Is there anything worse than waking up in the morning to the shining sun and its another wonderful day? It is if you come out of your bedroom and discover your puppy rolling around in his poo!
That’s not the mess you want to clean up after as the start to a day.
An easy 40-60 minute cleanup ahead of you. That will surely put you behind to the start of your day.
Not much more frustrating than that. Aside from my son doing the same thing maybe.
Or how about when you take the puppy out to go pee and they do. Then you bring them in thinking they are done to watch them tinkle just a little more right on your nice clean carpet. That’s usually when I bang my head on the wall for some stress release lol.
Potty training a puppy cant be this hard or take this long your probably thinking. You would be correct in that thought too. It should not be that hard and it should not take that long.
Now the bad news there is no magic wand or trick to teach them not to poop or pee all over your carpet. There is good news and that is there are a ton of little tricks that will turn things around for you and you most likely are not using any of them if you experiencing these types of events.
Its not magic and surprisingly most people do not do any of these because no one has ever told them or you exactly what to do. Its like a secret society when you adopt a puppy into your family that you have to go through hell to get them to stop pooping and peeing all over. That’s not the case and we are going to try and help put a stop to it by giving you some easy tricks that will make potty training easier.
The following tips are simple and logical. We are going to cover a couple of them so you have a good idea of where to get started.
Puppy Potty Training Tip #1 Stay Calm
First accept the fact that it is you who is responsible. You cant expect a puppy to know what to do, its new to this world and is learning everything for the first time. It is no different than potty training a child. If they do not do it right you don’t take your frustrations out on them do you? Your dog should be no different.
Becoming angry and shouting at your puppy can actually make this process take much longer and become much harder. You want them to be relaxed and able to follow your commands to potty outside. If they are fearful they are not likely to listen.
Could you go poop or pee with some angry giant person standing over you staring? How do you think your little tiny puppy feels. You need to be encouraging.
Rubbing your dogs nose in it if they do it inside is also not at all effective and is old school tactics that just don’t work. If you are doing this you have missed the point completely. Would you like your face rubbed in your poop or pee?
Your puppy is peeing or pooping inside because they gotta go. Its not cause they are trying to make your life miserable or think its fun.
If they gotta go and the door is shut well they gotta go still so they do. Rubbing their nose in it after dosnt show them where they are suppose to go does it?
So rubbing their nose in it or yelling at them is just telling them oh not here. So over here is ok next time. Getting it yet?
You need to show them. Teach them where to go potty. Its called puppy potty training for a reason.
Puppy Potty Training Tip #2 Stay Focused
The most important step in potty training a puppy is the biggest mistake most people make. You take your eye off the goal too soon and revert back to yelling or getting angry.
The secret is this…
Keep rewarding your puppy with tasty treats every time they go potty in the right place. That’s right. Every single time they do it right reward them. Do this for a long time and keep doing it.
Not much motivates a puppy quicker than being rewarded with a tasty treat right after doing their business. Remember Immediately after.
If you wait more than a couple seconds the connection is lost. They will not understand they got the treat for going potty in the right place. When they keep getting treats right after going potty in the right place they will quickly make the connection.
That’s the Ah-Ha moment for your puppy. They say “I got this, I go pee or poop here and I get a tasty dog treat!” “OK that’s a deal”.
The problem is most people only do this for a week maybe two and as soon as the puppy starts to understand and make the connection they stop. We forget, get bored or run out of treats or maybe you just don’t want to be bothered at the moment.
Expert Dog Training Tip: Leave a jar of tasty treats outside near your puppies potty training spot so even if you forget to take something out with you there is already something on hand at the spot.
Puppy Potty Training Tip #3 It Takes Time
You need to remember that puppies are small and young still. They are learning everything still and learning takes repetition and time. Anyone who has a young child can tell you.
Puppy toilet training takes TIME and PATIENCE! Young children can sometimes take 3 years or longer before they get it and you expect your puppy to have it in 1-2 weeks. Cut them some slack they are a baby animal just like a child.
Lets think about this further.
How old is your puppy? 14-16 weeks! Children are not even able to lift their own heads at that age and we are getting frustrated at our new adopted puppy because they are not perfect yet at toilet training at this point.
Take a breath and relax. You can do this and your puppy is perfectly healthy and normal.
Focus on the successes and learn quickly to put the mistakes behind you, great for life in general. Stop for a moment when a mistake happens and think about what you could of done differently and do not beat yourself up over it. Remember stay focused, its not forever and you will get this and so will your puppy.
Puppy Potty Training Tip #4 The Shag Rug
Think about this scenario for a minute. Your puppy finds a nice piece of your shaggy comfy rug that is not the carpet found elsewhere. This feels nice and a bit like the grass. Looks like a good place to go pee or even worse poo!
Its unfortunate for you because your brand new thick light colored fluffy rug is very hard to get stains and smells out of. Even when cleaned your puppy can still smell the pee and poo so now relates it as a good place to go and before too long your expensive nice rug is a toilet mat.
Guess what the solution is simple.
Pick it up and put it away. In 4-6 months time bring it back out. At which point it will still be in perfect condition with no stains, no marks and no regrets. Just put it away, otherwise to expect it to become an expensive toilet mat.
Knowledge Is A Great In Dog Training
There are so many other items and tips that can be gone over on this topic. My hands are tired just covering these few. There are dozens and dozens of tips and strategies. We have come across some great training resources and wanted to leave you with them in case you want to further your learning which we highly recommend. There really is a wealth of information out there on puppy toilet training.
Cesar Millan’s book “How To Raise The Perfect Dog” is a great resource. There are also several great dog training books on Amazon.
We wish you the best in your potty training adventures!
