinforce and praise him when he does go outside.      

Seeing the signals.

Part of a good potty training prevention program is recognizing when your pup needs to go out. Puppies are stimulated to use the bathroom after waking up, eating, drinking or exercising. If your pup is laying down playing with a toy and then gets up and begins walking around, its time for a potty break. Anytime he wakes up from a nap or eats a meal, he also needs to go outside. Often puppies will learn to whine to get your attention. A better proactive approach to teaching your pup to let you know when they need to go out is teaching him to ring a bell. While it may sound intimidating, most puppies pick it up very quickly. Check out my article on bell training for tips!

Remember consistency, prevention and patience are the backbone for any training involving puppies. Good luck!!