POTTY TRAINING TIPS FOR PUPPIES
Potty training is one of the most important things you can teach your puppy.
Getting it right from the beginning can be the difference between smooth sailing and constant clean-up.
Don’t Punish
If your puppy potties inside, it’s a sign that your management has failed. Do not punish your puppy for this behavior. If you do, they may think you don’t want them to potty in front of you.
If they aren’t comfortable going potty in front of you, it becomes extremely difficult to reinforce pottying in the right place.
Manage the Environment
We don’t let human toddlers have the freedom to run around the house before we can trust them not to stick a fork in a light socket. Similarly, we don’t let puppies have full freedom in the house until they can be trusted to hold it (and are physically capable of holding it) until they can get outside.
Manage the environment by putting your puppy in a ex-pen or crate when you are not actively supervising. Dogs typically don’t want to potty where they sleep, so ensuring there isn’t enough room to pee in one corner and sleep in the other will reduce the likelihood of your puppy pottying in their pen/crate.
Prevent Rehearsals
Use good management to prevent rehearsals of pottying inside. The more pottying inside becomes a habit, the harder it will be to change.
Actively Supervise
When your puppy is not in their pen/crate, watch for signs that they need to potty. Get them outside immediately if you notice any of the following signs.
Signs Your Puppy Needs to Potty
- sniffing the floor
- wandering
- pacing
- whining
- zooming
- overarousal
Things That Stimulate Needing to Go Potty
- time since last potty
- waking up
- playing
- training
- eating
- drinking
- an exciting event
Set an Alarm
For now, set an alarm for every 30 minutes while you are home and awake to take your puppy outside for an opportunity to potty. As they are successful with the 30 minute duration, increase it by 5-10 minutes at a time.
Add a Verbal “Go Potty” Cue
When they are right about to potty or just starting to potty outside, give your “Go potty” verbal cue.
Potty Praise Party
As they are finishing (not before or you’ll risk interrupting them) throw a praise party and tell them they are the best puppy in the whole world. Give them a jackpot treat payment – at least three (small) treats, one right after the other. This will give them a good reason to want to go potty outside.
Don’t wait until you go back inside to give your puppy treats. It needs to be right away so your puppy knows the treats are for pottying outside, not for coming inside. This means being proactive and bringing treats outside with you every time you take them out, or having an airtight jar with treats already outside where you want them to potty.
Be sure that going potty doesn’t end the fun. If every time they potty outside, they then have to go inside immediately, they may avoid pottying outside because they think it makes the fun stop.
Potty Bells
Potty bells will give your dog a way to communicate with you (in a way that isn’t barking) that they need to go potty.
Set up potty bells next to each door they typically exit to potty. Teach them to touch the potty bells in structured practice sessions.
While you’re still working on teaching them to touch the bells on cue, ring the bells just before you open the door to take them outside so they associate the sound of the bells with going outside to potty.
Ringing Potty Bells
Give a verbal cue like “Bells” just before you present them. You can do this while they are hanging on the wall by the door. When they touch the bells, say “YES” and feed a treat. Put a treat in your hand behind the bells when you present them if they aren’t interested in touching them initially.
Once they are successfully touching the bells when you say the cue and present the bells, hang them on the wall by the door and say the cue without presenting them. When they touch the bells, say “YES!” and feed a treat.
When they are successfully touching the bells with just a verbal cue, cue them to touch the bells before you take them out, every time.
They should now believe that the bells are what cause the door to open to get access to go outside to potty, have a party, and get paid.
If Your Puppy Rings the Bells But Doesn’t Go Potty
Each time they ring the bells, take them out right away. If they don’t go potty, they get no payment. If they do go potty, they get a jackpot payment (at least three treats) and a potty party letting them know they are the best puppy in the whole world.
Be Prepared for Back Slides
Teething and adolescence both often bring on back slides in what was once solid potty training.
When this happens, go back to basics. Increase management, lock down freedom, provide lots of opportunities to get it right, and increase reinforcement when they do get it right.