Potty Training In a Positive Way

There are lots of ways to potty train a puppy.  And yes it's possible to do completely Force Free!  This means that you don't punish the puppy for accidents and you reinforce going potty in acceptable places.

The first step in this is management!  Pup is under constant supervision inside the house, or in a safe place such as a crate or x-pen when they can't be supervised. 

There is a great write up about the management I used with Belle as a puppy in this Yooper Paws Blog: https://www.yooperpaws.com/2024/02/making-new-friends.html

Pup is also on a schedule including times you give food & water as well as frequent trips outside.  Keeping food on a schedule helps you to figure out how soon the pup will poop after eating.  Limiting water comes with risks, so you have to do it very carefully.  I always have water available, but if it's nearing nap time or a longer time to settle in the crate, I only have a small amount of water in their bowl.  If they are just waking up, it's play time or meal time, I'll put more water in the bowl.  The basic idea is to help pup learn to control their bladder by drinking more when frequent potty trips are available.  Some pups will drink every drop of water in their bowl as soon as you fill it up.  If that's your pup, get creative at sneaking water into their bowl so they don't immediately drink it every time you fill it up.  Add water when the pup is distracted playing, chewing on a toy, eating a meal or treat, etc.

The next step is putting the act of going potty in appropriate places with a cue and pairing it with positive reinforcement.  Decide which word you will use as a cue. People use all kinds of cues for potty on command.  It's important to use something comfortable for you to use in public places.  I use Go Potty.  But I've heard others use cues such as bathroom, business, weewee. The cue word doesn't matter as long as it works for you.  You can use the same word for both poop & pee or use different words.  Just only teach 1 word at a time.

Wait until they are actively peeing outside to give the cue you want to use, then wait till they are done to present a treat.  Then slowly back it up.  Give cue as soon as they begin to pee.  Give cue as they start to squat but before they pee.  Then give cue when they stop to sniff just seconds before they would start....and keep going until you can put them in the grass, give the cue and they sniff to choose their spot quickly after hearing the cue.  It takes a few weeks to a month all depending on how quickly they move backwards through the baby steps.

And if your pup will be in public places often, you have to start at the beginning stages of waiting for them to start peeing in places other than their yard.  Service Dogs need to be able to do their job on a variety of surfaces as well; grass, dirt, woodchips, rocks, etc.

After your puppy has been home for a few days, you should begin to get a sense of their routine.

• Do they need to potty as soon as they wake up? Or do they wait 10-15 minutes?

• Do they need to potty as soon as they eat? Or roughly an hour later?

• Do they need to potty during a training session or play time? (Hint: if they disengage from the game you are playing, they need to pee!)

Track your puppy's potty habits for about a week, taking them out every 20 min if they are awake. Then as you get better at reading their signals you can start to adjust to a schedule that seems more natural to you. I don't walk a puppy up to go out to pee, but if they have slept a really long time I'm going to rush to get them out the door the moment they stir. If they were only sleeping 10 min and wake up, moving in their crate, I'm likely to give it a few minutes to see if they settle back down.

Some people swear by teaching a pup to use a pee pad in the house. While I've never been a fan of this, there are situations where an indoor potty area can be helpful. If you live in an apartment and can't safely take your puppy out due to other dogs or have a really long time to reach an outside door, you may benefit from a potty station. When Belle was just a pup, she was using potty pads the day she came home. I didn't want to use them but she was so small and it was winter with negative temps & she hated the outdoors at first. I bought a raised potty station with artificial grass to at least mimic going outside and she loved it. This came in really handy when I fell and hurt my back in January and could barely walk for a month. Once spring hit the potty station went away and I taught Belle how to use a doorbell button with a nose target to ask to go outside.

You can see the doorbell video here: https://youtu.be/J6MK7SI28NM

Don't let your puppy sneak off to potty or they will form a habit that is hard to break!

If you are struggling with potty training, reach out to us so that we can help you find a solution sooner rather than later.