Top Tips For Housetraining Puppies

Housetraining puppies is one of the first challenges faced by new puppy owners. This quick guide will help you to avoid the bad smells and carpet stains that often plague the first few weeks of new puppy ownership.

The first thing you need to do is establish a designated toilet area for your dog. In most cases this will be outside, although for apartment dwellers it may be a corner of a room prepared with newspaper. Dogs are creatures of habit, so they will go to the toilet in the same place, eventually – but you have to let them know where that place should be.

The toilet area should not be too close to where the puppy will sleep. In the wild dogs are den animals, so they don’t like to soil the place where they sleep. This fact actually helps make it easier to toilet train your puppy.

Once you have chosen the toilet area, you must create a consistent routine of taking the puppy outside to relieve himself. The puppy should be taken outside:

• Every time he wakes up
• After every meal
• Before going to bed at night

Also, try to anticipate when your puppy may be about to relieve himself inside. There are clear body language signals that a puppy will display when he is about to relieve himself. He will start walking around in circles with his nose to the ground, sniffing. The circles will become tighter and tighter until he chooses a spot, then he will squat slightly and urinate. Otherwise, if he is about to defecate, his back will arch slightly and his tail will point straight up.

If you see these telltale signs of an accident waiting to happen, quickly rush your puppy to the designated toilet area.

Go out and stay with him for a few minutes. If nothing happens, you can bring him back inside, but be prepared to grab him when things start moving.

Every time your puppy goes to the toilet in the designated area, praise him excessively with lots of attention. Consistency is important – this should be done every time your puppy gets it right. Do not punish him for going to the toilet inside, as he often will not understand what he is being punished for anyway. This may even lead him to becoming afraid of you and urinating out of nervousness and fear. So when he goes in the wrong place, move him to the toilet area immediately and then just clean it up. Praise him when he does go to the toilet and he will soon begin to understand.

When he starts to get the idea,

Now, even with these tips, accidents are bound to happen. If your puppy urinates on carpet, your best bet is to neutralize it straight away by dabbing it with a towel, then pouring a little water on the mark and then placing another towel down to dry up the remaining liquid. This technique will help to prevent smells and stains.

There is a reason why this is important beyond your own peace of mind: Dogs recognize their toilet area by smell. If your carpet is covered in your puppy’s urine smells, guess what? He will continue to urinate on your carpet because he recognizes the scent. So make sure you clean up those accidents quickly.