Those of you who know me, know I love potty training puppies. I always have, and I have no idea why. I dont really enjoy everything else that comes along with puppyhood, but teaching puppies to potty outside has always been easy and enjoyable for me. I potty trained my Siberian Husky, Skye, in 3 days and Paisley, my lab, took just over a day. At the time I got Skye, I was working with Dr. RK Anderson in Minnesota and I started training her with his "Potty Outside" schedule. I was lucky to have him to bounce questions off of, and after 3 days, she was holding it during the night and waiting until I took her to her potty spot during the day. But not all puppies are like that- most take 2 to 4 weeks, some even longer. Every puppy is different, just like every child is different.
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| Skye at 9 weeks |
The most popular question I get is "How do I teach my puppy to tell me when she has to go out?", and my answer is always "You dont". And the reason is because your puppy is going to be an adult one day, and expected to hold his or her bladder and bowels for at least 8-10 hours. You want to set your puppy up to succeed long term, not just short term for your convenience. What if your dog has to pee when youre at work and goes to the door and rings the bell? You wont be there to let him out, so what is he supposed to do? The flipside to this is what if you are home, and your puppy rings the bell just to go out, get the treat, come back in, and ring the bell to go out and get a treat again? Puppies are very adept at training humans! The reason, I suppose, that everyone wants to teach their puppies to tell them when to go outside is because its easier for the human. Does your 12-year old child say "Mom, I have to use the toilet right now, can you please open the bathroom door and put the toilet seat up for me?" No, because you trained him to hold it until he has to go, and then he goes in the appropriate spot (hopefully!). It is so much easier to teach your puppy to hold it (within reasonable time-frames, especially when they are super young), until you take her out and put her on the grass where you want her to learn to go.
And then the other famous question... "I took my puppy out, and stood there for 30 minutes and she just sniffed around... no potty. But then as soon as I brought her in she peed on the carpet- she was mad at me!" People- puppies and dogs dont get mad! And they certainly dont do things out of spite (talk about anthropomorphizing!). My answer is "Well, she just doesnt know that the outside is the ONLY place shes supposed to go yet".
The key to potty training is confinement and contigencies. Your puppys freetime must be contigent upon he or she going potty outside. Its as simple as that, and once you get him or her on a schedule where they can learn that, youll be much more successful. So many people get majorly frustrated and discouraged when they cant potty train, and their puppy is still 6 months old going on the rug in the kitchen. But it doesnt have to be like that! Please read the Potty Outside schedule above for more tips.
And if you would like additional help, I offer a Puppy Potty Training Board & Train program to help puppy owners with potty training, and behavior training in general. Puppies can be difficult, but they soak up learning and are so motivated- its so fun watching them figure things out! It doesnt have to be frustrating, and I can help take the guess-work out of potty training for you. Read more about the program here, and please feel free to let me know if you have any questions about your puppy.
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| Marvin... a 12-week old bulldog puppy who came to visit for Puppy Board & Train. Yes, hes wearing pink, but its all I had :) |
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