How to Potty Training your Puppy!

So after years of begging and pleading our kids finally convinced us that our family was ready to get a new addition. We found Nalah our precious fur baby. She is a standard poodle. She is so cute and playful. Having a puppy is a big adjustment and so we have been working hard to house train her. It takes a lot of time and patience to train a puppy.

The key to success when it comes to house training a puppy is to be patient and consistent. For us crate training was the first step towards reaching our goal of house training our puppy. We got a crate that was big enough for her but had a divider so we could give her the amount of room we thought she needed. We did not want the kennel to be too small but we also did not want it to be so big that she had an area to use as a restroom in it. For the first 5 weeks we used the divider and gave her just a small portion of the kennel for sleeping. Anytime she was not in the kennel she was in a contained area of the house and was always watched by someone. If we can't watch her even for a minute we put her in her kennel. An unsupervised puppy is just like an unsupervised baby they will get into things and have accidents.

For the first 3 weeks we walked her on a lease every 30 minutes to her "potty" spot. We also walked her first thing in the morning, 30 minutes after ever meal and right before bed. We were very careful to not let her play when it is time to potty. We made sure we did not talk to her other than to repeat the word "potty". At the beginning of week 4 we began increasing the time between her potty breaks to an hour. By week 6 we increased the time to 2 hours between potty breaks. We also began walking with her to her potty spot but with no leash. By week 8 she still goes out 30 minutes after she eats but the time between her other potty breaks is 4 hours. She does occasionally come to us to signal she needs to go outside. She can now go to the "potty" spot on her on and then comes back to the door. I know that we got very lucky with how fast she learned but I think that the steps would be helpful for any puppy. It is important to remember that even after a puppy has been successful with potty training they will still have accidents.

One big thing that we have done to help our puppy successfully potty train is to reward her every time she goes potty outside. We keep her treat jar by the door and reward her when she comes back in. If she has an accident in the house we simply put her in her kennel to show her our disapproval.

We are very careful to NOT PUNISH our puppy. When you punish a puppy you run the risk of making them scared of you. This can cause them to not be able to potty in front of you and can also make them pee when they see you.

• Be patient
• Be consistent
• Kennel training makes it easier to house train.
• Take a new puppy out every 30 minutes
• Gradually increase time between outings
• Limit the stimulation while it is potty time
• Reward your puppy
• Expect accidents even after successful training
• DO NOT punish your puppy