Potty Training Dogs: the Three Key Elements of Toilet Training Your Best Friend

Having a dog at home can bring joy to the family but it can bring multitudes of problems as well. The responsibility of owning a dog does not end in feeding it daily and giving it shelter. Just like parenting, potty training dogs is an essential accountability of the owner.

If you do not potty train your dog soon, you will become frustrated at the things it does like peeing and pooping just about everywhere.

Here we have a basic potty training guide that will take you each step of the way until your dog is completely toilet trained. There are three key elements during potty training and these are: confinement, timing, and training.

Confinement

Potty training problems occur when it is not done right. Since dogs do not want to eliminate in the same place where they live, you need to put your dog in a crate or in a cage. The cage should be spacious enough for the dog to turn around, stand up, and lie down.

However, it should not be so big to encourage the dog to eliminate on one end and then sleep on the other. If the dog wants to eliminate, it will start to become restless and will cry for your attention. This should be your signal that you need to take it out for a walk.

Timing

The second step in our potty training guide is timing. If you cannot be with your dog most of the time, you will have potty training problems because it is important that you are present when the dog feels the need to eliminate. The rule of thumb is to anticipate when the dog is about to go.

As mentioned earlier, the dog will make sounds of distress in its crate when it has to pee or poop. If you are not around, no one will hear it and it will end up soiling its cage.

To help you identify how many hours you can be away from the cage when potty training dogs, you just need to know how many months old the dog is.

For example, a 4-month old dog may be left in the crate for four hours without potty break. Dogs at six months can stay in the crate for six hours without soiling. Dogs of eight months can have eight hours or more.

Watch out for signs of the need to eliminate. There are several actions which are good indicators of proper timing. If the puppy abruptly stopped playing eating, or running around, this is a sign that it is ready to go.

As you spend more time with our dog, you will also be familiarized with a certain look on its face that will tell you that it needs to go.

Training

The next important element when potty training dogs is training. This involves verbal commands and showing signs of displeasure and acceptance.

Once the dog is ready to go, take it to a place where it is acceptable to eliminate. As it eliminates, praise it heartily and always say he is a good dog. The voice should be upbeat and jolly.

In case you saw dog poop on the floor but you never caught the dog in the act, do not make the mistake of dragging the dog and rubbing its nose on the poop. This is not the right approach to potty training dogs. If you do this, your dog will only associate the punishment with the previous activity it was doing before you dragged it to the poop.

When you punish or yell at your dog to show displeasure, make sure that you caught it in the act of eliminating at the wrong place. Express displeasure in a low voice and tell it to go outside.

For further information on Potty Training, we suggest you check out the highly recommended Potty Training eBook and audio package today!