Hi furiends! It's me Luna again! As most of you may know I am already 5 years old but there was a time that I was a mini puppy that didn't knew how to poo outside the house, my mum would like to give all the new puppy owners an idea how I was potty trained, my mum was lucky enough to be with me at home the first weeks after I managed the potty training I would go for short periods of time in the crate. Please keep in mind this is our personal experience and each of us pups is unique!
If you go with your pup to the dog school or vet most of the time the first thing you will hear is ' take the puppy outside if he peed in the house'. The truth is that this kind of 'punishment' is not working for puppy's. It took a while for my mum to realize how she could easily convince me to do my thing and make this a positive experience instead of telling me that "I was a bad puppy" when I peed indoors.
First of all it is impawtent to observe your pup daily as much as possible, most pups show some 'signals' when they feel they have to pee or poop. I would start walking around in small circles for finding the spot, other dog's may start crying/barking, scratching the door,.... Experts suggest to start training your dog around 12-16 weeks old.
How my mum teached me:
We where living in a house with a garden at the time. After several months we moved to an apartment without outside garden so I had to adapt to this with different way's.
Garden training:
This one was the most easy for me as a pup. The first weeks the moment my mum would see me turning small rounds she would pick me up and carry me to the 'dog spot' in the garden. She was staying there with me until I would do my wee. Honestly the first times I was making her wait very long and sometimes also while it was raining. 😜 Afterwards she would start screaming from happiness and bring out my favorite toy, honestly I thought she was a little crazy. 😂 After a while she would take me out on random times of the day and I realized this is my potty time.
In the house without garden:
When we moved to the apartment without garden I was struggling a little more not only did I had to go outside to pee but also this time it was in an environment with distractions and on a leash?! Mum trained me already inside the house on a leash and would carry me to the field next to our apartment. We would go out every 2 hours. The difference was now that I can not walk free and other dog's off leash would try to distract me. Mum was always telling the owners to not let their dog's play with me so that I could focus better. In the beginning it was really difficult focusing on doing my potty training instead of playing and biting my mum's shoes 😂 My mum was standing patiently giving me the vocal command and ignoring my attempts to play. After I would do my wee she would play with me, throw my toy and bring out cookies!
Puppy pads: There is this thing called 'puppy pads' to use inside the house. For me personally I would only use it the first couple of weeks when the pup is too small to go outside (before the vaccinations). My pawrents decided that they would instantly teach me to go outside to avoid creating the habit of peeing in the house. Ofcourse there happened some accidents the first couple of weeks but your pawrents should just clean it up and keep going with a smile. 😊
Most common problems:
-Pup keeps peeing on the same place indoors after an accident: This may be caused by the smell that stayed after cleaning use specialized household products for pets (pet stain cleaners)
-Accidents happen often during the day: Take your pup more out in the beginning, recommend after eating/drinking, when the pup wakes up from a nap, after playing indoors and ofcourse always first thing in the morning and last thing at night before sleep. Also controlled feeding might help, don't give your pup unlimited portions of food but structured feeding moments.
Ps. Tell your pawrents this: Great things take time!
Paw Luna 🐾🐶
