Potty Training Your Puppy

Crate training, suitable for urban living dogs make use of the dog's instinctive nature of not messing up their sleeping area to train the dog to control its bladder and relieve only when he is out of the crate.

The common choice would be to train your dog to go outside to the back yard or the garden to relieve.

The idea potty training age is when your puppy reaches the age of 8 to 12 weeks old. Remember the adage about how old dogs can't learn new tricks? It is not completely true but right in some ways because it is much easier to train a younger dogs when undesirable habits are not formed. So, don't take any chances.

There are many ways in life to achieve the same desired results. Of them, there are hard ways and easy ways, right ways and wrong ways. The best course of action is to use the easiest and fastest way to get the right results. This requires a lot of supervision and positive reinforcement. Let's see how best to achieve what we want in order to potty train our new puppy.

To begin, you should allocate an area for your puppy to eliminate outside or inside the house, you should show him the way to this spot and praise him generously after he finishes

If you praise and reward him immediately after he finishes his job, it encourages him to eliminate in that area alone. The urine odor will be detectable by your puppy and he will learn to associate it as the place to relieve himself.

To help the puppy to remember, always use the same door and spot where you want your puppy to eliminate. Use soiled newspaper to mark the area and hint your puppy on where is the right spot.

Next is to make your puppy learn about his elimination routines. Dogs are habitual animals; they are born instinctively to keep to routines. When your puppy is six to eight weeks old, you should bring him out to relieve after every few hours. The frequency will reduce as he grows older and can control his bladder better. During puppy hood, take him to the allocated elimination area at the following times of the day - Upon waking in the morning, after naps, meals, play, training sessions and just before bedtime.

Taking your pup out at around the same time every day will be very beneficial for the both of you. This will help in establishing a routine, and will make him learn to hold it in until you become available to take him out.

At this time, you must learn how to look for clues, if your puppy is accustomed to roaming freely around the house, search for signs that show you he needs to do it. Be really observant of his behavior, such as, heavy sniffing, circling an area, staring at the door with an intense look on his face.

You can train your dog with two more commands to help him understand potty training faster. Use "Hurry up", or "Potty now", command to associate it with potty time. So, say "hurry up" or "potty" in an encouraging tone just when he gets the urge to "go". Your puppy will understand and associate the command with potty time, and will get down to relieve himself. Once he's done, praise him lavishly.

During potty training, your puppy is bound to make mistakes like any other puppies. In part 2 of this article, you will learn how to excuse his mistakes and more tips to help you train your puppy in double quick time.
Your puppy is your new family member and if trained correctly will give you lots of joy for many years to come.