The Importance of Potty Training Your Puppy

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     Just like babies, puppies have no control of when or where they "unleash their goods". Having a puppy urinate inside your house is definitely not going to make you happy and it won't do any good for your puppy when you get mad with him/her.

It's important that you tackle this issue early on in the pup's life and teach them some discipline. You may be surprised to hear this, but it's true that a dog that has an authority figure and learns right from wrong will lead a more prosperous life and will make your job of caring for them much easier.

It's not too difficult to correctly potty train your puppy, however keep in mind the process can take anything up to 1 year.

So how exactly do you potty train your puppy? Read on to find out the basic techniques and a lot of useful advice.

Restrict the Puppy's Freedom
You should restrict the area in which the puppy can move around. What this will do is decrease the chance of the puppy urinating in a place, which they shouldn't. Lay the potty paper in an area outside and then put a fence around so the puppy cannot roam elsewhere. It's not supposed to be a jail so make it large enough so the puppy can run around and have fun. Of course you can take the puppy inside occasionally but you need to make it clear that the area is their home for the time being.

Wet the Potty
When setting up your potty you should place some of your pup's urine on the paper and then walk them to it so they can smell it. This will give them the idea that the area is where they should be urinating.

One Potty,One Place
Many people who try to potty train their puppy have great difficulty, so they decide to set up multiple potty areas in hope that the puppy will use at least one of them. This is a bad idea as it will only confuse your puppy and they will not learn to use a potty effectively. You should only ever need one potty area.

It Takes Time
Younger pups need to go to the toilet every few hours, so put a leash on them and take them to the potty area and give the puppy 10 minutes to do their thing. If they don't need to go, take the puppy back to its area and then try again in about 20 minutes. You should not play with the puppy until it uses the potty, once they do, you should reward them by playing with them, praising them or feeding them.

Reward Good Behavior
Whether you feed them or praise them, it's essential that you reward your puppy for their good behavior. Rewarding a puppy will make them happier and teach them discipline and a happier dog in the long run is going to listen to you. A good idea is to reward them every time they use the potty.

Make a Potty Journal
By keeping a journal of the time it takes your puppy to urinate after eating, it will make it easier for you to train them and understand their habits.

Mistakes will Happen
Please remember not to get angry with your puppy if they urinate in the wrong area. At an early age they lack many skills that older dogs have much like how a toddler may urinate before they make it to the toilet. The best thing to do if your puppy urinates in a wrong place, is to simply say "no" or "bad dog"and then walk them to their potty area.

All in all, by following the above advice, your puppy will be well on there way to being potty trained and you will have a well mannered and obedient dog because of it. However make sure you give it time, it's not something that most puppies can learn in a week or so.