Potty Training For Puppies (Top Tips!)

Following on from the excellent K9 Magazine article on puppy housetraining, we've got these top tips on how to potty train your new puppy...

Puppy Potty Training Made Easy!

As much as we would love dogs to use potties that isn’t what this article is about. I’m talking about house training, making sure that they know to go outside when it is time to do their business. Potty training your dog is a lengthy procedure but at the end you’ll know it’s worth it.

Dog toilet training can be something of a difficult task. Every day needs to be the same and you need to give him constant attention when you can; this will make the toilet training procedure a lot easier. Your training process will take longer if you are working out of the house quite often as your dog will need to go and the house is the only place that he can.

The simplest method for potty training a dog is the newspaper method. Many owners have the problem where dogs excuse themselves in the house, because they don’t know any different, you can make them sit outside for hours but they will wait until they come inside the house to do their business, and most of the time they will do it where you can't see them. This happens because while trying to potty train their dog many owners punish them after they have done the toilet in the house. But that is no good, they need to be caught in the act, but you don’t need to rub your dog’s nose in it like many suggest! The dog needs to learn to trust you not fear you or it will never learn.

The first obstacle in potty training dogs is to teach the dog how to go on command, you can do this inside the house then work your way up to teaching him to do it outside. Pick a certain area inside the house, maybe at the back door or something likewise, place a lot of newspaper around the area and every hour or so take him there and tell him to do the toilet, or whatever you want the command to be. Sooner or later he will do the toilet, but you have to keep a close eye on him around the house so you can see if he is going to do the toilet or not. When you see him go to do the toilet, take him to the paper and tell him your command, then praise him for doing it on the paper, this type of potty training needs a very vigilant handler. When he learns to go on command try to take him outside instead of the paper, that way he will soon learn that he has to go outside.

There are other problems that potty training your dog can help with, submissive urinating can be quite a large problem. Often when your dog meets someone knew that he likes or someone he knows, or even another dog he can get very excited and in turn he wets himself. This isn’t good for the person he is doing the toilet on and is very embarrassing for you. Potty training your dog will help to only release on command.

With a lot of hard spent time and vigilance you can teach your dog anything, potty training is just a step towards another accomplishment in your dog's life, when he does do the toilet outside and not in the house make sure he receives lots of treats and praise, the more he knows it pleases you the more he is likely to do it!

Useful Resources:

House Training For Puppies
Puppy Paper Training
Puppy Nutrition
Insurance for Pets
Dog Fleas & Puppies
Lifetime pet insurance cover (deals)

Puppy Potty Training Video Tips