By When you get a puppy, it is all rainbows and unicorns and everything becomes vibrant and fun. But what people don’t realise, especially families that have never had a pet before is that pets poop and pee, just like us humans. Knowing how to potty train a puppy is as crucial as potty training babies. But a lot of people struggle with this on a regular basis and today I will share with you my personal experience of how I potty trained my pooping monster in less than a month.
But there are a couple of things that we need to keep in mind before proceeding with the training. It is extremely important to not to break this routine. You slack once and the dog gets the wrong signal and you go back to square one. It is a simple but somewhat laborious procedure. You will have to be patient for some time and ardently follow the rules. It is also important to not be aggressive and shout at them.
Prologue:
When I got my dog, he was around two and a half months old. On the very second day itself, he fell sick and was diagnosed with Parvovirus. For those who don’t know, puppies who get this virus go through severe bloody diarrhoea, vomiting, weakness, loss of appetite and a high fever. My poor dog had to go through this from the second day he came in my life. He would puke and poop all the time so we had to put him on antibiotics and ORS-Glucose supplements. This is a highly contagious disease in dogs which is why the doctor advised that we keep him home for at least 15 days. Due to this, his potty training got delayed by two months as he took almost a month to recuperate and gain strength. Wiping his loose poop and pee off the floor was a task. But we were more than glad he survived. But due to this, it became even more difficult to potty train him.
Steps on How to Potty Train a Puppy:
Step 1: Confining him to a smaller area
You can set up a pen area or a confined room for him so that he doesn’t roam around in the entire house. Even if he does, you need to keep an eye on him. The wider space the bigger a chance to pee and poop when no one is looking. This way, you can keep his peeing and pooping to a restricted area in the beginning.
Step 2: Understanding the pattern and planning a schedule
The most important thing is to set a definite schedule. Puppies poop and pee after every meal or nap and a lot of playing also enables the same thing.
Puppies tend to eat intermittently and take a lot of naps as well. The process goes like this: They wake up in the morning, urinate, have a snack, poop, play. The also pee and poop after the exciting playtime break sometimes. So notice the pattern and that will help you tremendously.
Step 3: Take turns in taking the dog down
It is important to form a schedule to take them down every 45 minutes. The easiest predictions are after a nap. The dog will surely poop and pee at such times. Dogs poop and pee as per the scent of their urine and faeces. In the beginning, it will be extremely difficult for them to do it outside because all such scents are in the house. This is where the pressure comes in. After the nap, the urge to pee and poop is vital which is why taking them outside at the right time is key. Once they do it at a spot, it becomes easy for them to it again at the same spot. Once you initiate that pattern, things become easy.
Step 4: Get rid of the scent
It is extremely important to get rid of the scent from the house as this will help him pee and poop outside. Knowing how to potty train a puppy is important and it is incomplete without this step. The moment you feel like he is sniffing your house after naps, meals or playtime, take him down. Eliminate the scent with strong and fragrant disinfectant cleaners. Once this scent is eliminated completely, he will stop doing it at home.
Step 5: Be patient and stick around till they do it
Your dog has a way of doing it. Every dog gives a sign that he is about to do it. In my dog’s case, he would go round and round in circles before pooping. This gave me a sign and I knew that I had to stick around outside so that he could come to this stage. So it is important that you be outside with him for a longer period of time and come back home only when he is done with both the tasks. This way, he knows that he will only go home when he is done.
Step 6: Reduce the times of these rounds as he grows.
The number of times they pee and poop reduces as they grow old and gradually their body starts maintaining bladder control. Slowly but surely, your puppy will grow and the number of detours will decrease. Till the age of six to seven months, he will reach the stage of bladder control because his meals will not be frequent and that will set a pattern for him.
We are sure that if you follow these steps, you will surely know how to potty train a puppy effectively.
While you potty train your puppy, do go through our blog about bio-degradable dog poop bags that will change your life drastically.
If you like this blogpost then you will surely like our post on 5 simple commands on effective dog training.
