How Do You Potty Train A Puppy??
September 16, 2009 by admin
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
How should I potty train a puppy I’m getting soon. It’s a cockapoo. What should i do? What did you do? How long did it take? I don’t want too many accidents, how can i reduce number of accidents?
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dont bother with the wee-pads.. I find that they just confuse dogs.
Decide right now if you want your dog trained to go outside, or if you want to do the litter/pad thing.. dont go back and forth on it.
Personally I prefer outdoors.. even if that means trudging out in the cold in the middle of the nite. Its much better if you are vistiting somewhere, or at some pet event, your dog is used to pottying outside then.
Take the puppy out every half an hour to every hour.. depending on how long your pup is able to hold it. She should also go out right after eating, sleeping and playing.
Use a command.. whatever you feel comfortable with “Hurry up” “go potty” “wee-wee”.. just use the same phrase each time! While outside, have her on a leash and use the command. When she seems distracted, and doesnt seem to be searching for a place to potty, tug on the leash and remind her again, “go potty”. Give her about 10 mins or so. If she doesnt go, take her inside and crate her for 10-15 mins then try again. If she potties, praise like crazy.
Watch for signs that she may need to go.. circling, sniffing, whining, etc. If you catch her pottying in the house, firmly tell her NO, then take her outside. Praise once outside.. even if she just piddled thru the house on the way to the door.
If you find a mess and did not catch her doing it, take a rolled up newspaper, and smack yourself for not paying closer attention!
Clean up all messes with a good enzymatic cleaner that is made for pet messes. You can use a blacklight to see if you’ve cleaned it all up or not.
As she gets older, the trips outside will be farther and farther apart.. you need to use some judgement on how often she needs to go.
Crate her when you cannot supervise. The crate should only be big enough for her to turn around and lay down comfortably. If the crate is too big, she will potty in the crate.. that throws out the whole crate training concept!
Also never leave her in the crate for more than a few hours at a time.. a puppy’s lil bladder can only hold it so long.
I also reccommend scheduled feedings rather than free-feeding her.. it makes it easier to time out when she will have to poop!
Even when you can supervise, baby gates are an excellent tool to help contain her to part of the house.
Each puppy is different. It can take several weeks to housetrain a puppy.
You have to be consistent, and patient- it can take a while. Don’t let your puppy run around the house wherever they want until they are house trained. Also, make sure they have plenty of potty breaks- they can’t hold it very long, especially when they are very young. Good luck!
when they’re puppies, you have to pay extra attention to them…when they first pee in the house, grab them midstream, saying ‘no!” and carry them immediately outside. when they go pee or crap outside, say “good boy/girl” to encourage it that outside is the right place. it won’t take long for them to differentiate between right and wrong.
it’s impt. that you are around the pup the first week or so as much as possible. the early times, just like a baby, are very important times for it to learn.
Your in luck I am a certified dog trainer here is what to do:
It is the owner’s responsibility to be sure the puppy eliminates in the correct area. So whenever the puppy is in the house he should be on a leash and in the owner’s presence to avoid accidents. Management of this behavior cannot be overemphasized. It is probably the single most important component.
It is futile and counter productive to spank a puppy or rub his nose in an accident. This will typically cause the puppy to be hesitant in eliminating in front of you. This makes praising the puppy for going in the right spot impossible because he is afraid to go in your presence. In addition, many puppies will often learn to just sneak off into an out of the way place to avoid your detection.
If an accident does occur the owner should make an inconspicuous noise to startle the puppy, without frightening him, and then immediately take him to his potty spot. The noise is intended to interrupt him before he finishes going potty. When he resumes eliminating in the correct area, praise and reward him for the proper behavior. If accidents are occurring in the house the owner needs to supervise the puppy more closely or it will take a very long time to successfully housetrain him.
Creating daily housetraining routines for a puppy in training will go a long way in creating consistency in the behavior. For example, feeding the puppy at the same time every day, taking the puppy potty through the same door every day, and going to the same spot every time are all good examples.
It is important to always clean up any “accidents” with an odor neutralizing product, such as Nature’s Miracle. Soap and/or other cleaning products will not get rid of the odor and that increases the chance that the dog will relieve him/herself in the same area again.
Whether you are housebreaking a puppy or an adult dog that has never been housebroken, take the puppy or dog out immediately after each of the following events: waking up, getting up from resting, drinking water, eating, playing, training and actively sniffing.
Once the puppy has been “accident free” on your housebreaking schedule, you must teach the puppy to hold his bladder a little past the time he may need to go. While crate training helps develop his ability to hold his bladder, he must also learn to do that even when he is loose in the house. By tying him close to you or to a table leg, at or near the time he is normally scheduled to be taken out, he will be forced to “hold it” for a bit longer. You can also watch the puppy closely when he is in the same room with you and when he starts to sniff; you distract him for a few moments by tossing a toy before taking him out.
Before teaching the puppy to hold his bladder, the puppy should be accident free for a minimum of 14 days in a row. Every ‘mistake’ the puppy makes sets the owner back 3 days. For example, if a puppy has been accident free for 8 days and then makes a mistake on the 9th day, the owner must begin counting from the 5th day.
Good Luck!
Here are some links on training.. it is easier to prevent than to change habits. At first he will need to go often and will not have much control over his bladder and bowels. A rule often given is no more hours than than their age in months plus 1. In other words for a 8 wk old puppy, 3 hours tops. You will need to observe, even keep notes on when he goes, how many hours, how long after eating, etc….this can help you get better at anticipating and preventing accidents. Make sure he gets taken out as often as needed, to the same spot and praise him like crazy when he goes in the right place. You can see from this that close supervision is really important, and if there’s nobody at home for many hours at a time, it will be harder to train, but not impossible. If that is the case, though, keep the pup in a small area that is not hard to clean and put newspapers and “puppy pads” down. (links have more details)
When accidents happen, punishing the pup is not appropriate. You wouldn’t scream at your 1 yr old child for not using the toilet…..the puppy is just a baby too.
You should learn about “crate training.” –teaching a dog to go to their crate and accept staying there can help prevent not only potty accidents but chewed up furniture etc.
Dogs naturally like to have a “den” a secure cozy spot that is theirs. So providing that & keeping them out of trouble is much kinder than you getting mad and making the dog confused and afraid…and even more likely to mess up.
it takes time. what you would need is a weewee pad haha i know the names funny and get the spray. the spray im not sure about the name but it has a smell that attracts the dog to go and pee in a certain spot. with my puppy its been about 5 months and she pees in the right spot. but when my sister doesnt change it the dog wont pee there so it pees where ever. make sure to change it when its over flowing!
my puppy also pees when she doesnt have too but she does it to make her “territory” so your always going to deal with it
oh yeah and when she does pee in the right spot, dont forget the treats
There are a lot of ways in toilet training a puppy here are 2 that I’ve found successful. But I have to warn you it will take a lot of time, patience and love when you train your puppy.
1. Newspaper: While they were still young I tie their leash outside the house and the puppy on top of some old newspapers. The leash is a bit short so the puppy doesn’t stray outside the newspaper. Once they’ve done their business, I take them off the leash immediately and of course pet them and tell them they’ve done a good job. I warn you they will bark and whine. but when they’re used to it. They will know that they can only take a crap when there’s a newspaper around.
2. Go outside: When my dogs were young I would take them out of the house when they need to pee or take a crap. And if they took long i usually leave them outside until their done, then immediately bring them inside, and of course pet them.
From my experience puppies pee and poop usually when they wake up, after eating, and after their play time. So its about 5 – 6 times a day. Depends really on how much they eat and drink.
It took me months to train them, just like teaching a child to go potty. Of course they will make mistakes, reprimand them by showing them what they did and with a stern voice say NO. I really advice to avoid spanking your dogs unless they’ve done a really bad thing like biting (not play biting – thats ok). And when you do, don’t spank them too hard, just a pat on the mouths is fine.
I wish you good luck on the task that you are facing. And hope that everything works well for you and your new friend. And trust me all the training and hard work you put it, is all worth it.