Of all the aspects of puppy ownership, house-training is the most prominent and most important. While dogs are clean animals, they are not born knowing that they cannot go potty no the living room floor, the kitchen floor or any other surface inside the house. No matter how cute the puppy is and how much you love him, if he is constantly relieving himself inside the house it will for sure put a strain on your relationship.
Just like any other training, house-training requires patience, persistence and an understanding of your dog’s instinctive habits. In other words, what you will need is a successful strategy, consistency and timing.
It is quite obvious that potty training is important, to maintain a clean, hygienic living environment which is imperative for you, your family and your pets. However, it also sets the groundwork for additional training and reduces behaviour problems.
You must by all means avoid those time-worn methods that have been proven to be both wrong and counterproductive. As we established in Section 01, dogs live in the moment, they think only about what they’re doing and what is going on around them, so punishing a dog after soiling your house is both confusing, and unfair and can even be counterproductive.
You must catch your dog in the act for any correction to be effective. Similarly you must reward your dog immediately when he does something right, such as eliminate in his designated area, to clearly identify acceptable behavior.
Establishing a reward history with your dog on leash by taking him to his potty area so you can immediately praise and reward him with a treat when he eliminates there and in your presence sets you up for success. Not only are you showing the dog that he is relieving himself in the proper area, but also making him feel comfortable doing so in your presence. This is important because if you do catch him making a mess inside the house and reprimand him, it will be clear that it is only the chosen area that is unacceptable and not the act of eliminating in your presence.
Timing is of the essence because you must notice when the dog is going to eliminate in other words, you must anticipate the puppies needs. The puppy will need to eliminate:
– when waking
– upafter eating
– during and after a play session
– about every twenty minutes to an hour while awake (depending on age)
You must keep an eye out for pre-eliminating behaviour such as:
– circling
-squatting
-sniffing around
-raising his leg (ups too late)
When you see this, take your puppy out to the designated area, latest every hour.
This is where the crate comes in handy, as mentioned before dogs are clean den animals so your puppy will not eliminate inside the crate unless really forced to do so. If you took him out to go potty and he did not do so, then put him back in his crate and take him out again thirty minutes to an hour later to the same designated area, give him a little bit of time to sniff around and eliminate. If he did not eliminate, you must not allow him to roam free because it is very likely that he will then potty inside thus being very counterproductive.
The importance of doing this on leash is that if he does not have a strong urge to go potty and is off leash, he will likely start exploring the world and hold it. Confine the area for the puppy to one spot to relieve himself instead of walking around and letting him go wherever he chooses.
By day 2 or 3 of doing this consistently, you should have figured out the schedule of the dog. With time you can expect to increase the duration the puppy can hold his urine. As a rule of thumb you can count on a puppy holding his urine for his age in months converted into hours plus 1. That is to say a 2 month old puppy can hold his pee for 3 hours. This is to be taken with caution as it varies from dog to dog. During the night hours, a dog will be able to hold his pee for longer periods of time.
One important step in potty training is to control the water intake of the dog and not offer any water after a certain hour in the evening, depending on your schedule this may be around 6 pm. So for your new puppy you should set your alarm and make sure you take him out every 1-2 hours to relieve himself. A potty schedule could thus look as such:
No more water and food intake after 6 pm then potty at 7 at 8, 9, 12, 3 am, 6 am, 8 am for the first week until you have figured out the potty schedule of the dog. Adjust the schedule to your routine, switch with your partner, take notes if necessary and mark down every accident that happens including not only the time of the incident but also the activity preceding the accident so that you can recognise a pattern and address it.
Once you start taking walks with your puppy, allow him to eliminate and reward him before you begin your walk. Many people walk their dogs just until they eliminate, then take them straight home. This often results in the dogs waiting to eliminate for as long as they can to prolong the duration of the walk.
Whenever you will be away or busy for a short time, confine your pup to his crate, if you need to be away for a longer period of time than you should crate your dog and cannot leave your dog outside, you can create a litter box system.
Create a potty area within a play pen by setting up a litter box or similar with the material the dog would ordinarily use outside (grass, mulch, sand, etc.)