Puppy Toilet Training

When you are toilet training your puppy be prepared for accidents. Young puppies have weak bladders so accidents are bound to happen.

If your puppy has an accident in the house and you find a puddle (or worse) on the carpet don't scold your puppy. Telling your puppy off will be quite pointless unless you catch your puppy in the act. Puppies live in the present moment and you puppy will not understand why he is being scolded. This could lead to a nervous timid dog who is uncooperative and unwilling to please you.

If you do catch your puppy in the act of relieving himself on the floor, simply scoop your puppy up and quickly take him outside to his toilet area. Praise him when he does his business.

Always clean up any mess your puppy has made indoors thoroughly. Use suitable cleaning products that will also get rid of any odours. This is important as if any odour remains on the carpet, your puppy will smell this and use the same spot again to relieve himself.

Praising your puppy for good behaviour instead of focusing on his bad behaviour will lead to your puppy doing his best to please you and this will go a long way to forming a good relationship between you and your puppy.

When you have to leave your puppy alone in the house and overnight, it is best to confine him to a small area or room that has been puppy proofed. The kitchen is a good choice if you have a carpetless floor. Make sure you remove all temptations out of the way, including waste bins and any small objects that you puppy could chew or swallow. Put some paper down for your puppy to relieve himself on or perhaps you could use puppy training pads.

Never leave your puppy alone for long periods of time as this is unfair on your puppy and it will make him very lonely. Give your puppy plenty of toys and puppy chews to help keep him occupied and to stop him from pining.

When your puppy is very young you need to build his toilet routine around his needs. For example young puppies have very weak bladders and he will need to urinate when he first wakes up, so take your puppy into the garden when he wakes up in the morning. Young puppies also need to urinate about every hour or so and also when they are active or get overexcited, so ensure you take your puppy outside after he has been excited by playing etc and also at hourly intervals.

After your puppy has eaten his meal, he will need to urinate after about 15 minutes and defecate within about half hour, so make sure you take your puppy in the garden at the appropriate times. Always go outside with your puppy and praise him when he does his business with appropriate keywords so when he urinates or defecates so he will begin to associate the appropriate action with those words. A word of warning - do not use the keywords "good boy" when your puppy is doing his business or else guess what will happen every time you say "good boy"!

Feed your puppy at regular intervals and when he has finished eating, pick up his food bowl. Do not leave food down for him except for during his meal times. Of course always make sure he has fresh drinking water at all times.

Do not be too harsh on your new puppy if he accidentally goes to the toilet indoors, because of course accidents will happen at first and this is only to be expected. Angry shouting and severe scolding will only result in a timid puppy. So always use lots of patience when training your puppy as this will pay off in the long run. Please remember that you puppy cannot tell you when he wants to go to the toilet, so by anticipating his needs and taking him outside at appropriate times will greatly help with your Puppy Toilet Training routine.