Pampered Dog Blog

No training is more fundamental for pet owners than that first important lesson: Do it outside the house!

Training your puppy to potty outside the home, not in it, typically gets under way somewhere between six and eight weeks of age. Puppies as young as four weeks have been started on the process, however at that age only a few possess the muscular control to succeed.

Just like any kind of dog instruction technique, trainer patience is as essential as the pup’s temperament. ‘Sit’, ‘stay’ and other manners can generally be learned in a few days. ‘Potty’ instruction typically takes weeks – at times as short as two, frequently a month or more.

As with other learned behaviors, it helps to observe for signs of the desired behavior and enforce and direct them with a voice command followed by praise. In this situation that process works much more for the trainer’s advantage, given that all puppies will naturally eliminate. The strategy is to make them perform thre deed when and where you choose!

Watch for signs imminent potty behavior, such as circling or squatting, then pick up the pup, say ‘outside’ and dash outside. The puppy may well circle some more, but will frequently squat instantly. As it begins, say ‘Go potty’ (or some other distinctive term) in the clear, firm (but not angry) voice. Wait until it’s completed and praise the puppy lavishly.

You will not always be able to catch the puppy about to begin, but don’t become angry or impatient when the dog has an accident in the house. It will take time for the dog to understand to convey to you it’s time to ‘go outside’. It also will take time for the muscles necessary to control bladder and bowels to mature.

Young puppies will need to potty every 2-3 hours, on average. Should you haven’t spotted pre-elimination behavior within that time, take the dog outside anyway. Issue the command ‘Go potty’ and wait. At first, typically, the puppy will have no clue what you would like.

Again, even when outside, it helps to wait and observe for the wanted behavior then say the command. That helps the puppy associate the command with the behavior. If the puppy has not gone right after a couple of minutes and a number of ‘Go potty’ commands, take it back inside for an hour. Needless to say, if you notice the pre-elimination behavior in much less time, go outside once more instantly.

Puppies have a astonishing capacity to rapidly understand what their ‘alpha’ (the leader of the pack) would like. This is almost always accomplished by associating a verbal command with behavior, followed by praise. Punishment is usually counter-productive, and nowhere more so than in waste elimination instruction. By no means rub a dog’s nose in waste.

Paper and/or crate training is preferred by some. A puppy can be trained to go on a newspaper, or on one of the chemically treated pads made for that purpose. Some tiny breeds that live all day inside home may not need to go outside at all.

The method has a couple of downsides nevertheless. Unlike cats, puppies will rarely go in a perfumed litter box. Newspapers (even with all the top layer removed right after the dog goes) will eventually produce an unpleasant aroma inside the house.

Also, long before the odor becomes unattractive to humans, puppies can smell their own unique aroma. They don’t find it unattractive – quite the opposite. And that’s the problem.

Puppies which are paper trained will generally choose to potty inside. Occasionally they’ll miss the paper by only an inch, generating a mess to clean up.

Once the odor is in the carpet, the dog will generally search for that spot out as its appropriate ‘place to go’. This makes training the dog to potty outside much more difficult. Best to suffer a couple of accidents than to produce a hard-to-overcome habit.

Patience, praise and consistency are the keys to any dog instruction. Potty Training will be the first test for you and your dog.