Today I want to share some puppy potty training tips, and how supervision and confinement can be used as housebreaking aids. Puppy potty training requires a lot of patience and understanding, and can be greatly enhanced with a few housetraining aids like stair gates and crates.
As nice as it would be, your new puppy is not going to housebreak himself. To prevent accidents, and to help him learn to hold it, diligent supervision and confinement are absolutely essential elements to a successful puppy potty training program.
No Freedom to Make Mistakes
Supervision means that your dog doesn’t have the opportunity to go in some hidden location - behind the couch, down the hall, or in another room. If he’s out of his crate, and until he is reasonably reliable or asking to go out when he needs to, he has to be where someone responsible can see him and interrupt him if he’s about to make a mistake. Use draglines, tethers, and gates to keep him where you can see him.
For most puppies, confinement means crating - and crate training puppies is just as easy as potty training a puppy once you’re learned the basics. Particularly for young puppies or dogs just starting the housebreaking process, it is important that the crate is just big enough for him to stand up, turn around, and lie down, without a lot of room to spare. Don’t give him enough room to sleep at one end of the crate and pee at the other.
Puppy Potty Training Tip: Tire your dog out and make sure he has pottied before crating him. He’ll be more likely to go in and relax for a longer period of time than if you stuff him in there when he’s full of energy - and more!
If you have a toy breed or can’t get your puppy out often enough, you might consider confining your dog in a larger area, like a bathroom or a folding puppy exercise pen with his crate (open) and one of the indoor potty options discussed elsewhere on this site.
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Tags: house train a puppy, puppy housebreaking, puppy potty training
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