How do you potty train a puppy?

Question

Originally we had bought 2 puppies, and had to give one of them away cause training both of them at once was just impossible. The puppy that we have now was doing very good at going on some puppy pads that we were told to try, cause everything else just wasn't working. And on top of that the weather outside is absolutely freezing, so we don't want to take her outside when it is often not even 10 degrees and make her sit until she pees. But we seem to be having a problem now that we recently gave the other puppy away...she will only go on the puppy pad sometimes, whereas before she was doing very good. Since it is so cold outside we have decided to train her to go on her puppy pad until she is a little bit older and can endure the cold weather a little bit more. Is this a bad way of training her? And why is it that all of a sudden she has to be almost re-trained after we gave the other puppy away? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

This worked for me. First of all, you have to constantly watch the puppy and if you see him starting to pee, put him on the pad or take him outside (whichever way you want to train him). They usually have to pee right after eating, playing, or napping. When you can't supervise, keep the area you have him in lined with the pads. Each day, remove one of the pads that is not soiled (they will usually choose a spot they want to use). After a few weeks, you should be down to just two or three pads. Keep removing one until you are down to only one pad. I did this with my little dogs and they will actually search out the pads when they have to pee. I keep one in the living room behind the couch and one in the computer room.
As far as having to re-train your puppy after giving the other one away, she may have been following the lead of the other puppy and now that he's gone, she's confused. Keep trying the pads - it does work.

Answer 2

Your in luck I am a certified dog trainer here is what to do:

It is the owner’s responsibility to be sure the puppy eliminates in the correct area. So whenever the puppy is in the house he should be on a leash and in the owner’s presence to avoid accidents. Management of this behavior cannot be overemphasized. It is probably the single most important component.

It is futile and counter productive to spank a puppy or rub his nose in an accident. This will typically cause the puppy to be hesitant in eliminating in front of you. This makes praising the puppy for going in the right spot impossible because he is afraid to go in your presence. In addition, many puppies will often learn to just sneak off into an out of the way place to avoid your detection.


If an accident does occur the owner should make an inconspicuous noise to startle the puppy, without frightening him, and then immediately take him to his potty spot. The noise is intended to interrupt him before he finishes going potty. When he resumes eliminating in the correct area, praise and reward him for the proper behavior. If accidents are occurring in the house the owner needs to supervise the puppy more closely or it will take a very long time to successfully housetrain him.

Creating daily housetraining routines for a puppy in training will go a long way in creating consistency in the behavior. For example, feeding the puppy at the same time every day, taking the puppy potty through the same door every day, and going to the same spot every time are all good examples.

It is important to always clean up any "accidents" with an odor neutralizing product, such as Nature’s Miracle. Soap and/or other cleaning products will not get rid of the odor and that increases the chance that the dog will relieve him/herself in the same area again.

Whether you are housebreaking a puppy or an adult dog that has never been housebroken, take the puppy or dog out immediately after each of the following events: waking up, getting up from resting, drinking water, eating, playing, training and actively sniffing.

Once the puppy has been "accident free" on your housebreaking schedule, you must teach the puppy to hold his bladder a little past the time he may need to go. While crate training helps develop his ability to hold his bladder, he must also learn to do that even when he is loose in the house. By tying him close to you or to a table leg, at or near the time he is normally scheduled to be taken out, he will be forced to "hold it" for a bit longer. You can also watch the puppy closely when he is in the same room with you and when he starts to sniff; you distract him for a few moments by tossing a toy before taking him out.

Before teaching the puppy to hold his bladder, the puppy should be accident free for a minimum of 14 days in a row. Every ‘mistake’ the puppy makes sets the owner back 3 days. For example, if a puppy has been accident free for 8 days and then makes a mistake on the 9th day, the owner must begin counting from the 5th day.




Good Luck!

Answer 3

I just house trained a litter of 8 Welsh Corgi pups. Started them at 6 weeks old and they were done by 8 weeks old. I do this with every one of my litters. The trick is to crate train the pup. The size of the crate will depend on the breed of dog. All you want from the crate is for the pup to be able to go in, turn around, and lay down. This is the pups den. No food or water will be given in the crate, toys are great or 1 treat to get the pup used to getting in it. Night time is the easiest time to start this as you won't be getting up every few hours to let the pup outside.

Start off by NOT letting the pup have anything to eat or drink after 7pm. Let the pup outside to "go" for the last time of the day between 9:30-10:00. Tell the pup to "Hurry Up". Say this every time it goes out to "go". Then the pup will sleep inside the crate all night, expect some crying the first few nights. You have to be very consistant with this. The pup will have to "go" by about 6:30am so get it outside. Use the same door every time and you can say, "Outside". Then say, "Hurry Up" and when the pup "goes" tell it how good it is in a baby voice.

A note: when a puppy eats, it will usually need to "go" within 5 to 10 minutes after that. Peeing is another thing but you can regulate that by not letting the water dish be available at all times. For the most part a pup will not "go" where it eats or sleeps, they want to be clean. If the pup does "go" in the crate it will only happen one time. Make sure you clean the crate out well if it does.

Your pup is upset at having the other puppy not there.

Answer 4

Don't use the puppy pads.. I know how you feel.. I got a toy pom last year in the middle of winter and I felt terrible making her go outside to go to the bathroom, but if your dog is already trained.. then he knows what to do out there to get back inside.. if you start using puppy pads now your going to confuse him. Just keep letting him outside. He is a dog... he isn't going to die outside because of the cold. He'll be okay :)

Answer 5

I would keep her trained to use the pad. In warmer weather put the pad outside. If he/she not using the pad, then would scolled the dog and put him/or her on the pad. Only use the "NO" word, put him/her nose in it, and put the puppy on the pad. I trained my black lab. As she grew I always used time out, and never hit her.

Answer 6

no way, don't stop training her now or eles she won't know what to do. Keep letting her train outside, if you think its too cold for her, get her some doggy sweaters and shoes/hats etc to keep her warm but I think she will be okay.

Answer 7

Please visit my Yahoo 360 blog. you will be able to find all kinds of training advbice. Housetraining included. It is simply to long and detailed to post it on here....

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GW08KFwlfqh0zFSXpt9lAMY4UroUjrwkjDIO?p=13