Do you have a young puppy or an older dog and you wish you could figure out the secrets to house training a puppy or dog? Potty training a dog has four simple steps and if you follow them you are guaranteed to never have to clean up pee or poop
again:
- Supervision, supervision, supervision!
I can’t reiterate enough times the importance of supervision when you are training dogs to pee outside. The number one mistake of any dog owner when housebreaking a dog is to give that dog way too much freedom from a young age. You must supervise your dog or puppy if you are going to have any success. - Encourage your dog to pee outside.
This is very simple. When your dog pees outside praise him heavily. While I am usually not a big fan of treat training this is one behavior that I will definitely reward with a treat. I want the puppy or dog to understand that peeing outside is a wonderful activity. - Correct a dog for peeing inside.
Don’t be cruel, mean, or harsh. When you catch your puppy or dog peeing inside quickly grab the dog and rush outside while you tell him no. A correction should be unpleasant but not harsh and you can only correct your dog if you catch him in the act. - Training dogs to pee outside requires a good schedule.
Make sure that you have your dog on a food schedule and a potty schedule so that you are more positioned for success.
If you follow these four steps you are guaranteed a dog that is housebroken and a home that is free of messes.
31 Responses to “4 Steps to House Training a Puppy”
I was reading about the potty training an indoor puppy. My puppy. Named Gucci, will be arriving in my home 2 months from now. He is a staffordshire bull terrier. I was wondering about the feeding schedule. What should be the best times to feed the puppy. Im a semi truck driver. Im start work at 6:30 am and go till anywhere between 2:30pm- 5:30pm and i will most likely be taking Gucci with me until he is potty trained. When would be the best times to feed him?
If you have the ability to do so it’s a good idea to feed a young puppy three times a day; breakfast, lunch and dinner. Usually at about 5-6 months I drop that to twice daily.
Sooo, how often should I be taking my puppy out to go potty?
There are times you absolutely should: 1st thing in the morning, last thing at night, after eating, an hour after eating, after playing. Outside of those times you should take the puppy out every hour or so until you see that the puppy can hold it better and then keep pushing it longer and longer as possible.
very nice dog
I know that this is about puppies, but i have a question about older dogs.
We got our dog from a rescue shelter at the age of 20 weeks or so; our dog has now been potty trained now for almost a whole year, and recently he has started to wee inside the house, almost twice a day, and drink alot more water than he used to. We have had blood tests done to see if he has diabetes or other problems, and it turns out he doesn’t. We all now want to know what is wrong with him, whether he is just being naughty, but more importantly how we can train him again effectively? We are out all day (at work and school) between 8-4, but we need him to behave. He is especially bad overnight! Do you have any suggestions for us? Thankyou!
Did they test for UTI’s or other problems like that? An increase in water intake sounds like a health problem.
If the dog is healthy, it boils down to using these 4 steps. In this case, you desperately need step #1 which is supervision; both while you are home and while you are gone. If you can do proper supervision you can get him back in shape.
Just got my little chi for about a week now,she I about 6weeks old and shes driving me crazy already..she always pees and poops every where like..I let her sleep in my room and I have tried to let her know that peeing and pooping in there is not good,buh Shea not just getting it..I take her outside to sometimes when I see her sniffing…I once had a dog who wld never pee or poop until u take it out to..buh this chi is just driving me crazy..please what do I do..hellllllppppp
Your puppy is very young. Most pups are not available until 8 weeks by law. You are expecting way too much for a 6 week old puppy. Be kind to her, remember she is a baby, she has a small bladder, and will not have that much control. Patience and supervision is really important.
I’ve never heard of a law for puppies being 8 weeks old. Regardless, the rest of your advice is sound.
I have a 8 month old dog rescued from a shelter. I work home so I always try to supervise him and every time I see him about to pee I quickly say No and grab him to the bathroom and we stay there for a while but he never pees, sometimes if I get a little distracted he tries to pee as much as he can
At first he used to poo as well but looks like little by little I have been able to house training him on the poo part by having meal schedules, so he normally poos in the morning and at night, but the peeing is just really hard, I can’t make him to pee inside our bathroom. I live in an apartment so taking him out to pee where he would probably feel more comfortable is a little hard. Is it possible to have him pee inside our bathroom at least, or there are areas in the house where the dog will just not pee at all. Looks like he has found a spot he likes close to the dinning room, but I can’t break the habit.
I forgot to mention that he behaves badly specially at night because we don’t have a crate for him yet, so he just pees a lot at night when I am not watching.
Thanks
Is it possible to have a dog just go to the bathroom in one spot in the house? In theory…yes. In practice, it almost NEVER works out. I never recommend to anyone to use potty pads or newspapers or anything like that. When you teach your dog to go to the bathroom in one part of the house you are essentially opening up the whole house for the dog to go potty in. Bad idea. As difficult as it is I would take the dog out all the time.
And to paraphrase Yoda for just a minute ‘there is no TRY with supervision.’ You’re either supervising or you aren’t. If you’ve got an unreliable dog and you are supervising 80% of the time then you’ll find it will take you exponentially longer to get the dog housebroken.
I got a rottweiler puppy 4 month age as a present , my worry is that while he become older and older whether i can control him or not. I want to know how to train him and how to keep him clever ? how to feed , what to fee also ? can he stay outside of my home ?
You need to start some training right now.
Hi we are thinking about getting a norwegian elkhound puppy it is 10 weeks old at the moment. Our only concern is we could be both out at work from about 8 until half 4 5 ish probably 4 days a week without the ability to nip home. Would he be okay home alone if we provide a radio and plenty of toys. And can he manage with 2 meals a day. We are quite an active couple so he will get a long walk morning and evening and sometimes a run with myself and at weekends we take trips out to take even longer walks
so I cannot see exercise being an issue. We are keen to get him trained from the start but we can obviously only take him out (supervise) him when we are home what do you suggest when we are not there? He could have his own space under the stairs and the kitchen possibly throughout the day but I don’t want him to think it is okay to go in the kitchen. We have researched the breed and understand it needs a good leader and we are willing to do this however I want to make sure we are doing everything we can.
Thanks
Having a puppy that age alone for that period of time is definitely a challenge. Most simply can’t ‘hold it’ for that length of time.
I recommend crate training for all dogs (under the stairs and kitchen will teach the dog to go potty in the house) and it’s definitely the rare 10 week old dog that can hold it for 8 hours. Do you have an outside area you can use for the first couple months? Any chance of getting a dog who is a bit older?
Hi Ty,
I am re-training my 7 month shih-tzu, Bear, to be housebroken. He used to use a bell to let us know he wants to potty but as you mentioned in one of your training videos, he abuses the privilege and so we would ignore it at times and he would pee inside as he never learned to hold it. So the bell is gone and he is on a leash with me at all times unless he is in his crate sleeping. He’s on day 3 and no accidents. He has been holding it for 4-6 hours at a time and seems happy and is on a food and water schedule. My question is, how long should i keep him on the leash before i start phasing it out? I don’t want to let him have freedom (in his designated area, the kitchen) too early and have him regress.
Thanks!
Good question. Unfortunately there isn’t a good answer.
The real answer is ‘as long as it takes’. Could be weeks, could be months.
What I like to look for are indicators that the dog is getting it. For example:
- THe dog goes quickly when outside because he realizes what outside is for.
- He sniffs around the house a lot less and learns to relax.
- He has the desire to stay with you and not constantly be roaming around.
- You notice that there are times that you let your guard down and he still doesn’t go potty inside.
Those are just some common indicators but you really want to let the dog tell you that he’s ‘getting it’ before you start phasing out tools.
Good luck.
I have a female mini schnauzer who I rescued a year ago. She is a very good girl but she takes forever to find a potty spot. I have her on a wheat free diet. I am wondering if the diet is making it necessary for exercise in order to poop.
All dogs should be on a wheat free diet so I wouldn’t blame that as the issue. You just have a dog who is picky about where she goes. Many dogs have that kind of personality. There are a few things that can be done:
1- Help the dog understand how fun it is to go on command. Walk the dog back and forth on a leash while giving the command to go. When she goes, praise heavily and even use treats. Many dogs will start to realize they can get to that reward faster if they go to the bathroom quicker.
2- You won’t like this but it’s an option- https://www.dogbehavioronline.com/potty-training-with-the-matchstick-trick/
We have a 4 month old rotty/ridgeback mix that we are trying to potty train. He was doing Really well for the first few weeks we had him, mostly having accidents only when we didn’t get to the door soon enough to get his leash on and get him outside. But now he seems to be getting worse. He use to sit or stand in front of the door looking back at us until we saw him, never whined or anything just stood there, and now he won’t even do that. Now he either pees on the carpet without a sound then hides in his crate, or goes right in front of the door and then hides in his crate. A soon as he gets in his crate he will whine up a storm knowing he did wrong. If he went outside, we would act like he just won a huge award and give him a treat, and if we saw him go inside, we would yell out no really loud, while picking him up and bringing him outside, and if he continued outside, we would act like he didn’t do anything wrong, and show him he’s a good boy for going outside. Am I doing something wrong???
Seems to me like the only problem is that you might not be monitoring him well enough. Try to see when he is abruptly leave the room and take him out once an or or two. If that doesnt work you might just need to be patient until he figures it out.
Hi I have a 4 month old pug puppy, I live in a 2nd floor apartment and when it is difficult to take him out he has his puppy pads available to use if im at work etc. I have a pen/crate set up so his bed is separate from the pen where he can go toilet on the pads. Lately if I take him to families houses he is perfect as he has access to the garden. But when he is home its like he is constantly choosing to go toilet on the puppy pads constantly (whereas at anyone elses house he pees a few times only) lately he has been peeing in his crate, I changed his blanket and gave him a new one that smells of me and he does the same thing he also doesn’t mind lying in the soiled blanket, its not a marking thing because he empties his bladder on the blanket. one time I was eating and I put him in his crate/pen because I don’t think its right for puppies/dogs to beg for food. as soon as I put him in there he pee’d on his blanket in his crate, even though he had access to the pads, which he had been using all day.
I am not sure what I am doing wrong as he is fine in other peoples houses and can hold it. But when he is home he goes wherever! Thing is when I am at work I notice that he hardly uses the pads just when I get home he decides to act up. What should I do?
The worst thing you could ever use for house training are puppy pads. Don’t use them. They teach a dog to be dirty and filthy.
hi i have a chihuahua and im having trouble for her to go pee outside i can be long hours outside and she will do nothing .. i give her food and water in her bowl and dont feed her untill next day because the food last all day and at night i go to sleep and in the morning i find the mess but she does not do during the day only at night when im asleep what can i do
Are you crating her?
Reading over your house training section and I am wondering what if you don’t want to train your dog to go potty outside? I have a malchi (maltese and chihuaua mix) and he is only 6 weeks of age and I am choosing to potty train him indoors due to where I live. So I have caught him making pee and poo on my carpet and I grab him up and just bring him to his designated potting area is this okay to do. I really never said anything to him I would say no bad pup and just put him on his bathroom area…is this okay to do???
Malchi Mommie
I never recommend someone train their dog to go potty indoors, including small dogs. It rarely works well and usually ends up with more and more problems.
Were you to insist on doing it, however, the way you described is how you would do it.
I have an 11 week old Doberman puppy, she is wonderful and almost housebroken we do have an issue though. Lily is our second dog and obviously submissive. I know this because she frequently partakes while playing with our older dog in submissive pee behavior.
If this was happening with people I would know how to correct it, but I am at a loss as to how to how to fix the problem when another dog is involved.
Allowing the child to see and feel the frustration of a parent not only hurts a child’s
emotional development, it’s counterproductive. This will really
make potty training fun and they will want to keep trying for the
reward. For others it might just be stubbornness and adamancy.