House-training A Puppy Doesn't Have To Be That Hard

 

Learning how to potty train a pup isn't about smacking them with papers, yelling at them or rubbing their nose in it. It is about TEACHING them that they are expected to pee outdoors and helping them be successful at it so they learn more quickly. Being positive with a new dog gets the training accomplished much, much faster than the outdated negative reinforcement does. I know that I am a puppy and it may sound like I'm only saying this because I enjoy the positive stuff better, however it is honestly true. Anybody who actually knows how to train a dog knows this is a fact. Everyone else only THINKS that they understand how to train a dog. They are giving you bad advice.

Use A Dog Crate

The one item that is essential when training a puppy is having a dog crate. Like it or not you need one, you have to use it and the dog actually doesn't hate it. The new puppy will have to go potty as soon as they get out of the dog crate and immediately after they play. This is not just an old wives tale... it really is true. If you take them outside immediately after these two events, the housebreaking thing will be much easier. When we first got the evil puppy, she normally went potty on the way to the door.

After you or the kids play with the new puppy, immediately carry them outdoors... yes... again. Put them in the crate to snooze (mainly because they do this a lot). Follow a routine with the puppy. Crate, potty, play, potty, crate, potty, play, etc. Whenever you take them outside to potty, take them to the area you want them to use and say whatever key phrase you're planning to use until they go. Another big key is to really be happy when the puppy goes potty when and where they are supposed to. This means the puppy will associate peeing outdoors with you being really happy... this is good.

Our new puppy Scout pee'd in her crate a couple of times, but that seemed to stop when we did two things: Made her kennel smaller (by putting a box in the crate) so she didn't have as much extra space. "Caught" her in the act so she could be corrected right away. This is pretty important when learning how to potty train a puppy.

Towels

The cleaning up got much easier for us after we chose to utilize towels. My boss collected all the ratty white bath towels and put them on the kitchen countertop. She also put a few in the crate (since it is a lot easier to clean towels than it is a blanket when they get pee'd on). After the accidents, we utilized a towel to absorb it, sprayed the carpet to deodorize it and set the towel in the bathroom sink and used it like a diaper pail. Any time the bathroom sink was full, we tossed the bath towels in the washing machine. This also will work best if you do NOT utilize fabric softener with the bath towels since it helps them take in the bad stuff better. Then we ran the vacuum style carpet cleaner on the soiled locations once weekly until the evil pup finally learned to never pee inside the house. It took a lot of time because she's really not very smart... but I usually get in trouble when I say that.

Seriously... learning how to potty train a puppy is not the tough part. The hard part is producing the effort that is required. Actually teach them that they are supposed to potty outdoors. Take them outside IMMEDIATELY after they escape their dog crate, right after they play, as soon as they eat, etc. Take them to the spot you'd like them to potty. The only hard part of housebreaking a pup is to complete these actions every single time until the new puppy is trained. The more effort to put into it, the more quickly it is going to happen.