This article was written to teach you how to potty train a puppy or adult dog. This is one of the most confusing and anxiety-ridden areas of dog training is puppy potty training. That initial few months of getting up in the middle of the night, taking the puppy or new adult dog out, rewarding them, and bringing them in is not anyone’s idea of a good time.
The Problem
Your dog pees and poos wherever and whenever they want.
The Solution
Dogs are, by instinct, very clean animals. They would rather not soil any areas where they normally sleep or eat.
If the dog is taught to eliminate on gravel or concrete, they will tend to look for either of those surfaces to do so. If they’re taught to eliminate on grass or dirt, that’s where they will choose. Use these habits to your advantage.
Step One: How to Potty Train a Puppy by Using a Safe Space or Crate
Whatever you want to call it, a space where your dog will go whenever you can’t watch them is your first priority.
Ideally you should have this ready to go before the dog even comes home with you, as part of happily transitioning a new dog into your home. However, life happens, and sometimes you have to make due with a bathroom or a blockaded space in the kitchen.
Quick Tips on Crate Training
Step Two: How to Potty Train a Puppy with a Toilet Area and ‘Go Potty’
See my post about creating a designated potty spot so your dog doesn't ruin your lawn here.
Teaching 'Go Potty' // Dog Potty Training
Products Helpful with Dog Potty Training
Step Three: How to Potty Train a Puppy by Establishing a Feeding and Potty Schedule
As a general rule of thumb, most puppies will need to go within 30 minutes to an hour of eating, and adult dogs will need to go within 30 minutes to three hours. I know, much bigger window!
Do you want my actual schedule for puppy potty training? It's included in my book, "Help! My dog won’t stop… A Guide to Fixing Dog Behavior Problems" which is currently on sale here.
Step Four: How to Potty Train a Puppy by Cementing the Potty Spot
Whenever they go anywhere else, take either toilet paper or paper towels and move the expelled substance to their designated outdoor potty spot. Next, praise them – YES, praise them – for being so good and going in their potty spot, even though you and I both know they didn’t. Leave the urine-soaked paper or dog poo there for a few hours so the scent permeates the spot. Your favorite thing, I’m sure. 😉
I know this is strange, but it's a surefire way to potty train puppy!
Note: Do NOT reprimand your dog for going inside. Honestly, I’ve tried it both ways (yelling at them and the above move-the-poo method) and being angry doesn’t work. They don’t get it.
You wouldn’t yell at a baby for pooping in their diaper, why yell at your baby dog? If it makes you really angry, leave them in their crate for a minute and walk away to get a hold of yourself. No one said potty training a puppy would be easy!
Trust me, every dog owner goes through a period of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde… Sometimes you love them, sometimes you still love them but can’t understand why they’re torturing you with diarrhea and chewed up furniture and ugh! So yeah, put them in a time-out and take a breath, don’t do anything you’ll regret.
Oh, and remember how your parents would rub their noses in it? Studies are now showing that this is why dogs eat their own feces. They think you’re telling them to eat it, or just torturing them. Yeah, so don’t do that. 😉
Tips and Tricks for How to Potty Train a Puppy from a Lifetime of Dog Rearing
I hope this helped you potty train puppy! These steps worked for me and many others, but they don’t necessarily work for all dogs, especially older dogs with their own ingrained schedules. If this is the case for you and your dog, be flexible. Write down when they go, where they go, what surface it’s on, etc. Be a scientist and use this to your advantage.
Good luck,
Our pets are a responsibility, not a privilege. We have to give them the best lives possible, if only to pay them back for all the wonder they give us.
-- Cassie Mackin
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