How to Toilet Train a Puppy

When you have a new puppy, it is obviously important to toilet train it. There are some puppies that can learn easily while some others take some time - just like small children! Either way it just takes some patience. Worry not however, your pup will eventually learn.

When you know how the mind of your puppy works, you can unburden some of the issues of puppy toilet training. What you need is for your puppy to go to the same one spot and do his business there consistently.

For your puppy, it is important to relieve himself (or herself) when the need comes. This can be anywhere especially if your dog is not yet trained. However, the one place that your dog will not go to for relieving himself is the place where he sleeps and eats.

When you are going to start housetraining a puppy, make sure you choose the right spot which you want your dog to use as a toilet area. Since your dog is still young, it cannot hold much in, so make sure that you choose a spot that can be easily accessed by your dog.

Anticipate the time when you should take your dog out. Usually, this is upon waking up, after a meal, when excited or after playing a wild game. You may also want to bring your dog outside every hour especially when it is still young. This will help reinforce the habit.

Learn to know the signs that your dog is about to go. Learn to spot some signs such as sniffing around, circling one spot and trying to grab your attention suddenly. When you observe these in your puppy, take him outside right away!

During the initial period of toilet training, do not expect that your dog will know where to go. You have to take him there and give encouragement. Praise and reward your puppy every time he gets it right. Be consistent.

If your puppy does not urinate when you get him out, do not let him stay out for a long period of time. Bring him inside the house. After a few minutes, take your pup out again and let him try again.

There are some puppies that are not able to hold their bladder all night. So you might need to go out a few hours in the night or you can place a newspaper on a certain spot that is easy to clean. You almost need to treat your new pup as you would a new born baby. Anticipate some sleepless nights!

From time to time, your puppy will have an accident. Do not scold your puppy because he cannot really hold it any longer. When you punish your dog, you will confuse him and he may become secretive when urinating. There are sprays that can eliminate the odour from their urine. You might want to use one initially to clean your floor.

When your puppy has an accident, recall when the last time your puppy was outside, his last meal, and if there was any change in routine. It is common for puppies to have a relapse even after training. That is okay, just find out what went wrong. Then retrain.

Sometimes, there are medical problems that can cause incontinence in dogs. If it takes longer than usual for your dog to learn, you might want to consider seeing a vet.

Toilet training a puppy isn't to difficult. It just requires patience, consistency and logic.

Don't lose faith! Our puppy Rosie didn't seem to make much progress for a number of weeks when we were toilet training her. Then all of a sudden, it was like a switch was flicked. Overnight it all fell into place and she became fully toilet trained!