Is there anything more cute and cuddly than your new puppy? He is a source of hours of fun and enjoyment for you and the whole family. His fearlessness and boundless energy put smiles on everyone’s faces as you watch him explore his new world. The time spent with your new best friend are nearly perfect except for one small thing…those puddles and piles he leaves in the middle of the floor! Yeah…that kinda takes the fun out of things, but hopefully the tips and tricks we provide in this article for potty training a dog will have you enjoying your puppy again.

House training your puppy is one of the first obedience training tasks that you will teach your new pet. Potty training any dog is usually viewed as an unpleasant task, and dog training puppies is thought of even less. It does not need to be difficult however, if you know what you are doing. Follow these tips to make house breaking your new best friend less of a challenge:

1. As a dog trainer you need to show patience and consistency with your animal. House breaking a dog can take months, and potty training a puppy even longer.

2. Your dog is not bad simply because it is not house trained. Dog training requires the use of praise and rewards for the wanted behavior, never punish your dog when he has an accident in the house.

3. House puppy training can begin as early as 3 weeks. Remember, potty training a dog is very similar to potty training babies and will not happen overnight, and “little surprises” should be expected until at least 12 weeks of age.

4. Puppies have small bladders and will not “hold it” for more than an hour or two. It is advisable to take the puppy outside to urinate once an hour or you can expect problems.

Like any other type of behavior training such as trying to stop your dog from barking, the basics of house training require a series of steps to teach your dog the information it needs to realize what is expected of him. As dog trainers, it is the owners responsibility to provide this information at the time and in a manner that is appropriate. The use of praise and rewards requires that your dog performs the desired behavior so that you can reward him. This is easy when potty training a puppy because they will want out once an hour, but for any age this is the dog trainers fist opportunity to reward the behavior of wanting to go outside.

Here are few more tips and tricks for potty training a puppy

1. Pay attention to the body language and behavior of you dog. They will indicate when it is time to go outside, and will often develop a routine perhaps needing to go after eating or at specific times during the day.

2. Dog training involves the use of commands to train your pet what are expected behaviors. Potty training a dog is no different, and you should have a command that you use to house train them. “POTTY” is a good command and is not easily confused with other commands, when your dog exhibits the desired action use the command so that they begin to associate this command with the behavior.

3. After your dog completes his business reward him and give him praise. This step is basic dog training 101 but will go a long ways in house training your dog.

Remember, it takes time potty training a dog so be patient. There will likely be “accidents”, realize this and accept it as part of the process, and do not every punish him for these accidents. Obviously if you catch you dog in the act you can use this as an opportunity to change behavior, but trying this after the fact will only confuse your dog. Your dog wants to please, so work with them over a period of time and they will understand what it is you want and will change their behavior. Don’t expect to simply throw some paper down on the floor and expect them to go to the bathroom there…it won’t happen.

Check out our article on crate training and training with bells.