Doing puppy potty training is one of the very first tasks the new owner of a puppy has to undertake. This is of course unless you intend that your puppy will sleep and spend most (if not all) of its time outdoors where it does not really matter where he does his mess. Fortunately, potty training puppies does not take very long. At first, while the puppy can’t yet control its bowels and bladder, there will be plenty of accidents. As with newborn babies, this is to be expected.
When potty training your puppy there are some basic steps that can be taken right from the beginning to make the process faster and easier. Fresh drinking water should always be available, and feeding should happen at regular times. However, remove the water and don’t feed your puppy anymore from the early evening. Also make sure that you take them outside to do their business as late in the evening as possible – typically right before you go to sleep. Your first task in the morning should also be to let your puppy out to do his business. While potty training your puppy, praise him / her lavishly when they do their business where you want them to, i.e. outside or in a designated area if you have one. This praising should only happen at the moment that the deed occurs.
Puppies (or grown dogs for that matter) cannot discern what they have done right or wrong in the past. It does therefore not help if you wake up in the morning, see a mess all over the floor and proceed to scold the puppies. They are all happy and exited to see you, and all you do it scold them immediately without them having any idea why – this will be very confusing for them. Rubbing their nose in the mess does also not help; they will still not understand what this is all about.
The best (and only) way to potty train a puppy is to catch them in the act as it were. When you see them making a poo or wee where they should not, immediately scold them (the fright might even let them stop in mid stream) pick them up and take them to where you want them to do their business. Wait patiently for them to continue (these things can’t be rushed) and praise them when they are done. A couple of repetitions of this exercise, and they will quickly catch on.
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