When you bring home your new little guy you are in for an education on the vigils of puppy potty training. Fortunately, our level of education has increased our ability deal effectively with this issue. We have to understand that we are in for several weeks or months of chronic supervision and a new type of challenge in our life.
While many of us realize that puppy potty training is going to take some work, after a week or two it is common to be a little over the novelty of it all. Losing your patience or becoming angry about it can lead to more problems than it solves. All you really need is consistent behaviors so that your new pup can learn some new behaviors of his own. No puppy understands immediately what the big deal is. It’s your job to teach him.
If you have a relatively large home, or many rooms that are not well occupied, it’s best to keep your little one generally confined. This helps to prevent sneaking off to go in a lesser used portion of the house. He isn’t going to want to go in those rooms that are part of his general living space. A simple puppy gate can help keep him in the same room with you.
When you keep him quite close to you the reward is also yours. He can’t sneak away and you don’t have to continuously stop what you’re doing to locate him. You are on top of the situation because you can see him. It’s much nicer to know he is not toileting or chewing on anything dangerous just because you lost your focus for a moment. A set schedule of trips to the outside potty can be very helpful. Whether you choose to take him out once every hour or you choose to set him on a natural schedule, it’s imperative that he knows the drill.
Reward him every single time he goes in the right place. Reward works much better than punishment. You should not be striking him or rubbing his nose in his mess. Instead, you should be throwing a party complete with treats every time he gets it right. If you find that he is still going in the house, make sure you nab him up in the middle of doing his business. Carry him directly outside and do not let him back in until he has finished his deal.
Make sure he knows every time he is successful and give him a schedule he can rely so his puppy potty training can be successful. Don’t move away from the routine for several months. Otherwise you can have slip ups that frustrate you.
Remember that his health and sexual maturity can impact his training. Usually, a pup that has been well potty trained will stop having additional accidents once he has been neutered.
Crate training can help a great deal with puppy potty training. He can learn to hold it better when it means he has to sleep with it while you’re gone. Puppies do not like to have to live and eat where they take care of business, and thus crate training can be a wonderful tool in breaking the accident cycle.
