Puppy Toilet Training Techniques

The toilet training dilemma is as old as dogs have lived with us in caves. What is new is our knowledge of how dogs think and learn, how they perceive the world and us. We now realise that dogs don't speak English (or Mandarin, Tibetan or Hindi). Being non-verbal, they rely upon their ability to watch our every move and listen intently to the noises we make in order to work out what we are trying to communicate and how they can talk to us.

Puppies in the nest will move away to toilet. Most breeders simply pick up the mess and put down fresh newspaper or pads. So the puppies have learned to toilet anywhere without question. No dog ever told a puppy "don't toilet there"! - so the concept of only toileting in one particular place is alien to them. When they come into our homes they assume that this is normal, but their owners get extremely upset when they find little puddles and poos everywhere! And puppies only have tiny bowels and bladders with not much control over them, so they have little warning when they actually want to toilet. If a puppy is involved in a game or training, they may not even realise that they need to go!

So our mission is to teach a puppy several things:- find the correct place to toilet, don't toilet anywhere else; and once this habit is established, learn how to tell the owner when you need to go to the toilet. And we need to do this without explaining in English! So it has to be obvious to the puppy what is the right thing to do and when. We have to make it so simple that the puppy can't help but learn the right thing!

First – we need to set up a play pen that is big enough for our puppy to spend time in comfortably together with the puppy crate or house kennel.

Second – we need to start a diary that everyone in the family uses, stating at what time the puppy toileted and what they did (number 1 or 2!). This will be really useful for noticing when the puppy has developed a routine and makes it much faster to achieve house training.

Third – we need to set up a toilet spot outside as well as inside so that the puppy can transition to just toileting outside as soon as possible.

Fourth – be positive! Toileting in the right spot deserves a party! Puppies need to have a really strong reason for going to a specific spot rather than just wherever they want, since this is so much easier! Do not punish a puppy for toileting in the incorrect spot because they don't yet know this information. You can INTERRUPT a puppy whilst it is toileting and RUSH it to the pads in the playpen, but to punish will only confuse and scare the puppy. If you have not been watching the puppy and observing the diary times to know when to take the puppy to the toilet, and making sure to put the puppy into the playpen when you can't supervise, then it is your mistake not the puppy's.