In a perfect world, your dog or new puppy would already be perfectly housebroken. In reality, we either don’t do a good job of potty training our new four legged friend or we have a older dog that wasn’t properly trained as a puppy. Either way he or she needs to be housebroken. If your dog regularly has accidents in the house then housebreaking your dog is even more important.

If you have a new puppy you should start a regular potty training schedule and routine. This helps both you and the puppy to create a pattern of behavior that both of you will follow. Remember, potty training has 2 parts – one for you and one for your puppy.

If you need to housebreak a puppy that has learned a behavior of having accidents in the house this is for you. You need to setup a new routine immediately. Start with a basic schedule of when you either take your dog outside or out for a walk. At a minimum your schedule should include:

• Once right after your dog awakes in the morning
• Once right before your dog goes to bed
• Once after every scheduled meal
• Once after every playtime
• Once after every nap

Setting up the basic pattern above will get your dog in the routine to go to the bathroom after those daily activities. Early in the housebreaking routine you should also add additional walks to reinforce the outdoor bathroom behavior. Once these patterns start to take effect, your puppy will give you an indication when they want to go outside.

Early in the housebreaking routine you should also reward your puppy with treats or positive physical and verbal praise. This will further reinforce the behavior as a good one. Make sure the attention you give your dog is the type he enjoys and he will repeat the behavior in order to get that attention from you over and over again.

Bringing home your new puppy can be one of the most memorable moments for a new dog owner. You will have lots of great experiences and memories with your new puppy. There will also be a few experiences that are no so pleasant. One of those experiences is potty training your puppy. Your home is very new and confusing for your new puppy. He will be very nervous and curious his first few days in your home.   With all of the newness of his new environment he will need to start his potty training as soon as he gets home.

Puppies have a very small bladder which means they will need to go potty often. With proper potty training you can avoid potty accidents in the house. Here are a few tips to help potty train a puppy:

1. Develop a routine of when you are going to take the puppy out to potty. For starters, you should take your puppy out when they first wake up, before bed, and after each meal or play time.
2. Develop a regular feeding schedule. The times your puppy will have to potty depends on when you feed your puppy. Take your puppy to potty after each meal to get into the routine of potty training.
3. If during training your puppy has an accident, don’t punish your puppy. You should encourage your puppy when they have a successful potty but don’t punish them if they have an accident.

Lots of encouragement will go a long way when you potty train puppy.  A regular bathroom schedule should also be created and followed. Once your new puppy understands and gets used to the pattern you create he will feel more comfortable and understand what is expected of him. Your puppy should be watched closely when in the house. This is when most potty accidents happen and can be avoided by monitoring your puppy in the house.