How to potty train your dog?
Are you dealing with a dog who pees and poops inside the house?
Potty training requires putting in the effort, fast reactions, and a positive attitude towards the training from you as a dog owner.
Regular routines allow you to potty train your puppy or an older dog effortlessly. Here are the basic things you must know about housetraining your dog:
1. Reqular routines
Make a schedule when you take him outside because, with regular routines, you can easily potty train your puppy.
Take him outside
- after he has just eaten,
- after waking up,
- before going to sleep
- and after an exciting new circumstance, for example, after meeting a new human.
Also, your dog should have regular dietary habits:
- always give him his meals around the same time every day
- don’t give him food if it isn’t his mealtime
- don’t leave the food on the floor for longer than 15 minutes because if he eats all day, he most certainly is pooping all-day
- make sure the meal sizes are suitable and also the number of meals you offer him
2. Observe and react quickly
The signs to look out for when a puppy is about to do his business are sniffing the floor, walking in circles, and crouching.
If you see him doing these, take him outside immediately and wait there as long as it takes him to pee or poop or both.
If you catch him pooping or peeing, say ‘Ah ah’ without getting mad at him. Bring him outside and put him on a leash.
When you are outside bring him to the area you want him to do his business. Walk around and wait as long as needed before he goes again.
If you, later on, want to use a command for this, you can start to add it every time he does his business to the right place. For example, you can use the command: ‘Go!’ or ‘Do it!’.
3. Rewarding
When your dog does his business in the right place, praise him and give him treats. Have some treats ready near the door, so whenever he must go outside, you can reward him for doing his business at the right place.
You can make it more special by only giving a specific kind of treat only when rewarding him for doing his business outside.
After he is done with pooping and peeing, and you have rewarded him with praising and treats, you can play with him.
Don’t play with him before he has finished.
4. Clean up
Always clean up after your dog. If you don’t clean well, he most likely will pee at the same spot again. This is because dogs are attracted to return to the same spots where they peed or pooped previously. So make sure you clean his mess thoroughly.
To prevent your expensive carpets from getting urinated, consider taking them away and not putting them back on the floor before your dog is potty trained completely.
Usually, your standard house cleaning solutions won’t clean the urine or poop stains completely. This is why I suggest you use a detergent made for cleaning these stains.
5. Be patient
Like with all dog training, remember to be patient. Never punish your dog for ‘accidents’. This only leads to situation where your dog is scared of you and you shouldn’t want that. Instead, stay calm and quickly bring him outside.
Dogs don’t realize the difference between peeing outside versus peeing inside. The only thing they do with instinct is that they won’t pee in to place they sleep at. So when you understand this you understand them better. And don’t lose hope. He will learn to do his business outside.
When you keep up with regular routines, he will eventually get used to them and then learn to ask for you to let him go outside.
So just be patient. Your dog won’t automatically know and understand the routine and everything you want from him, regardless of whether your dog is a puppy or a recently adopted adult doggie. It is your responsibility to train him and teach him.
6. Go to vet
You must be able to separate the difference between the accidents when your dog consciously pees inside because he didn’t go outside quickly enough versus when your dog pees when he is laying down or while he is asleep. These can be signs of an illness.
If your dog has been potty trained already, and suddenly starts to have accidents, contact a vet.
Also contact a vet if you have tried everything and your dog just doesn’t seem to learn to not do his business inside.
A trick to help
As I stated before that dogs are attracted to return to the same spots they peed or pooped previously.
You can use this to your advantage.
Whenever your dog does his business inside, pick it up and bring it outside. Place the poop (or the used wipe you cleaned up the urine) on the ground.
You can later remove the previous poop or wipe after he has done his business, and leave the new ones for the next time.