Puppy Potty Training - Facts and Myths.
Puppy potty training is usually the first dog training challenge you must face.
Puppy potty training, dog house training, or puppy house breaking, whatever you choose to call it, it is the bane of most new dog owners.
Puppy potty training is usually the first dog training challenge you must face. There are many tutorials out there on how to potty train your dog, and why it is a simple and easy task.
The fact though is that puppy potty training requires time, patience, and consistency. How simple or difficult it is, will depend on your dog’s temperament, and your own temperament.
Some dog breeds, such as the Shiba Inu, are naturally clean, and are relatively easier to potty train. My Shiba Inu was potty trained at 10 weeks old. He was pretty much potty trained when we got him.
Shiba Inu Sephy does not even like to go potty in our backyard; rather, he waits until we go for a dog walk. In contrast, my Siberian Husky was more difficult to potty train because she did not mind frolicking close to her own waste products. It took a few months to potty train her.
Some dog breeds, such as the Shiba Inu, are naturally clean, and are relatively easier to potty train.
Puppy potty training also depends on your own temperament. If you are naturally calm, consistent, and patient, dog potty training will seem relatively easy.
Whatever the case, always remember that you can successfully potty train a physically healthy dog, at whatever age, no matter the history.
And that is a puppy potty training fact.
You can successfully potty train a physically healthy dog, at whatever age, no matter the history.
Puppy Potty Training 1
Set Up a Schedule
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Puppy potty training begins by setting up a schedule. Initially, you want to bring your dog out very often so that you reduce the chances of him making mistakes inside the house.
When my Siberian Husky puppy was 8 weeks old I took her out about once every hour (if she was awake), and after every 10-15 minutes of play.
Don’t give your puppy any water 2-3 hours before sleep time and take him out right before you crate him for the night. If you need to treat him during that time, only use moist dog treats such as boiled chicken, so that he does not get thirsty after eating.
Fact: Dogs learn through a process called conditioning. They repeat behaviors that get them good results and stop behaviors that get them bad results.
The more you reward your puppy for pottying outside, the more he will potty outside. When your puppy starts pottying outside, mark that behavior (Yes). Once your puppy finishes pottying, treat him and give him some good attention and affection. Afterwards, have some dog play time with him or walk him briefly, before going back to the house.
The more your puppy practices pottying inside on his own, the more he will just potty inside because it is convenient and nobody is teaching him that it is inappropriate behavior.
What you want to do is not only maximize the number of successes, but also minimize the number of mistakes.
Puppy Potty Training 1 - Set Up a Schedule.
Puppy Potty Training - Siberian Husky Shania pottying outside.
Puppy Potty Training - The more you reward your dog for pottying outside, the more he will potty outside.
Myth: My dog cannot be potty trained because his breed is a stubborn breed, he is too stupid, he is too dominant, he doesn’t listen to me, he is too old, etc.
Any physically healthy dog can be potty trained. The key to potty training is patience and consistency. Always be around to supervise your dog when he is inside. If you do not have a time to supervise, then crate him or put him in a long term enclosure.
Myth: Screaming and hitting the dog will show him that I am boss and make him stop pottying inside the house.
Screaming and hitting your dog does not work well, and usually makes things worse. How well do you learn when somebody is screaming at you, or hitting you? It is the same way for your dog.
The fastest way to potty train your dog, is to remain calm, and consistently let him know that pottying inside is inappropriate (Ack, ack), and pottying outside is appropriate (Yes).
Puppy Potty Training 2
Prevent Potty Mistakes
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There are three ways to prevent mistakes inside:
a) Be there to supervise.
When your puppy shows signs that he has to go potty, take him outside right away. If you do not catch it on time and he goes potty inside the house, interrupt his potty, non-mark him (Ack, ack), and take him outside.
Myth: I can potty train my dog by rubbing his nose in it after the fact. He always looks sheepish and puts his head down when I shout at him afterwards. He knows he has done something wrong.
Dogs will only learn when you catch them in the act.
If you are not around and your dog makes a mistake, then you have missed a learning opportunity. All you can do is clean up the mess and move on. It is important to prevent mistakes by always supervising your dog, and using a crate or long-term enclosure when you are not around, or too busy to supervise.
Note that your dog may look sheepish when you shout at him after the fact. This is because he knows that you are upset and he is using submissive gestures (e.g. putting his head down) to try and appease you.
Your dog does not know what particular event has caused your anger, but just that you are angry. Shouting and rubbing your dog’s nose in his own waste does not teach him anything. All it does is confuse your dog, and cause him to get stressed and fearful. This could make things worse by causing your dog to do submissive urination.
Dog Potty Training 2 - Prevent Potty Mistakes. Be there to supervise your dog or puppy.
Puppy Potty Training - Crate train your dog.
b) Crate train your dog.
Dogs don’t generally like to soil where they sleep. Keeping your puppy in a crate will discourage him from pottying because he does not want to soil his sleeping area.
If you are concerned about putting your dog in a crate, here is what the Humane Society of the United States and the American Dog Trainer’s Network have to say about crate training
Myth: A crate will magically keep my dog from pottying for any period of time.
The crate is not some magical cure. A crate discourages a dog from pottying, but if a dog has to go, he has to go.
Keeping a puppy for too long in a crate, will force him to potty in the crate, possibly traumatize him, and greatly set back your puppy potty training.
As a general rule, the longest time you should keep your puppy in a crate, during the day, is (age of dog in months + 1) hours.
An 8 week old puppy can be kept a maximum of (2 month old + 1) = 3 hours in a crate.
Note that this is just a general guideline for the maximum crate time. Most puppies need to go outside more frequent than that. Take your puppy outside as soon as he wakes up, and right after any heavy activity.
At night, I crate my dogs in my bedroom. Keeping your dogs with you in the bedroom will help with the bonding process and will show them that they are part of the pack.
When puppies are really young, they may not be able to hold their bladder throughout the night. It may be necessary to make an extra trip outside during the night or really early in the morning.
Once they get a bit older though, this will no longer be necessary.
Dog Potty Training - Shiba Inu Sephy doing well with crate training.
Puppy Potty Training - If you will be gone for a long time put your puppy in a long-term enclosure.
c) Put Your Dog in a Long-Term Enclosure.
If you will be gone for a long time put your puppy in a long-term enclosure. This can be a secure puppy pen or a secure and safe room (e.g. kitchen).
Make sure there is nothing dangerous in the enclosure that your puppy can destroy and swallow. Put bedding, a water bowl, some puppy pads, safe chew toys and safe food toys in the enclosure. Put the pads in a corner as far away from the bedding as possible.
Note that instead of using puppy pads you can also consider using the Pet-a-Potty system. Just using sod or grass does not work well because of drainage issues. The sod gets smelly very quickly because there isn’t anywhere for the pee to go.
When I tried using sod, I had to change it every other day, or my puppy refused to go onto it. This ended up being a lot more work than just using puppy pads.
Myth: You can’t train your dog to go potty outside as well as go potty on pads. He will get confused and not know what to do.
Yes, it is true that if you can be around most of the time to supervise, it is better not to let your dog potty in the house at all.
However, if you are going to be away for long periods of time, if your dog has separation anxiety issues (which may cause him to need to go potty when you leave), or if there are other medical issues (surgery) that make frequent trips outside unfeasible, then it is perfectly fine to train your dog to both go potty on pads as well as go potty outside.
Reward your puppy for going on his pads, and reward your puppy a lot more for going outside.
Puppy Potty Training - Reward your dog for going on his pads, and reward your dog a lot more for going outside.
Puppy Potty Training 3
Clean Away Mistakes Properly
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During the puppy potty training process, there will be some mistakes. When that happens, calmly non-mark your puppy (Ack, ack), and take him outside.
Praise and reward him if he continues with his potty once you are outside.
Then leave your puppy outside, come in, and clean up the mess.
Use a cleaner that is made especially for pets. A popular pet odor cleaner is Nature’s Miracle.
Do not use ammonia based cleaners as the ammonia odor, which resembles urine, may attract your dog to urinate in the area.
Puppy Potty Training - Leave your dog outside, come in, and clean up the mess.
Puppy Potty Training 4
Make Sure the Mistakes are Potty Mistakes.
Not all indoor urination is a result of potty training mistakes. Other reasons for indoor urination include:
- Submissive or excitement urination.
- Medical issues, e.g. urinary tract infection.
- Marking objects or territory.
- Stress or anxiety as a result of separation anxiety or other behavioral issues.
Puppy Potty Training 4 - Make Sure the Mistakes are Potty Mistakes.
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Hi Nicole,
Glad to hear that things are going so well.
LOL – such a Shiba move. Shibas are great at finding out what annoys their owners most and then using that as a weapon.
My Shiba did that with leash-biting on me, and then he switched to Shiba screaming on the dog walker. The thing that helped most for Sephy is to show him that when he did that – not only did he not get what he wanted in the first place (e.g. getting to the other dog, going somewhere he couldn’t) but he also lost something else that he valued. In his case, I quickly ended the walk and marched straight home. He stopped his leash-biting thing soon after
I think it is a great idea to teach her to go into the crate herself. Another thing that may help is to do crate training exercises when you are home and don’t have to leave. For example, put her in the crate for a very short time, with a really awesome food toy to work on. Then open the door after a very short while – before she even thinks about peeing. Repeat several times a day. Then you can slowly lengthen the time that she stays in the crate.
This will teach her that going into the crate is a good and positive thing, and does not necessarily mean staying home alone.
well she has been doing great with not pottying in the house but still no luck on the crate. We put her in it at night and when we go to work or go out. We cant leave her loose because she chews on EVERYTHING.
We keep her out in the garage because when we had her in the living room it made the house smell really bad. We have tried the sent removing spray and it didnt seem to phase her.
Its been a while since we have noticed her pee as soon as we put her in and she goes in on her own now. We make sure to have her go potty before we put her in and during the day she is in it for about 4 hours at a time. we dont take her out at night anymore because even when we did she still went in the crate. I think we might try it again and see if it works better now. I think we are going to try and have her in the room with us at night for a week and see if that helps or not.
She really is doing great at in the house. she cries at the door now andwe have learned all her signs. I think we have had only 1 accident and i think it was more to be a brat. I wouldnt share my hot dog with her and i think it made her mad cause she went behind the couch i was sitting on and peed and came right back layed down and gave me a take that look.
I just hope we can get the kennel down soon. We have to bathe her constantly andf i know its not good for her skin.