Do’s and Don’ts When Potty Training Your Puppy

                       Do’s and Don’ts When Potty Training Your Puppy

Do's

     1. Take your puppy out often – It is recommended to take your puppy out every 1-2 hours because they are still building the muscles, they need to hold it in.
     2. Stick to a feeding schedule – Puppies should be fed twice a day and often go to the bathroom shortly after eating. If they are fed at the same time each day you will be able to let the puppy out to use the bathroom. This will help avoid confusion and accidents in the house.
     3. Use a crate to help with potty training – When choosing a crate, it is best to choose one that is not too big. The dog should have room to lay, stand up and turn around. A dog will not go potty where it sleeps, so this will solve that problem and help them learn to hold it in. If the crate is too big the puppy will use the corner and sleep on the other side. You do need to take in consideration how fast the breed of your dog grows. This will help avoiding having to keep buying new crates.
     4. Positive Reinforcement – Use positive reinforcement as often as possible when training your puppy. If they are praised for doing something, they will continue to do it.
Recognize your puppies, signs when they need to go – Pay attention to your puppy motions when it wants or needs something. You will then know when your puppy needs to use the bathroom, and this will avoid having accidents in the home.
     5. Leashes – When your puppy is just learning to use the potty you should keep them on a leash, even if you have a fenced in yard. This will teach them that they are outside to go to the bathroom and not get distracted by playing.

Don'ts

     1. Do not use a puppy pad in the crates – If the puppy is allowed to use a puppy pad it will become confused if it is allowed to go in the house or not. It is also not a good habit to leave puppy pads down when you are home. This will cause them to think it is ok to use them anytime they want to.
     2. Do not use punishment – Remember that potty training takes patience and there may be accidents. Punishing them will only cause them to fear you.
     3. Do not, NOT have a schedule – If you fail to follow a schedule this can confuse your puppy and take longer to train.

The Groomy Team -  We hope this makes your potty training experience easier.