Puppy Potty Training

Posted by Terry

January 6, 2010

Everybody loves a puppy and they are hard to resist but with a new puppy you will need to begin a puppy potty training program in your home to deal with the new problem of accidental mess left by the puppy. You should not blame the puppy because it is just a baby and doesn't know any better. Human babies take a long time to house train but puppy potty training is much faster than that. You should start out as you intend to go on and you must be firm with the puppy and self disciplined with yourself.

First you should designate the potty area where you can put a potty tray or newspapers or something else easy to clean away. This area should be in easy reach of the puppy from where it normally spends it's time. A young puppy cannot travel far once it gets those urges to go so do not expect your little puppy to manage to go very far away from it's bed or play area. Later when your puppy potty training is proceeding well and the puppy is getting more control of it's puppy toilet behaviour you can move the potty area a little further away.

To start with you will need your self-discipline because when the puppy makes a mess you must always get out of your chair or stop what you are doing and deal with both the puppy and the mess. To start with the puppy has no idea where to go and will probably mess where it stands. You should straight away go and pick up your young dog and take it to the puppy potty training area. Once there tell your puppy what a good puppy he is. Give him lots of attention and praise. He will associate making a mess and the potty area and all the attention as one thing and this will encourage him to make his way to the puppy potty training area when he feels those natural needs.

The best way to potty train a puppy is to praise your puppy even when he messes up and goes in the wrong place. Do not praise him in the wrong place but simply take him to the puppy potty training area and give him attention and praise there. Shouting,smacking or rubbing his nose in it will only confuse him and leave him with the feeling that he is not allowed to mess at all which is clearly impossible. The secret is to make him want to go to the potty training area because he likes doing his business there because he gets lots of petting and praise for doing so.

With all this positive reinforcement of what a good dog he is you can then move the puppy potty training area a little at a time until ultimately it will be outside where you want him to go when he becomes an adult dog. Training a puppy to be fully potty trained can be a tedious task but if you make it a fun experience for your little puppy the puppy potty training will not take you long as dogs are very intelligent and soon learn how to behave in your home.

Dog Training