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The Puppy Help Centre
House Training
House training puppies shouldn't be stressful, especially if you have a plan to follow that can ease your worries. In this unit we will talk about expectations and teaching your puppy where the bathroom is.
"By 6 months of age, your puppy should be fully housetrained".
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Creating a Routine
Creating a routine can help you better understand when your puppy needs to potty. When you begin to understand your puppy's potty routine, you are more likely to take them outside at the appropriate times. Typically a puppy can hold their bladder 1 hour for every month of age. However, we can typically teach them to gain control over their bladder by creating a routine around water and food intake and slowly decrease time between potty breaks.
when does your puppy need to potty
After a nap
The moment a puppy wakes up in the morning or from a cat nap, they need to be taken outside to potty.
After they play
After supervised play time, training or free time, your puppy will need to be taken outside to potty.
After they eat or drink
Puppies typically need to use the washroom 5-30 minutes after eating or drinking. Smaller breed dogs may pee more frequently than larger breeds.
Just because
Sometimes they just gotta go! It is important that you pay attention to your puppy's behaviour when they are loose. If they start to smell the ground slowly, as if to look for a pee spot, immediately bring them outside.
Always praise and reward your puppy for going to the bathroom outside. Do not punish your puppy if they have an accident in the house. After all, the mistake is yours for not supervising them. Make sure you clean the indoor accident with an odour cleaning product. Most pet stores sell cleaner specifically for urine stain and odour remover.
Always take your puppy out on leash to the same location to do their business. If your puppy is too distracted, simply remain stationary and wait. Once they relieve themselves, verbally praise and reward them. If your puppy refuses to go to the washroom, bring them back indoors and place them in their crate. Wait for 5-10 minutes and take them outside again. Repeat until your puppy has done their business!
Supervision
The key to successfully potty training your puppy is not allowing them the opportunity to have accidents indoors. Puppies need to be supervised at all times when they are loose. If you are not able to supervise them, they should be crated or in an exercise pen. I would recommend reading our unit on Sleeping and Confinement in order to get a better understanding of supervising using confinement.
