Potty Training a Puppy/Dog
First, you have to train yourself. You Must:
TAKE THE PUPPY OUT…
- Immediately after it wakes up in the morning
- After every meal and drink of water
- After it wakes up from a nap
- After extreme excitement (e.g., house guests) or long periods of play
- The last thing at night before retiring to bed
You may be going out with your puppy 8 to 10 times a day the first few days after you take it home, but once the puppy settles into its routine, it should not have to go out more than 4 to 6 times a day, largely depending on its age.
STAY ALERT between these times for signs that your puppy is “looking” to relieve itself (e.g., whining, acting restless, sniffing the floor, pacing around in circles). When you see it doing any/all of these things, try to distract it, then pick it up GENTLY and rush it outside to its “toilet area.” You may be going out 8 to 10 times the first few days; however, once the puppy settles into a routine, it should not have to go out more than 4 to 6 times a day, depending upon its age.
STICK TO A STRICT SCHEDULE. The more conscientious you are NOW, the more successful the training will be and the less “troubles” you will likely face down the road. It often takes some patience to make your puppy understand what you want it to do, but it WILL ADJUST to your schedule in time. Of course, there will likely be accidents. However, that’s part of raising puppies. When your dog “makes a mistake” in the house, NEVER CORRECT IT PHYSICALLY. Correct it HUMANELY: The words “NO” and “BAAAD DOG” are the only corrections you need. How you SAY these words can convey your displeasure VERY effectively.
ALWAYS GO OUTSIDE WITH YOUR PUPPY during the training period. You want to see when and where it relieves itself, AND your ENTHUSIASTIC PRAISE will encourage it. Once the puppy is completely housebroken, it should not be mandatory that you accompany it outdoors. IF you live in the city AND/OR don’t have an enclosed yard, you MUST ALWAYS GO OUT WITH YOUR DOG: NEVER LET IT ROAM FREE.
Finally, when the puppy does relieve itself after breakfast, it can have another supervised free period before being confined in its crate again until the next outing, when you will repeat these same steps. The LENGTH of supervised free periods depends upon a puppies age. Once yours can handle a 30 minute free period with no accidents, give it more freedom by increasing its free time to 45 minutes, and so on. Your goal is to increase free periods GRADUALLY until your puppy needs to be confined ONLY while you are away from home. If the puppy’s (or your) training regresses, it’s back to “Square 1”: start the training program FROM THE BEGINNING once more.