How to Toilet Train Your Puppy
“There’s pee everywhere!” “My house stinks!” “My puppy is peeing in front of me while staring at me. Do you think she hates me?”
In the early days of puppy raising, people often find that puppy toilet training is one of the most frustrating issues to work through and they get really frustrated with their dog.
There is no fast way to potty train a puppy but if you set your puppy up for success, follow a process and have patience and consistency, your puppy will learn what the rules are.
The same rules apply whether you’re housebreaking a puppy or housebreaking an adult dog who is new to you.
While your adult dog should be able to hold their bladder for longer, they’ll still need to learn what the rules are so you should still take some time to toilet train your adult dog.
Bella, peeing outside like a good puppy
What to do when Puppy gets it wrong
First off, I want to discuss corrections or punishments.
If you have managed your environment well, kept a close eye on your puppy and started to establish a toileting routine or schedule, your puppy shouldn’t be having accidents (eliminating in the wrong place).
However, if you do find a puddle of pee or a poop somewhere you weren’t expecting it, clean it up and do not correct your puppy. They could have done it hours ago and will not connect going to the toilet with your punishment. All they will learn is that you could punish them at any time for no reason, and as a result, you will lose their trust.
If you catch your puppy going in the wrong place, interrupt them by saying “uh uh”, pick them up and put them onto their toileting area. When they’ve finished, reward them with praise, love, and attention.
You are teaching your puppy that when they eliminate in the right place, they get love, praise, and attention and with enough repetition, they will eliminate in the right place every time.
How to potty train your puppy
The key is to set your puppy up for success.
If you can’t watch your puppy like a hawk, put them in their safe place. Otherwise, they will pee and poop wherever they want to. Not out of spite but because there are too many options. You want to set your puppy up for success so keeping them contained in a safe area limits their options.
Their safe place will either be their crate, puppy playpen or a small area with an easy to clean floor (like a kitchen, laundry or bathroom).
How long does it take to potty train a puppy?
All puppies and people are different so some pups will take longer than others. With the right guidance from you (and a well-managed environment), most puppies take a month or two.
But I always warn my clients to expect some mistakes even after their pups are toilet trained. Sometimes they just get caught short and sometimes they just like to experiment - “Oh that looks like a nice absorbent new rug, I’ll see what happens when I pee on it”.
Download my Puppy Potty Training Guide
In this guide you’ll find the toilet training process I use to potty train puppies.
You’ll learn how to:
Establish a potty routine
Set up your puppy’s safe zone
You’ll get a New Puppy Daily Schedule so you’ll have a guideline as to how your days and nights will go with a new puppy (don’t worry, it won’t always be this hard).
And lastly there’s a Toilet Training Chart where you can keep track of the times your puppy is eliminating. This makes it easier for you to see when to increase or decrease the amount of time between toileting so your puppy is successful each time.
