Potty training puppies isn’t rocket science, but it does take knowledge, dedication, and a lot of patience. It’s also important that you don’t make some common and easily avoidable mistakes. The following list of potty training tips has been compiled to give you an overview of potty training in general and to serve as a quick reference when you have specific questions.
Without wasting any more time, let’s go straight to…
Puppy potty training
- Puppies under 8 weeks of age are too young to be potty trained. At the same time, the longer you wait after 8 weeks, the longer and more difficult the break-in will be.
- A regular schedule of feedings and walks will make potty training your puppies much easier.
- For best results, take your puppy for a walk every two hours. At least after every meal.
- When your pup gets older, and it will happen plenty of times, unless you catch him in the act, just clean up and be extra vigilant next time. Reprimanding is fine, but only if you caught him in the act. In any case, never hit or yell at your puppy. He won’t understand why you’re doing that and the only thing he’ll learn is to be afraid of you.
- Just the opposite of the puppy potty training advice above, every time your puppy relieves himself where he’s supposed to, give him praise. In general, the puppies are eager to please us. If they see that something they just did makes us happy, they will try to repeat the same behavior in the future.
- Do you want to educate your puppy in the shortest possible time? Consider box training. No other type of puppy training offers so many benefits.
- This is probably the easiest potty training tip to follow: never overfeed or “overdrink” (sorry I couldn’t find a better term!) your pup, especially before bedtime. You will be surprised how many people make this mistake!
- Don’t waste time training your puppy on paper. All you’ll do is teach your puppy that it’s okay to relieve himself indoors. You will also find it much more difficult to “unteach” this behavior in the future.
- If your puppy will be staying indoors for long periods of time, consider teaching him to use a litter box. It offers a much cleaner alternative to paper training.
As I mentioned earlier, what you don’t do can be just as important as what you do, at least when potty training puppies. The above tips on potty training puppies should help you avoid some of the most common housebreaking mistakes. Good luck!