Potty training may seem daunting, but with patience and consistency, you will soon see results! This is your comprehensive guide to potty training, complete with troubleshooting tips to get you and your puppy off to a great start.

Confinement

Containing your puppy to one or two areas of your home can eliminate a whole host of problems! Too much freedom means that your puppy could have accidents, eat unsafe items and perhaps even chew on furniture. To avoid this, use baby gates to enclose your dining room or kitchen, or use an exercise pen (X-pen) to create a puppy-safe area in any room. It is also helpful to have a crate inside of this area — make sure your puppy has room to stand up and turn around in the crate, but not so much room that they use the extra space as a potty area. If you have a large yard where puppies may eat plants or bark, use a second X-pen for outside play.

Inside of the confinement area, you’ll want to ensure you have pee-proof flooring (linoleum or a large, washable puppy pad work well). Place your puppy’s food and water bowls, a bed, multiple chew toys and other toys (if you are sure they won’t eat them while unsupervised) inside of their area.

Routine

Create a routine and stick to it. Dogs thrive when their day and environment are predictable, and this will help keep them on a potty schedule. Feed your pup at the same time each day, preferably after a play session so they are tired and can transition into rest time with a full belly. Avoid free feeding (leaving food available all day) as this makes it difficult to know when your pup needs to go out. Place the food down for 20 minutes and then take away the bowl whether it is empty or not. Your pup will soon learn to eat right away.

Your puppy’s routine may look something like this: wake up, potty break, playtime, potty break, breakfast, potty break, nap time. Things may not always go according to plan, but stick with the general routine as much as you can!

My Pup Needs to Go Out, Now What?

You notice your pup is circling, restless, moving away from you or sniffing the ground (great job paying such close attention!). There are two ways to get them outside before they potty indoors: Put them on a leash and head to the designated door or — if they are small enough — pick them up and carry them outside. If you let them walk to the door without a leash, they may potty on the way out the door.

Take a treat with you when you go to their designated potty spot. Be sure to praise and treat them within three seconds of finishing (not when you get back inside). Don’t ask them to do anything else before giving them the treat (“sit,” “come”) or they may not understand that they got the treat for going potty. Giving them a treat right away helps them learn where to go and encourages them to go right away to receive a treat. However, be careful not to interrupt them, as they may “hold it” to get the treat faster.

Choose a small “potty area” of your yard or near your home and avoid wandering around elsewhere. This may be too exciting for your pup with all the new sights and smells, and they may be too distracted to get down to business. Simply wander back and forth or in a figure-8 in the designated area to encourage them to sniff around. If they don’t go right away, be patient — give them about five minutes. After they have gone potty, you can reward them with some exploring time.

Schedule

Puppies tend to need to go out when they are transitioning between activities:

• The end of mealtime
• The end of a play session
• After running around
• Immediately after waking from a nap
• After a big drink of water

Anticipate their need to go out whenever a transition in their day occurs. If the transition time is more than an hour since their last potty break, be sure they are also going out at least every hour. They may also need a potty break in the middle of the night.

Note for households that have multiple dogs: Your puppy is unlikely to stop a play session to go potty on their own. Interrupt play after 10 minutes and take them outside. Otherwise, you’ll see the classic sudden squat and back to play!

If you take your puppy out and they do not go potty, take them inside and either hold them or place them in their crate and take them out again in 10 minutes. If you let them roam around indoors for even a few seconds, you may be in for an accident.

Helpful Tips

• Never punish a puppy for having an accident. They will not understand and may grow afraid of going potty in front of you. Just clean it up and get them out sooner next time.
• If you catch your pup in the middle of an accident, you can gently interrupt them — “uh oh!” — and then take them outside. If you notice they are fearful of your sound, just pick them up and take them outside with no sound. You do not want your pup to become afraid of going potty in front of people.
• If your puppy goes potty when you take them out, they can earn 30 minutes of supervised “free roam” time in a safe, puppy-proofed area. Ensure you never take your eyes off them during this free time, or you may have an accident on your hands.
• Puppies need constant supervision. If you can’t be in the same room as their exercise pen or other play area, leash them to you or tether them next to you with a chew-proof leash (never leave them leashed and unattended, as they may get tangled). This ensures you are only ever an arm’s length away in case you notice signs they need to go outside.
• Puppies can only be expected to have bladder control according to their age. The general rule is their age in months, plus one (i.e. a 3-month-old pup can generally be left alone for four hours). If you will be gone longer than this, your pup will need a friend or pet sitter to drop by to take them out, or you can look into a reputable daycare in your area.
• All accidents should be cleaned up with a special cleaner containing chemicals that break down the enzymes in the urine, such as Nature’s Miracle. This ensures your pup won’t be able to smell the urine in that spot in the future and mistake it for a potty area.
• The final evening meal should be given about two hours before bedtime, and their water bowl should be filled only halfway in the evening before bed. If you crate your pup at night, you may want a dog water bottle or screw-on bowl filled halfway so they don’t spill the water. Reducing their water intake in the evening helps them sleep longer during the night.
• Try lower-arousal play an hour before bed. Puzzle toys, training games or other enriching activities will help transition them into a calmer state for sleep. See: Enrichment for Your Dogs & Cats.
• It’s a great idea to teach the “go potty” cue so your pup knows exactly when to do their business. You can begin to teach this with the first morning outing when you are sure they need to go. As soon as they begin to squat, say “go potty” just once. Repeat daily until your pup is clear about what “go potty” means.

How Do I Know When my Puppy is Potty Trained?

When you’ve had two weeks with no accidents and your pup is clearly signaling to you that they need to go out (consistently giving the same cue, such as waiting by the door), you can gradually give them more freedom. However, if you notice an uptick in accidents, you may need to stick to your schedule and supervision a bit longer. Continuing supervision and not allowing free roaming out of sight until your pup matures — around 1 year of age for many dogs — is also a great way to prevent inappropriate chewing and other common struggles families run into with young dogs.

Troubleshooting