10 Easy Steps to Housetrain your Dog

You can easily teach your dog to poop and pee in an acceptable location by keeping a close eye on him, recognizing his signals, understanding his instincts, and rewarding his appropriate behavior.

1. Prevent undesirable elimination by not allowing your puppy to wander all over the house without supervision and by keeping him confined in a small area when you can’t observe him constantly.
2. When your pup sniffs the ground or circles around, quickly but calmly take him outside to the area where you wish for him to poop and pee. Ideally, don’t wait for these behaviors. Take your puppy outside regularly as described below.
3. Feed your puppy a measured amount of food at the same time every day. When your pup walks away, or after about 10 to 15 minutes, pick up the bowl. Do not force him to eat more than he wants by putting toppings on his food. Just as children can gain too much weight if you force them to clean their plates, so can your dog.
4. Be aware that puppies instinctively desire to eliminate after eating, drinking, playing, resting, sleeping, or being confined. These rules apply to most adult dogs as well.
5. Five to 30 minutes after any of the above activities, take your puppy to the selected place so that he can poop or pee as needed.
6. Use a specific verbal cue that you want your pup to associate with desirable elimination, such as “Go potty” or “Do your business.” Having used the words, “Go potty” throughout her life, my dog always responds by squatting to pee after she hears them from me. Even when she doesn’t have that full of a bladder… She just wants to please her human!
7. When your puppy begins to eliminate, quietly praise him.
8. When your pup is done, praise him enthusiastically, pet him, and reward him with food immediately. Don’t wait until he heads for the house. If he doesn’t eliminate, return him to his confinement area, and take him outside again in about 15 minutes.
9. Reward each time with praise, but as your puppy learns, give food rewards intermittently.
10. Remember, it is your responsibility to prevent accidents! Prevention is the key to success, but if someone fails to prevent your puppy from having an accident, don’t scold him. Quietly clean up and deodorize the soiled area. Preventing accidents requires that you become aware of how often your puppy needs to eliminate. Young puppies (8 to 10 weeks of age) may need to be taken outside every 30 to 60 minutes.