Potty Training your Pup!

If you have a new pup, then you know that accidents happen – often. Chances are that you will frequently step on your pup’s pee, find a little smelly gift in the bedroom, and catch him emptying his bladder only a few minutes after he just drank. This is every bit normal, and it’s all part of your puppy experience. With puppy potty training, patience is key.

Potty training isn’t easy

Your puppy is not unlike a baby and will require to go potty very often. A puppy can’t hold his pee for longer than 30 minutes, and they don’t have full control of their bladder until they are at least half a year old, if not older.

Potty training isn’t easy, so we’re divulging a couple of secrets behind potty training your new pup, to make things that little bit easier:

1. Keep Track of your Pup’s Bathroom Habits

When you first start potty training, it’s a good idea to keep track of when your puppy drinks water.  After he has drunk, let 20 to 30 minutes pass, and then take him out to go potty.

2. Potty Training Positive Reinforcement

As with all types of training, positive reinforcement is an important part of your pup’s potty training. When he does go potty outside, reward him with enthusiasm by petting him and saying ‘good potty’. This will help your pup understand that he is doing something positive and over time will potty outside all by himself.

3. Punishment

If you find pee or poo on the floor, don’t punish your dog by forcing his nose into it and telling him off. This is an old method that was believed to make the dog understand that what they did is wrong. What actually happens is that you are making your dog believe that you want him to eat his poo. What you should do when you find an unwanted surprise is point at it and say ‘bad potty’. Again, such reinforcement over time will help your pup understand where he can and cannot go potty.

4. Puppy Nappies

Just like when using them with kids, nappies can come in very useful or can even be lifesavers.  But if you intend on using nappies, be careful. They are convenient and it’s easy to train your puppy to potty on them, but what tends to happen is that your dog will hold his pee when out and desperately wait to get home to pee on his nappies.  This is not how you want your pup to perceive the nappies. Similar to when potty training a child, you want to rely on nappies for overnight, or for when you leave the puppy unattended – but don’t allow your dog to believe that he should only go potty on the nappies! Make sure to reward and praise him every time he goes potty outside too, to avoid dependency on nappies.

5. Be Patient when Potty Training!

Potty training takes time. It’s only natural for your pup to need to go potty. We all do! Remember to be consistent with both positive and negative reinforcements to help your pup learn.  And although it takes some work, when your pup is finally potty trained, you’ll be glad not to find any unexpected surprises anymore.

Now that your pup has been potty trained, make sure you take care of his well being too.  Take out a pet insurance policy from Laferla and protect the fluffiest member of the family!

If you have any questions on potty training your pup or wish to start training your puppy in general, get in touch with @Simbaandgarfield on Facebook or Instagram – they offer a puppy program to help you better understand and train your puppy!