More puppy potty training tips

Crate training can be an efficient and effective way to house train a dog. Dogs do not like to soil their resting/sleeping quarters if given adequate opportunity to eliminate elsewhere. Temporarily confining your dog to a small area will keep them from eliminating. Thus, the CRATE or closely confined area is the key to housebreaking your puppy.

If your dog does not eliminate while she is confined, then she will need to eliminate when she is released, i.e., she eliminates when you are present to reward and praise her. So the whole idea is to let her out, take her potty, then praise her!

Be sure to understand the difference between temporarily confining your dog to a crate and long term confinement when you are not home. The major purpose of confinement when your are not home is to restrict mistakes to a small protected area. IF YOUR PUPPY CAN NOT "HOLD" HER BLADDER  for the length of time you will be away at work, then do NOT put the puppy in a crate. Instead, confine the puppy in a room  or smaller area and use papers on the floor until the time arrives when the puppy has become used to being in the crate for longer and longer periods of time. Short term confinement to a crate is intended to inhibit your dog from eliminating when confined, so that she will want to eliminate when released from confinement and taken outside. Crate training also helps teach your dog to have bladder and bowel control. Instead of going whenever she feels like it, she learns to hold it and go at convenient scheduled times. Yes, you can put the dog in the crate at night during the night,  and even for SHORTER periods of time during the day when you are away at work or are not home. However, leaving the dog in the crate when the dog is too young (earlier than 8 weeks) for an extended period of time   can lead to real problems if the puppy can not control her bladder for a period of time beyond four hours. 

Your dog should only be confined to a crate when you are at home if possible.  Except at night, give your dog an opportunity to relieve herself every two to three hours for older pups (14-15 weeks old, and every  two hours for younger pups (8-12 weeks old) . Each time you let her out, put her on leash and immediately take her outside. Once outside, give her about three to five minutes to produce. Talk to her and use words that will always mean the same thing: "go potty" or "hurry up" are good words to cue the dog.  When she performs, give a treat! either verbal praise or a cookie. (it also helps if you take her to the SAME place or same area of the yard each time, and definitely helps if you take the puppy on a leash, because then from the very beginning you will have a dog who will learn to go "on command". If she does not eliminate within the allotted time period, simply return her to her crate. If she does perform, then immediately reward her with praise, food treats, affection, play, an extended walk and permission to run around and play in your house for a couple of hours. For very young pups, after an hour or so, take her to her toilet area again. You can allow her a play time in the house AFTER she has eliminated, but watch her closely, if she begins to "sniff around" take her outdoors again. Every time she appears sleepy, put her in the crate for a nap, then let her out immediately she wakes up, and leash her, and take her outside to potty.

The new book for training show dogs is an excellent resource for teaching all the "whys and wherefores" of housebreaking and teaching a dog to eliminate in strange places, as well as teaching new owners a lot of other tricks and tips for training new puppies. I highly recommend this book.

This new e-book (yes, all of it....DOWNLOADABLE!) is a GREAT RESOUCE for learning how to potty train your puppy quickly and without pain and  with POSITIVE methods! Ya gotta try it out! There is a money back guarantee,....and it is worth every penny!

The Author really knows his stuff...You will want to read "How to Potty Train Your Puppy" RIGHT AWAY if you have a new puppy in your household. There are some other excellent goodies that go along with this, such as help through email, newsletter subscription, and other training tips for different ages of dogs!