Housebreaking your puppy, also known as potty or toilet training, can initially seem daunting. Everyone who has a dog has felt the same at some point. Everyone wants to avoid toileting accidents in their home. These simple steps will have your puppy going outside in no time.
Routine, Routine, Routine
The easiest way to reduce the likelihood of accidents is to establish and stick to a good routine. Decide where you want your puppy to go to the toilet, and always take your puppy to that spot. Every time your puppy toilets outside, give it lots of praise and a reward. It will quickly realise that toileting outside is rewarding and repeat the behaviour.
Set up the crate as your puppy’s safe sleeping space. Puppies are less likely to soil where they sleep.
- Wake up and take the puppy outside as your first task – before coffee and breakfast.
- Breakfast time. If you keep your puppy’s mealtimes to a set time, you have a better idea of when potty time will be.
- It’s outside for potty time between 5 and 30 minutes after food.
- Nap time, when a puppy wakes up from sleeping, will need to go outside for potty time. After naps, the routine is the same as the morning routine.
- Playtime – inside or outside play will require potty time. Often, excitement will bring on the need to go to the toilet. Telltale signs are the puppy sniffing around the floor, wandering away from you, or zoomies.
- After drinking water – puppies usually have to potty after drinking, so it’s a good idea to monitor water consumption.
- Bedtime. Before you head to bed, take the puppy outside to potty.
Leave a couple of hours between the last meal time (puppies usually need 3-4 meals daily) and bedtime to reduce soiling the crate during the night.
If the crate is near your bedroom, you will hear whimpering or whining when they need to go out.
If your puppy doesn’t toilet when it’s outside, bring it back in for a few minutes and then take it back outside. Having a few minutes of play time after it’s toileted outside is also a good idea. Your puppy will view the playtime as rewarding and reinforce toileting outside.
For puppies, it’s sleep, toilet, eat, toilet, play, toilet, sleep, and repeat.
Puppies are physically incapable of controlling their bladders – accidents will occur. Do not get upset or shout at your puppy for having accidents indoors, as this will frighten or cause your puppy stress and make the problem worse. Submissive urination is when a puppy or dog urinates whenever it gets nervous or anxious.
If you see your puppy starting to toilet inside, sometimes just saying their name (in a normal tone) will distract them, and they will stop, which gives you a chance to lift them and take them outside. Praise and reward if they finish toileting outside.
Ensure you thoroughly clean up any accidents to reduce the chances of your puppy returning to the same spot; they will be attracted to the urine smell. Enzyme cleaners are good at getting rid of the smell.
Learning your puppy’s telltale signs for needing to go out, and spotting them in time really helps your pup get into the habit of going outside to the toilet. You may find it easier to potty bell train your puppy, teaching your puppy to let you know when it needs to go out.
If you have to leave your puppy at home in its crate and are unsure how long your puppy can hold off comfortably. It’s usually the age of your puppy plus 1. For example, a 3-month-old puppy should be able to stay in its crate for 4 hours between toileting breaks.
If you find that your puppy is unable to do this, it is worth taking them for a vet check to make sure it doesn’t have a urinary tract infection or some other medical issue.
Good luck, patience and consistency will get you through! You may find these other articles helpful:
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