The thought of toilet training your young puppy may be daunting, but I hope this guide will help you and your puppy master successful toilet training.
Your breeder will start toilet/house training your puppy in their care by providing a designated toilet areas within their home, garden area or kennel. Young puppies don’t like to toilet in their sleeping area so by providing a toileting area as well as a sleeping area this helps with early toilet training.
Puppy toilet training tips:
- In the early days your puppy will toilet quite frequently due to the size of their bladder and also control, so it can seem like many trips outside, however the effort put in during this time will increase the chances of successful toilet training.
- Your puppy may be used to toileting on newspaper or puppy training pads (or both) in your breeders care, so use these tools to help you. Place the newspaper or pads on an easy to clean flooring (kitchen, utility room) and fairly close to your back door or exit to the outside toilet area. Slowly reduce the size of the inside toilet area and also place the newspaper or pads in the outside area to encourage your puppy to venture outside to toilet.
- Your puppy may need to toilet after eating, drinking and also upon waking therefore a trip to your outside area at these times may be useful.
- Owner to give lots of positive praise when your puppy toilets in the correct area as your puppy will respond to your happy tone and the positive attention.
- You may notice your puppy circling, acting restless and sniffing the floor, which may be a sign he/she is about do toilet.
Note: simple steps, consistency from the owner, lots of positive praise and cleaning up accidents well will gain successful puppy toilet training.
Accidents do happen
During the early weeks of puppy ownership accidents will happen due to a lapse in training or trips outside, new surroundings, puppy getting excited and bladder control. Always clean the accident area well to remove all scent, as your puppy will pick up this scent and think this is their new toileting area.
If accidents are becoming more frequent, this is the time to really exaggerate the high pitch happy praise when your puppy toilets in the right area. If your puppy is at the stage where you know he/she will and can toilet in the correct area then you may like to let your puppy know you are not pleased if he/she then goes and toilets inside the home instead of in the garden, this can be done by simply growling at your puppy as this is a natural way of letting your puppy know you are not pleased, or by saying a firm No. You can also growl when cleaning up accidents as this can be effective too. It is always more effective to work on the positive praise rather than the negatives but there may be times when you know your puppy would usually go outside or sit at the back door, but you feel there is a lapse in training and he/she needs to know this is not right and you are not happy, then a growl or a No may be necessary. Remember any toileting in the correct area deserves much praise and your puppy will just want to make you happy and is learning from you. It is all about knowing your puppy and learning together plus finding out what works for you.
When will my puppy be toilet trained?
All puppies of different breeds, sizes and age are all individual and will develop at their own rate, so please don’t put a timescale on your training or compare with other dogs of his/her breed. The positive note is they all get there in the end, and by possibly 4-6 months of age you will have a well toilet trained puppy.
I have known young littermates, all raised and trained in the same way to be different, as one puppy was almost toilet trained at 7.5 weeks and would sit at the back door whereas others were still happy to toilet on the inside puppy training pads provided.
If you are in anyway concerned about your puppy’s toileting behaviour either frequency or the consistency or have any concerns a phone call or trip to the vet may be necessary as some puppies do get infections and upset tummies, therefore it is always better to check if you are worried in anyway.
During the first few days in a new home and surrounding your puppy may be a little looser when toileting due to the change and being slightly unsettled, however if your puppy seems to be straining, in any pain, yelping, or if you see mucus or blood, please do take a trip to the vets as your puppy may have picked up and eaten something which has caused a tummy upset or maybe unwell. Changes in diet, too many or different treats can also effect your puppies toileting too.
I hope this guide helps and do enjoy your puppy at this young age as your training and bond is important at this time.