House Training Guide: Part 1. 12/06/09
This guide shows you how to potty train your puppy quickly and effectively.
- House Training Guide: Part 1.
- House Training Guide: Part 2.
- How do I house train my puppy in an apartment?
House training must be the most important task to train to your new puppy. Nobody wants an adult dog urinating in the house but fortunately the process is pretty simple. In this article I break down a simple training process that will allow you to train your puppy or adult dog to go to the bathroom in the appropriate place and on command.
How often should your puppy be let out?
As soon as you get home/ get up let your puppy out to potty immediately- give your puppy opportunities! Your puppy needs to go out every hour in the early stages of puppy training. Make sure you dog has been to the toilet before putting him to bed. Feed puppy your dog outside (most puppies need to go within minutes of eating/drinking).
How do I teach my puppy to ‘go potty’ when I want?
As your puppy squats to go to the toilet label the behaviour with a command. I use ‘busy’ when a puppy goes in the right place and then follow that up with a treat. If your puppy has an accident inside do not scold them simply pick them up and lead them outside and praise for finishing outside.
Should I tell my puppy off when it has an accident inside?
If you catch your puppy going whilst you are in the room, make a high pitched noise to distract and then pick your puppy up and rush outside they can finish their business outside. When you come home and find a mess, don’t chastise just pop your puppy outside (dogs don’t know what they are being punished for unless caught in the act). All chastising your puppy will do is cause your puppy to fear going to the toilet in front of you. This means when you take your puppy outside to go it will not want to go with you watching. Clean thoroughly with a non ammonia based product, as ammonia will encourage your puppy to repeat the accident in the same area.
Should I crate train my puppy?
Buy a large and airy crate for your puppy to keep cool and relaxed in.
Crate training is a great idea if used properly. You need to make sure the whole of the crate is covered in bedding as dogs are reluctant to go on their own bed. However, a puppy must learn to love its crate and not see it as a punishment.
Should I use puppy potty training pads?
I used to use newspaper for toilet training my puppies, until I discovered puppy training pads. They have a scent that encourages your puppy to toilet on them and they absorb the urine so there is no nasty residue all over your floor. Basically like a fold out nappy / diaper.
Simple Solution Economy Puppy Training Pads (US)
You can also buy them in the UK made by the RSPCA
RSPCA Puppy Training Pads – Pack of 40.
What should I do once my puppy has toileted in the right place?
When you take your puppy out, do not rush him or her back inside as soon as they have been. If you do take your puppy straight back in it will teach them to hold on longer as they will know peeing quickly means outside time is over. So once your pup has been to the toilet, spend a little time outside giving him or her affection.
Keeping it clean
If you don’t fancy putting all of your dogs mess in with your rubbish then you can now buy dog loo’s. They generally come with a solution that helps degrade the poop quickly and stops the awful smell.
Good Boy Clean Green Dog Loo.
Just remember we have all had to go through this at one point or another it’s just a simple fact of being a puppy owner. If you stick to these very simple rules you should see great results in around two weeks!
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78 Responses to this article
Hello.
Our 7 month-old, female Lab/Beagle mix is potty trained. However, we’ve had problems over the past week. It rained once and she refused to go outside and eliminate. When she did go out, she’d go potty on the concrete pad, versus on the grassy area like normal. It’s been days since it rained but she still won’t leave the concrete pad AND she’s started peeing and pooping in the house now. Please help.
I have a maltese he is going on 10 weeks. When I first got him he was using the puppy pads. Then he got to were he would go on the kitchen rug. H has now had more of his shots so now I have been taking him out side to go potty. But he wont go when he is outside. But as soon as I bring him back in the house he will pee or poo on the floor. what can I do. Also was woundering do those potty lot things that look like grass and they have a tray on the bottom. That they are showing on tv for dogs to potty on when in the house. Do those really work.
I have a 9 week old Golden and she is Doug really well with going potty on request outside, however she refuses to poop outside. To get her to poop I ha e to take her out to run and play for 15 min or so. This is ok sometimes, but I want her to learn to go where she potties as we have a dog door there so that as he gets older she will be able to go when she needs to without waiting on us to let her out. I’ve tried placing her feces out there so she knows that’s where it belongs, but it’s not helping. She just goes potty and then sits down and stares at me until we get to go back in, then she’ll sneak off to the other room and poop! I am just not sure what I need to do to help her understand this process.
Hello, I have a 9 week old Westie. He started of pootty training well and went outside for the first 4 days. After a recommendation from the Vet, I increased his food intake. Since then he has been fouling in his crate everytime. I work just down the road, so every 3 hours I go home to let him out. Each time I get home he has messed in his cage. We stopped getting up in the night with him, and for the first 2 nights he went all through without making a mess. Since he began fouling we decided to return to getting up once a night with him. However, each time we are getting up there is nothing in his cage so we let him out the toilet but when we get up to give him breakfast there is a mess. I have put a bed inside his cage and since doing this, he is foulding through the bars of the cage so not to get it in his bed. He is going to the toilet each time we take him outside, including for a poop. Is he attention seeking? Please help!!
Ive got a staffy (boy) who is 5 months old. Me and my parner live in a second floor flat. Its very hard to toilet train him, im getting really stressed out. Im 23 weeks pregnant aswell. He pees and poos in the flat all the time. Both off us work and i dread coming home after work because i no that he will do at least 2-3 poos and 2 wees. It smells so bad when i walk in and found it hard to control my temper. I really need some advice. When he does it i send him to his bed. I leave him in there for 1-2 hours and if he does something i take him to it and smack his nose and send him to his bed again. If he doesnt i give him a treat and praise him. Im trying to train him before having a newborn baby in the flat. We take him out 4-5 times a day even more if we have the day off work. Im i doing it right? What should i change?
Hi Louise, I am getting a puppy in a few days and I have been reading up on best ways to house train. Using puppy pads, I don’t want to use them forever, how do you take them away, and your dog know it can’t potty in the house anymore it can only potty outside?
Hi megan,
you can move the pads outside (used ones are good for encouraging your puppy to recognise outside is a good toilet area). When you are not around to supervise and pick up on cues they want to go your puppy should be crated, avoiding any accidents. This will lead to them only going outside as long as you are strict about taking your puppy outside to toilet regularly.
hi i have just got a 2 and a half month german shepard and he keeps going into the kitchen for the toilet and i dont know how to get him house trained and also on a night when we lock him in the kitchen for the night all he does is cry and whine all night if anyone has any ideas it would be gratefully recived
I take my 8 week old pug outside for a pee iv been there for nearly an hour and he still ain’t gone this then leading to him soiling and pooping in his cage is there any other stuff I can do ?
Ok! So my husband and I just got a puppy about three days ago. Day one was amazing he slept all night and went on the potty pad all day when we brought him to it! Now day three is here an he REFUSES to go on the potty pad! We wait for his potty circles and walk him to the pads and he just sits or lays down. We have been fooled enough times to know that he does have to go but just doesn’t want to. We have tried crating him after he won’t go so he has to hold it and not eliminate in the carpet, or placing him back everytime he walks away with out engaging him at all.. Nothing is working! Please help!
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