Puppy Potty Training Tips

It is important to understand how to potty train your puppy if you wish to set it up to successfully learn how to use the bathroom outside or on paper. Puppies function primarily on instinct, and because of the fact that for dogs urinating is as much of a social experience as anything else, without proper training any dog will naturally and happily relieve itself in your house without giving a second thought. Hopefully you find these puppy potty training tips useful when house training your own dogs.

1. Take your puppy outside frequently. For the first several weeks of their lives, puppies need to relieve themselves quickly-even as often as every half hour to1 hour! They also may need to pee when they wake up, after eating, or after playtime. Take them out as often as possible.

2. Teach your puppy commands. A command is a statement that you wish your puppy to associate with the action you wish it to do. Obviously, you there’s no need to teach your dog to pee on command. But by teaching it the command, it can understand you when you ask it if it needs to go. Try saying “Go peepee!” or, “Go Potty!” once your puppy begins to urinate or have a bowel movement. Do not give your puppy this command until it begins to relieve itself, otherwise, it might become confused over time.

3. Reward your puppy! This step is not difficult at all! At the very least, praise your puppy after its successful potty times by with a “Good dog!” (By the way, puppies respond well to high-pitched voices). You might want to consider giving your puppy a treat as well.

4. Don’t scold your puppy for having accidents! By rubbing your dog’s nose in its own mess or saying “Bad dog!”, the only thing your puppy can understand is that you are angry. Your puppy will be upset, but unable to learn from your negative reinforcement-at least not as well as from positive reinforcement. I firmly believe that one of a dog owner’s main goals should be to encourage their pets to want to do what they want them to do, not to be scared of doing what they do not want them to do.

5. Train your doggie to tell you when it needs to go outside. With any luck, your dog will naturally learn how to tell you when it’s time to go outside by whimpering, pawing at the door, or frequently looking from you to the door. However, you can train your puppy to tell you when it wants to go in any way you would like. Simply add this whatever indicator you wish your dog to use to the process. Dogs learn routines very quickly. For example, you may want to put a bell by the door for your dog to use to notify you of its need. Simply have your puppy press its nose against the bell at the beginning of each of your excursions. It will quickly associate this bell ringing with going outside, and eventually ring the bell on its own to notify you of its need.

The most important thing to remember about potty training your puppy is that consistency is the key. Even if you forget give your dog a command, reward it (though please don’t forget to at least verbally praise it), or train it to tell you when it wants to go outside, your puppy will most likely get the gist of things if you just remember to take it outside several times a day. I hope you found these puppy potty training tips useful! Don't forget - consistency and positive reinforcement will go far!