HOW DO YOU POTTY TRAIN A PUPPY?

The following are some great potty training tips that I have gleaned off the internet. I have simply cut and pasted the info here because I thought it was very good. Enjoy and learn! Kristy

A puppy is like a baby. He will relieve himself anywhere, anytime. Because a newly adopted adult dog is unfamiliar with your home, he may not understand where he should "go"! Housetraining, or teaching your dog to go outside to relieve himself, is an important lesson your dog must learn.
It is up to you, the new parent, to housetrain your new puppy or dog with patience, love and understanding.

CRATE TRAINING
In the wild, wolves live in a den or cave. It is important the entire wolf pack keep this area clean. The same idea works with your family pet. Your dog’s crate is his home, his bedroom. It is likely that your dog will not like to soil his bed. Therefore, he will wait until he is let out to do his business.

HOUSETRAINING WITH YOUR CRATE
On average, puppies can hold their bladders one hour for every month they have been alive, plus one hour. For example, if you have a three month old puppy, he can wait 3 + 1 = 4 hours. If you work longer than this, the best solution is to have someone (a neighbor, a relative, a dog walker) come in at an appropriate time to let your dog out.

100 PER CENT SUPERVISION
Supervision is the key to housetraining! While you are at home, your dog must be supervised. Whether you are watching television, making dinner, on the phone or on the computer, your puppy must be watched. While it sounds like an impossible task, it isn’t. Keeping the crate in a social part of the house makes it easier. Using a house lead – a small, thin lead with a little clip on it – also helps immensely. Outside, you put a lead on your dog so you can control him. If the lead is removed after returning home, control is lost. For example, when watching television, have the lead tied to a couch leg. Your dog can have his blanket and toys with him. He’ll feel safe and comfortable. The majority of accidents happen when your pup wanders off and you haven’t noticed. You don’t want him to sneak off into the kitchen and find a puddle a short time later. If your pup is kept from wandering, the possibility of an accident is diminished because he will not eliminate where he is sitting. 100 per cent supervision means ensuring your dog is playing with you, in his crate, outside or on his house lead.

SCHEDULING
In the morning, take your dog outside. He should urinate and possibly have a bowel movement. Spend about five to seven minutes with him and then bring him in. Do not play with him yet. Feed him breakfast, either in the crate or with the lead, and supervise it. If your pup did not have a bowel movement earlier, take him back outside about 15 minutes after he has eaten. Use the lead to keep your pup moving along while outside. Otherwise, he may start sniffing, stopping and playing to avoid the job at hand. You can say “hurry up” and your dog will begin to associate these words with the task at hand. Praise him excessively when he has eliminated. Bring him back in the house and place him in his crate if you are going to work. Continue to supervise him with the crate or the lead if you are home. When returning after being out, go directly to the crate, let him out, praise him and put him back in. Feed him his meal, take him outside 15 minutes after he has eaten, praise him after he eliminates, and bring him back in. Continue to follow the same steps consistently.

While you are home, you should take your pup outside on a regular basis. Even if your pup is in a crate or on a house lead, he still needs the opportunity to eliminate. Also, be careful what you wish for! A pup who barks to go outside may be cute and clever now. However, you must try not to fall into the habit of leaping up every time your dog wants in or out. It is a very submissive gesture on your part. Have your pup wait a moment or two.

Setting up a schedule is also a good idea. If your pup is under four months of age, take him out for five minutes every hour on the hour. If your pup is over four months old, take him out every second hour on the hour. The schedule will help you remember when to take him out. Go out for five minutes only. It provides the opportunity to eliminate even if your pup may not need to go. Take your dog out after active play and also after napping. If an accident occurs, you may have forgotten to take him out .

FEEDING TIME
Having a puppy drink a lot of water and then placing him in his crate is much more unkind than letting him be a bit thirsty for an hour or two. Adult dogs should have access to drinking water at all times. However, this is not the case for untrained pups. Most parents will not allow their children to drink a big glass of water before going to bed. Avoid setting your pup up for failure. Restrict his water intake to three or four drinks daily and make sure you remove the water dish about three hours before bedtime. This will help your dog sleep more comfortably.

If it is a hot evening, supply your pup with a few ice cubes. They will enter your dog’s system at a slower pace. When feeding your pup, provide a high-quality food that is a good source of protein. The food must be concentrated so your puppy’s body doesn’t require much of it. If you feed less, your puppy eliminates less. Food is directly related to how well puppies do in their housetraining.

EXERCISE
It is important that your pup gets a lot of exercise, especially while crate training. You can play fetch, chase or hide and seek in your home. You can call ‘come’ at the same time to provide further training. Anyway you do it, your pup needs to be able to run and play.
Time and patience are needed.

All you need is a crate, pencil and paper, and patience.

You need to understand how your dog's bodily functions work to be more quickly successful.

Puppies go to the bathroom on a schedule, it not just a random thing. Their bodies automatically eliminate whenever the gastrocolic reflex is triggered. Stretching of the stomach when the little ones eat triggers the reflex. As puppies get older they are able to override the reflex and control when they eliminate.

Somewhere between 5 mins-1 hr after eating is when pups will go to the bathroom. About 5-10 mins BEFORE you know it probably has to go (start with 15 min- 30 minutes after eating) take the pup outside and say "go potty right as it starts to go. When your dog eliminates give it praise: tell it "good potty!!!"

Each dog's body is different so it may take you a few observations and trial and errors to get more precise. Now get out the paper and pencil to make a chart and enter time fed/time of elimination (both pee & poops). Soon you will know your puppy's bathroom schedules.

Your pup will sniff and circle about 3 seconds before "the act." If you see it sniff and circle outside, tell it to "go potty" and give immediate praise. Eventually saying "go potty" will be the command that makes the pup go.

You should have a special spot outside where you take it to do business every time. Take your pup out every two hours throughout the day. If it doesn't go, put it back in crate and try again in 20 minutes (don't be mad it won't know why--don't be mad at yourself either, it's just a schedule thing--you will learn). Eventually you'll find out what "the" schedule is. It might be your pup can hold for 3-4 hours.

Take the pup outside first thing in the a.m. at the same time, and just before bedtime at the same time each eve.

In the house if you have some mistakes, use white vinegar in a spray bottle to disinfect and remove the urine ammonia smell. NEVER use an ammonia product to clean up messes. If your pup makes a mistake, it's your fault, you haven't charted the automatic trigger times--so don't show your temper, don't rub its nose in it.

If you are not specifically paying attention to your pup (sitting in your lap, playing with it and *always* being observant of the sniff and circle routine), it should be in the crate.

I'd say in the evening before 7 to 7:30 pm is the last time to drink water for the night.

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This is the info from the www.siriuspup.com website. Go to “Behavior Problems”, then click on Housetraining. There are several other great articles there on new Puppies, Puppy Biting, Chewing, etc.

Housesoiling is a spatial problem. Your puppydog has been allowed to eliminate in the wrong place. Housesoiling quickly becomes a bad habit because dogs develop strong location, substrate, and olfactory preferences for their improvised indoor toilet areas. To housetrain your puppydog: first, prevent any more mistakes; and second, teach your puppydog where you would like him to eliminate.

Provide your dog with fresh water, a number of stuffed chewtoys for entertainment, a comfortable bed in one corner, and a doggy toilet in the corner diagonally opposite from his bed. Your dog will naturally want to eliminate as far as possible from his bed, and so will soon develop the good habit of using his toilet. Good habits are just as hard to break as bad habits.

For a doggy toilet, use sheets of newspaper sprinkled with soil, or a litter box filled with a roll of turf, or a concrete paving slab. Thus your dog will develop olfactory and substrate preferences for eliminating on soil, grass, or concrete.
The purpose of long-term confinement is to confine your dog’s natural behaviors (including urinating and defecating) to an area that is protected (thus preventing any mistakes around the house when you are not there), and to help your dog quickly develop a strong preference for eliminating on soil, grass, or concrete.

Every hour on the hour, say "Let’s go pee and poop" (or some other appropriate toilet instruction), and hurry your dog (on leash) to her toilet (in your yard, or at curbside outside the front door of your house or apartment building). Stand still with your dog on leash and repeat the instruction to eliminate. Give your dog three minutes to empty herself.
When your dog eliminates, praise her enthusiastically and offer three freeze-dried liver treats. Most puppies will urinate within two minutes on each trip to a toilet area, and defecate within three minutes on every other trip. Once your dog realizes that she can cash in her urine and feces for tasty treats, she will want to eliminate in her toilet area. Soiling the house just does not have comparable fringe benefits. Moreover, after a dozen or so repetitions, you will have taught your dog to eliminate on command.

If your dog does not eliminate during the allotted three-minute toilet break, put her back inside her crate for another hour.

The purpose of short-term close confinement is to prevent any mistakes around the house when you are home (but cannot devote undivided attention to your dog) and to predict when your dog needs to eliminate. Temporarily (for no more than an hour at a time) confining a puppydog to a small space (e.g., a dog crate) inhibits elimination, since the dog does not want to soil her sleeping area. Consequently, your dog will want to go immediately upon release from confinement—especially since hurrying to the toilet area will jiggle her bladder and bowels. Since you choose when to release your dog, you may choose when your puppy eliminates, and since you can predict when your dog needs to eliminate, you may be there to show her where to go, to reward your dog for going, and to inspect and immediately clean up after your dog.

Never confine a puppy or an unhousetrained adult dog to a crate for longer than an hour. A dog confined too long will be forced to soil her crate, making her extremely difficult to housetrain.

Once your pup is old enough to go on walks, make sure she eliminates (in the yard, or in front of your house) before each walk. If your dog does not go within three minutes, put her back in her crate and try again an hour later. However, if your dog does go, praise and reward her as usual and then say “Let’s go for a walk.” With a no-feces/no-walk policy, you will soon have a very a speedy defecator. Moreover, elimination close to home facilitates clean-up and disposal; you will not have to stroll the neighborhood weighed down with a bag of doggie doo.

If you require a more detailed description of housetraining, read our Housetraining booklet and BEFORE You Get Your Puppy and watch the Training The Companion Dog Video II: Behavior Problems & Household Etiquette. To housetrain your dog, you need a dog crate, a number of chewtoys, and some freeze-dried liver treats.