How To Potty Train Your Puppy

You’ve been waiting so long to bring your precious puppy home and the day is here!

You arrive home, and they’re so excited– you’re so excited!

Before you know it, puppy is peeing on the floor and then you realize the training starts now. Learning how to potty train your puppy can feel daunting.

But don’t worry! We’ve got your back with these puppy potty training tips! 

6 Basic Steps to Train Your Puppy How to Potty

1. Take your pup out on a leash. Go to a designated potty spot in the yard and stand still. We want them to be bored so they remember they need to go.

2. Wait for a few minutes (no more than 5)

3. If you see them start to get into position say “go potty” 

4. If they go potty mark “yes” and reinforce by giving them a treat, once they finish going. Have a little celebration with them!

5. If they don’t go potty, bring them inside and either hold them, put them in a crate, or have them leashed to you. They are officially on POTTY WATCH

6. Try again in 5-20 minutes

What to Keep In Mind When Training Your Puppy

• Your puppy will need to potty after eating/drinking, upon waking from a nap, and after playing.

• Keep track of when your puppy has pottied, make a quick note in your phone or if you’re a multi-human household keep a notepad in a convenient location. 

• If your dog suddenly gets up and begins to walk away it is likely that they are starting to search for a place to potty. 

• Remember that mistakes happen! If you see your dog begin to potty inside you can hurry them outside and reinforce them when they finish going in the right place. Don’t scold your dog, all this does is teach them that sometimes you are unpredictable and scary.

• Clean up any messes with an enzymatic formula designed to eliminate urine/feces odors. This will help to prevent your dog returning to the same spot to potty again.

Common Mistakes When Potty Training Puppies

1. Expecting your dog to tell you they need to go

Think about all the steps involved in this. First they have to feel the need to go, then they have to understand that they shouldn’t go where they currently are, then they need to find the human, then they need to communicate to the human that they need to potty.

All on a full bladder!? No way!

This is something that your dog may eventually be able to communicate to you.

However, with puppies or new-to-you adult dogs we want to set them up for success by taking them out frequently and supporting them with appropriate reinforcement and management. 

2. Too much freedom

Dogs are typically very clean, even from a very young age they don’t want to go potty where they sleep.

They just don’t understand that the whole house is off limits.

We need to teach them where to go and a big part of that is preventing them from practicing eliminating in undesirable areas. If your dog needs to go, they’re gonna go!

There is no morality or “they know better” around it. It’s more likely that they’ll go potty in places you don’t want them to if they have the ability to sneak off to those places. 

3. Putting your dog outside alone

Dogs, but particularly puppies, get distracted very easily. The world is an exciting place!

If you put your dog out in the yard alone you have no ability to help keep them on task, OR reinforce when they do the right thing.

This is not a life sentence!

Eventually your dog will want to go outside to potty, but in the beginning it’s essential that we make sure they’re going and make sure we’re there to celebrate them.

4. Going on a walk every time they need to potty

This might meet the goal of getting your pup to eliminate, however there may be some unintended consequences.

For example a dog that holds their pee to keep the walk going. Or a dog that will ONLY potty on a walk, because let's face it sometimes we just really don’t want to go on a walk.

5. Using potty pads

If you’re using potty pads specifically to protect your floor at times where you know an accident will happen because you won’t be home, please continue!

However, teaching your dog to go on a potty pad in the house is really confusing.

Think about it, you’ve taught them that it’s a-okay to go in the nice warm house. Now you expect them to go outside in the rain??

If you’ve already been using potty pads, remove them now and begin the potty training process.

6. Free feeding

This one is all about timing…. You won’t know when they need to go if you don’t know when and how much they’ve eaten. 

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Need a good crate for your puppy?

We usually recommend this one by iCrate.

iCrate single-door dog crates by MidWest Homes for Pets are the Inclusive Home Training System designed completely around the safety, security, and comfort of your dog.

Features include safe and secure slide-bolt latches, rounded corners, and a removable, washable plastic pan for easy cleanup in the event of an accident.

See Crate on Amazon

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Final Thoughts About Potty Training Your Puppy

Like we said before, potty training can feel daunting, but once you’re equipped with the potty training basics, things should start feel easier and accidents should become less frequent.

If you feel like your puppy is just not getting it, shoot us an email at team@urbanpawsibilites.com and we’re happy to set you up with services to help!

by Lindy Cena, CPDT-KA