Potty Training Tips

1.  Pick a spot in the yard for your pup to potty and stick to it.

 2.  Learn the signs of your dog needing to go

Smelling his rear

Pacing in circle

Barking or scratching at the door

Sniffing the floor

Squatting

3.  Make mealtime the same time every day

Feed twice a day

4.  Watch the water bowl

5.  Go outside often

2-month-old- every 2 hours

3-month-old- every 4 hours

4-month-old- every 5 hours

5-month-old- every 6 hours

6.  Praise

Nice easy voice praise, don’t get over excited

Praise with small bits of food

7.  Use of crate

8.  Calmly address accidents, take pet out, clean area with a good cleaner.  Nature’s Miracle is a good one.

Notes:

When taking the puppy out, say “let’s go outside” “let’s go potty”

Give your puppy a potty break before meeting new people. This is an exciting time for them and may sprinkle.

After bowel movement, let the puppy roam around the yard in case they need to go again.

After returning inside, watch, if nose goes to the floor sniffing around, move back outside

Reduce the freedom of area while inside (ie: play pin)

Make it a game going to the door with food/treat.

Use of Crate: You can’t always be watching your puppy and the crate becomes an important part of the house-training process. Your puppy should be crated overnight, if you run errands and at any point you cannot keep a constant watch over them.

Make sure your crate is appropriately sized for your dog and has a removeable sliding tray at the bottom for easy cleaning. Keeping the crate small at the beginning where the puppy just has enough room to turn around will prevent the puppy from going to the bathroom on one side and sleeping on the other.

Do not put down towels, blankets, or any other bedding until you are sure your puppy is fully trained.

Make going into the crate fun and a special time. Give the puppy a treat when going in.

If your puppy cries or barks in the crate, just ignore them. They will stop after a short time as they are looking for attention.  If you keep going to check on them and talking to them, it rewards the barking or whining behavior. Be patient.