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Tips for Toilet Train Your Puppy

Doesn’t it feel great to cuddle and play with your cute puppies? But, while parenting your puppies involves countless pleasurable moments, it also comes with a set of challenges. To impart toilet training to your puppies is one such challenge that tests your patience and consistency.

The goal of house training your puppies is to instil good habits in your pets while developing a loving bond with them. There is no fixed time frame for toilet training the puppies as some take 4-6 months while others may need a year to be completely house trained.

Among various other factors, you need to consider your puppies’ previous living conditions, size, and metabolism for planning their toilet training schedule.

Go through this article to learn about the tips of toilet training your puppies like a pro.

Supervise Your Puppies to Avoid Toileting Mistakes

Ensure to limit the opportunities that cause your dog to toilet in undesirable conditions. As dogs love to visit the places they have been before, it increases the chances of going to the same place on their next visit.

Thus, knowing their nature, you can actively supervise and manage your puppies to prevent toileting accidents. Moreover, you can also limit access to their preferred locations and surfaces like closed doors, playpens, etc., for avoiding toileting mistakes.

Engage your puppies in crate training and provide indoor toilet training to prevent toileting mistakes when they roam in the house unsupervised.

Give Rewards to Your Dog for Appropriate Toileting Behaviour

Depending on the dog’s age and toileting habits, you should set up a toileting schedule and take them to the right places you would want them to answer their nature’s call. For example, take them to the toilet immediately after playing, drinking, eating, or walking after a nap.

Make sure to reap praises on your dogs once they have finished urinating. Reward them by giving treats like toys or food. Alternatively, you can allow them to sniff and run.

Don’t shower your dogs with praise until they have finished peeing, as it may distract them from peeing.

Don’t Punish Your Puppies for Toileting Mistakes

It gets frustrating when your toilet training does not give satisfactory results. However, don’t punish your dogs for their toileting mistakes as it may worsen the situation further.

As dogs learn by association, you need to associate that the toileting in front of a man equals punishment rather than toileting in the house equals punishment.

This association strengthens when you are not around and your dog toilets in the house. This makes them feel free as you are not watching and allows them to avoid any punishment.

Those dogs and puppies that receive punishment for toileting mistakes become stealth toilets. These puppies avoid peeing in front of the owner and other humans. Instead, they wait for a moment alone to get away and use the toilet.

Develop the Correct Surface Preference in Puppies

Each time a puppy or dog toilets on a specific type of surface, he searches for a similar surface during the next toilet break. Thus, young puppies develop a preference for a certain kind of surface for peeing.

For the above reason, puppies’ pee pads result in issues during long-term toilet training. In addition, puppies or dogs are trained to search for soft surfaces like rugs, clothing, carpets, and bedding. Thus, you need to train your dogs to develop the correct surface preference.

Make sure to take your dogs to real toileting surfaces as much as possible. Alternatively, you can toilet train them on surfaces that mimic the texture of the target surface. For example, you can use a fake grass surface over the top of puppy pee pads.

For older dogs, the surface preference is ingrained deeper, and you need to show patience and persistence in changing it to a more appropriate choice.

Do a Thorough Cleaning of Soiled Areas

Ensure to clean the soiled area thoroughly immediately after your puppy is done with the toilet. As your dog’s nose is more sensitive than yours, use an enzymatic cleaner for cleaning the toileting surface rather than using only vinegar or bleach for cleaning.

Avoid Finishing Toilet Training Too Soon

One of the most common mistakes made by pet owners is that they stop toilet training too soon. Avoid finishing the toilet training prematurely as different species may need different toilet training periods.

Some puppies require weeks or months to be toilet trained, while others require toilet training for a year. This process involves breaking the old habits and replacing them with new desirable habits in puppies.

In addition to previous living conditions, also consider the size of your puppies and dogs. For example, smaller sized breeds have a higher metabolism and smaller bladders that require more frequent toilet breaks as compared to larger sized dogs.

Thus, you should follow the natural tendencies and consider the previous living conditions of your dogs and puppies before starting the toilet training process.

Get a Vet Check and Consult a Good Trainer If the Issue Persists

Your puppies or dogs may be experiencing a multitude of medical problems that may cause problems with toileting. Observe the behaviour of your pet friends, and if your dog seems to have medical issues, it’s better to get him checked by a veterinarian.

Even after months of toilet training, if your dog relapses seek assistance from a toilet trainer. A good trainer helps your puppies or dogs get rid of long-term toileting problems and treats deeper behavioural issues responsible for toileting issues.

Start Your Puppy Toilet Training at the Right Time

As per experts, you should start toilet training your puppies when they are between 12-16 weeks old. At this age, most puppies develop enough bladder and bowel movements control for holding their toilet.

If your puppy is more than 12 weeks old and is not toilet trained, his house training may take longer. It requires consistent effort, reward, and encouragement for reshaping the dog’s behaviour.

To begin with, you should limit the movements of your puppies to a defined space, a room, a crate, or a leash. As your puppies show progress in their training and learn to go outside for peeing, give them more freedom to roam freely about the house.

Maintain a Rigid Toilet Training Schedule

When you start house training, ensure that your puppy is following a regular feeding schedule. Avoid any food intake between the meals. Take your pet outside to urinate in the morning. Repeat the procedure after every half an hour to an hour.

Also, ensure to take them outside for toileting once they wake up from a nap or after meals.

Allow them to eliminate if you are leaving them alone or before they go to sleep at night. Supervise them and stay with them until they are house trained properly.

Don’t lose hope and stick to your training program even if you meet setbacks. Sooner or later, your dogs and puppies learn to get their toileting right.

Look for the following signs in your puppies to take them out for toileting.

• Whining
• Barking
• Circling
• Sniffing
• Barking or scratching at the door if not confined

A crate comes very handily in the short term for house training your puppy. Using a crate allows you to observe your puppies or dogs for any signs of peeing. It teaches your pet friends to hold the toilet till you open the crate and free them to go outside for peeing.

Follow the below-mentioned guidelines while using a crate for toilet training your puppies.

• Ensure that your crate is large enough to allow your puppies or dogs to stand, lie down, or turn around but small enough not to be used as a bathroom.
• Keep fresh water in a dispenser attached to the crate if you keep your puppy in it for more than two hours.
• Ensure to give them enough toilet breaks for the first 6-8 months of their toilet training period.
• Discontinue using crate if your puppy is urinating in it. There could be several reasons behind it, like your puppy is not getting enough time outside, the crate is too big, or the puppy can’t hold the pee in the crate.

Consider the following do’s and don’ts while potty training your puppy.

• Avoid punishing your puppy for potty or toilet accidents, as it may instil feelings of fear in your puppy and make him nervous.
• Whenever your puppy makes toilet mistakes, clap loudly or make another gesture that makes him realize his mistake and then take him out gently for toileting.
• Never forget to reward them or give them a treat for showing appropriate toilet behaviour.
• Don’t show your anger or yell at puppies while house training them, as they cannot link your resentment with the toilet accidents.
• Make a schedule to spend more time outside with your puppies during the potty training period, as it helps in avoiding toilet accidents.
• Clean the soiled area within the house by using an enzymatic cleanser instead of an ammonia-based cleaner. This helps in minimizing odours and maintaining optimal cleanliness.