5 Tips to Ensure Puppy House Training Success

The sooner you potty train your puppy the better. You want to establish good habits from the start. And, a dog who has never gone potty in the house will never consider the house a place *to* go potty. I've always found the puppies we purchased from actual working farms (NOT puppy farms) were the easiest to house-train. They only ever wanted to go potty on grass or hay - as they had only ever gone in the barn or outside. They frequently wouldn't even go potty in a parking lot - we'd need to find grassy areas on the way home for them to go potty.

Here are some house training tips that will help - as long as you follow them consistently:

1. Closely supervise your pup while potty training. Do not let your puppy out of your sight while he is loose in your house! Watch him as though you were babysitting a very young child who could/would get in trouble if you didn't watch them. A puppy is the same as a toddler in this respect. Keep your puppy in a crate to keep him out of trouble when you can't attentively watch him.

If you see your puppy starting to sniff around, take him outside (or to the selected potty area) right away. If you'd like the potty area to be outside - try to make the area outside from the start; and if for any reason you can't make the area outside from the start at least make the area near the door. This way when you are ready to house train to outside you can bring your pup outside whenever you see him beginning to sniff around near the door. *When you can't supervise your un-trained dog, keep him in a crate*. Be sure you have the proper size crate too. Your pup should be able to stand up and turn around - but no larger. If you bring your pup with you to purchase the crate, the store personnel should be able to help you select the correct size. Some people have tied their dog's leash to their waist while potty training - but you still need to *pay attention*. (I once told my daughter that her puppy potty training problem was that she wasn't paying enough attention. She phoned one day to tell me that I must be right - her puppy had two accidents that day - both on her foot!)