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Housetrain your Puppy

Uh oh!

Now that you have brought your new puppy home…. how do you keep it from making a mess in your house??

It is tempting to get mad. You want to yell at your puppy, throw a fit, rub his or her nose in it, and swat his little behind with a newspaper. However, you should not do any of these things. Ignore the puppy and clean up the mess. The puppy will not connect the punishment or negative behavior with the mess he or she made - especially if it did not JUST recently happen. Clean up the mess and neutralize the odors as best as possible.

If you see the puppy starting to squat down to urinate or go potty on your floor, what should you do???

Don’t panic and don’t freak out on the puppy. Get his or her attention and get him or her to notice you. Get the dog outside as quickly as possible so that he or she will be able to make it outside instead of in your house. Once he/she has gone potty outside, praise him/her for doing a good job!

How can you avoid having your puppy “go” in the house?

Keep in mind that puppies are most likely to need to use the restroom first thing in the morning every day. They will also need to go potty every night before bedtime. They will need to go after playing before eating and after eating, before playing. It will become less frequent as the puppy ages, but consider that your puppy has a little bladder and may need to go fairly frequently.

Puppies will often rarely go potty in places where they have to sleep. If the puppy has a designated create or bin in which he/she sleeps, it is unlikely that the puppy will “go” in there as long as he/she gets regular trips outside to use the restroom.

A puppy of about 2 months old can generally hold his or her bladder in for about 3 hours and a puppy of about 5 months can hold it for about six hours so keep this in mind with your puppy.

Don’t forget to praise!!! When the puppy goes potty in the places and times where he/she is supposed to, reward him/her! Give him/her a treat, play a game, and talk in a positive manner. This helps to reinforce your desires on the puppy so that he/she will want to earn your praise by doing the right thing.