To potty train your puppy, establish a routine
Puppies do best on a regular schedule. The schedule teaches them that there are times to eat, times to play and times to do their business. Typically, a puppy can control their bladder one hour for every month of age. So if your puppy is 2 months old, they can hold it for about two hours. Dont go longer than this between bathroom breaks or they’re likely to have an accident.
Take your puppy outside frequently—at least every two hours—and immediately after they wake up, during and after playing, and after eating or drinking.
Pick a bathroom spot outside, and always take your puppy (on a leash) to that spot. While your puppy is relieving themselves, use a specific word or phrase that you can eventually use before they go to remind them what to do. Take them out for a longer walk or some playtime only after they have eliminated.
Reward your puppy every time they eliminate outdoors. Praise or give treats—but remember to do so immediately after they’ve finished, not after they come back inside. This step is vital, because rewarding your dog for going outdoors is the only way to teach whats expected of them. Before rewarding, be sure they’re finished. Puppies are easily distracted and if you praise too soon, they may forget to finish until they’re back in the house.
Put your puppy on a regular feeding schedule. What goes into a puppy on a schedule comes out of a puppy on a schedule. Depending on their age, puppies may need to be fed two or three times a day. Feeding your puppy at the same times each day will make it more likely that theyll eliminate at consistent times as well, making house training easier for both of you.
Pick up your puppys water dish about two and a half hours before bedtime to reduce the likelihood that theyll need to relieve themselves during the night. Most puppies can sleep for approximately seven hours without needing a bathroom break. If your puppy does wake you up in the night, dont make a big deal of it; otherwise, they will think it is time to play and wont want to go back to sleep. Turn on as few lights as possible, dont talk to or play with your puppy, take them out to the spot where they relieve themselves and then return them to bed. Top 10 tips
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Dont give your puppy an opportunity to soil in the house; keep an eye on them whenever they’re indoors.
Tether your puppy to you or a nearby piece of furniture with a six-foot leash if you are not actively training or playing. Watch for signs that your puppy needs to go out. Some signs are obvious, such as barking or scratching at the door, squatting, restlessness, sniffing around or circling. When you see these signs, immediately grab the leash and take them outside to their bathroom spot. If they eliminate, praise them and reward with a treat.
Keep your puppy on leash in the yard. During the house training process, your yard should be treated like any other room in your house. Give your puppy some freedom in the house and yard only after they become reliably house trained.
When youre unable to watch your puppy at all times, restrict them to an area small enough that they wont want to eliminate there.
Expect your puppy to have a few accidents in the house—its a normal part of house training. Heres what to do when that happens:
Its extremely important that you use these supervision and confinement procedures to minimize the number of accidents. If you allow your puppy to eliminate frequently in the house, theyll get confused about where they’re supposed to go, which will prolong the house training process.
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Take your dog outside to potty at least once every hour.
Stand with your dog in an appropriate potty area. Act boring (so you don’t distract your dog from pottying), and wait five minutes to see if they relieve themselves. Praise and offer a treat as soon as they do.
If the dog does not potty within five minutes, take the dog back to the confinement area for 10 to 15 minutes and then take them out again. Repeat until the dog potties outside.
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As the director of training at The Sophisticated Dog, a Los Angeles-based pet training company, I’ve had many clients with older dogs who are not housetrained. Some of them have recently adopted an adult rescue, but others have had their dog since puppyhood. One family who hired me had a dog who had been pottying in the house for a couple of years—ever since she was a puppy! Fortunately, that pup’s family was able to learn how to potty train an older dog in just a couple of weeks once they put a consistent housetraining plan into place.