Everyone loves a doe-eyed golden-haired puppy, who doesn’t? You bring them home and everyone is vying for the most puppy time. Then after a few weeks when you need to house train the little guy you look around and nobody is there. Yes, it’s time for the less than popular puppy potty training.
If you’re a new dog owner, potty training will launch you into the unfamiliar and often rewarding terrain of canine training. You may not like parts of it, but generally it’s a pretty exciting journey. Read on to get great puppy training tips anyone can use.
Understand that puppies have yet to fully develop their bodies. This means that you need to closely watch when you feed and water them. Meals should not come right before bedtime or expect to rise up every so often to take your dog out to eliminate. In the beginning, you will have to wake up a couple of times at night to cater to his toilet needs. As he matures and you train him successfully, he will not need to go late at night anymore. For now though, setting good habits early is the most important thing.
Have a schedule for their meal times daily and do not vary from it as much as possible. His body needs to be accustomed to a certain pattern of eating and eliminating. Take him outdoors to discharge early in the morning and late at night. After meals, bring him to his designated potty place to do his business. Keep repeating a phrase the puppy will associate with toilet activities like ‘go potty’ until he does.
After he finishes eliminating on the right spot and with the right phrase, lavish him with praise. Let the puppy know how pleased you are and that he is the best dog in the whole world. Do the same thing again in an hour just in case another round is in order. Remember, right now the most important aspect of puppy potty training is the establishing of good habits.
After setting a pattern of toilet practices he is learning to follow, you can now teach him how to ask to go outside. No, not audibly with words but with a bell. Tie a rope by the door with a bell dangling at the end of it. Give the bell a light push and say ‘go potty’ loudly for the puppy to hear on your way out for your special walks. After two weeks of doing this consistently, say ‘go potty’ by the door but don’t do anything. If all goes well the dog will nudge the bell himself and when he does, be sure to praise him well. If he doesn’t understand fully yet, gently guide him to move the bell and say ‘go potty’.
Repeat this process every single time the puppy uses his toilet privileges. Your dog will catch on and understand this as his signal to want to go out. Before long, he will know enough to tap the bell or door by himself whenever he needs to unload.
That’s it. When done patiently and without fail, these puppy training tips should have gotten the potty training box checked off in your to-do list easily. Now that’s that, you’re on to the next leg of your puppy adventure!
Geraldine Dimarco enjoys watching puppy training tips that has helped her tremendously in raising her pets. Find excellent articles on Puppy Potty Training today.