Give your new pup a few days to adjust to his new home. Hopefully, your new pup is at least eight weeks of age or older when you adopt. A good breeder or good rescue organization will have you wait until at least eight weeks of age before surrendering a pup to his new home. A great reference web site on dog breeds is www.mydogsbreed.com.
Initially, when you take your puppy home, give him a walk through tour of your home on his leash. It is important to let him sniff around the rooms of his new home. It is best to keep him on his leash so you can control the situation (some what!)
Potty training can start the day you bring your new bundle of loving fur home. You will need to be patient and loving with your new dog. The best way to start, is to walk your dog on your own lawn every 15 minutes for the first few days. No, I’m not kidding! Dogs are very smart and will quickly understand that potty belongs outside. The secondary benefit to this is that your puppy will also need to learn how to walk on a leash. These frequent trips outside will help.
If your new puppy decides to mark his new territory inside the house or continues to pee after a play session, start out by startling him AS HE IS GOING… You will need to say, “Potty outside…potty outside…potty outside”. Keep repeating this phrase as you pick up your puppy, put on his leash and take him out immediately. The moment you step outside the door of your house, you will need to reinforce, “Potty outside…potty outside…potty outside”. By now you are probably thinking, oh boy what have I gotten myself into! All I can tell you is that potty training really isn’t that bad IF you get your entire family to use the same commands and act constantly when these little mistakes occur. This puppy is a part of the entire family and as such, the entire family needs to be equally accountable for the potty training process.
Your nighttime routine should be to crate you new puppy. Dogs as pack animals, like the security of sleeping in an enclosed “safe” space. Also, dogs do not like to dirty in the spot where they sleep.
Some dogs will be potty trained very easily and the whole process may take just a couple of days to weeks. I have also had the more “normal” puppy experience, in that my last dog it took us about 4 months to completely potty train. The good news is once you are through the potty training process both you and your dog will feel great and really look forward to those daily walks!
