Puppy Potty Training 101: Tips for Teaching Good Bathroom Habits

So you got a new puppy, eh? Your adorable floof will bring lots of joy to your life, but puppies aren’t always sunshine and rainbows. Raising a puppy is tough, especially when it comes to puppy potty training. Read on to learn how to teach your puppy good bathroom manners.

It takes time and patience for your puppy to learn appropriate bathroom habits, and until then, you will likely have to deal with your baby dog having the occasional piddle party in your house. 

How to Potty Train a Puppy

Potty training your puppy doesn’t have to be hard, so long as you follow the right steps and are consistent with your puppy’s routine. We can help you build a routine that works for you and your puppy so that you can have a fully potty-trained puppy in no time.

To help you start off on the right foot, we put together some simple tips that you can use to potty train your new puppy. Before we get to the tips, let’s look at a few commonly asked questions about how to train a dog to pee outside.

At What Age Should a Puppy Be Potty Trained?

One of the most common questions about puppy potty training is - when should I start potty training my puppy? At what age should a dog be potty trained?

Potty training is one of the very first training routines that you’ll need to teach your puppy. It starts from the very first day they come home. Most puppies are kept with their mother until at least 6 weeks, but often until 8 weeks.

This ensures they are fully weaned from their mother’s milk and are eating solid puppy food, but it’s also because puppies learn a lot of routines and early behaviours from their mothers and littermates; this includes some bathroom habits.

Once you bring your new puppy home, you will need to continue their potty training immediately.

Check out how long can dogs hold their pee to better understand how your puppy’s bathroom habits will progress as he grows.

How Long Does it Take to Potty Train a Puppy?

Like any aspect of your puppy’s training, potty training time depends greatly on your training methods, environment, and consistency. Every puppy is different, so the time it takes them to get a solid grasp on their potty training can range from a few days to a few months.

The key is to pick a method that is easy to maintain and to be consistent. Flip-flopping between methods or changing your commands and routines will make it harder for your puppy to learn.

The initial steps of potty training, where to pee, are usually learned quickly, within a few days, but what takes time and routine is when to pee. Your tiny pooch hasn’t learned to hold their pee, so even though they may know that going outside is correct, they may not be able to hold it long enough to get there. 

Puppy Potty Training Tips

Whether you are just planning your new puppy’s homecoming or you have already been attempting to potty train your pup, these 7 tips can help you build good bathroom habits and routines to help your puppy learn.

1. Show Them the Bathroom

Always start your training by showing them the appropriate place to relieve themselves. If you are just bringing your puppy home, take them immediately outside to where you want them to go. Start every morning with a trip to the bathroom, and end every night with the same.

2. Make a Puppy Potty Training Schedule

A consistent routine plays a huge role in your puppy’s potty training success, so it’s best to make a schedule and stick to it as strictly as you can. The schedule will change as your puppy grows and learns more bladder control, but you should be consistent day-to-day.

No matter how old your puppy is, you should start with more frequent potty breaks and work your way down. Even older puppies need repetition to learn good habits. Here’s a simple breakdown of how frequently your puppy will need to go to the bathroom at each stage of puppyhood:

• • 6-12 weeks - every 2 hours and within 1 hour of any meal
  • 3-6 months - every 2-4 hours
  • 6-10 months - every 4-6 hours
  • 10+ months - every 6-8 hours

Potty training goes hand-in-hand with crate training your puppy, so your potty breaks can easily be worked into your puppy's crate training schedule.

3. Potty Training Puppy at Night

Overnight is a bit of a different story. Puppies under the age of 4 months may need one or more bathroom breaks at night, while puppies over 4 months are more likely to be able to sleep through the night. 

Be prepared to wake up at least once in the middle of the night for a bathroom break for the first month of potty training. You can risk it, but you might wake up to a messy kennel or an accident in your living room if you don't. 

Some puppies learn to sleep through the night faster than others, so if your puppy is dead to the world for 8 hours a night - congrats! You are one of the lucky ones. It normally takes at least a few weeks for your puppy to learn to sleep soundly through the night.

Pee pads can be used during this period of training to allow your puppy a cleaner and more comfortable solution to nighttime bathroom breaks, especially if you are a sound sleeper and there is a chance you may not hear your puppy indicate they need to go.

4. Look for signs

Your dog can’t just tell you he needs to go, but you might be able to see behaviours that your puppy needs to pee. Young puppies won’t always show signs, but as your puppy adapts to his potty routine and you start to space out bathroom breaks, you might start to notice repeated behaviours that tell you he needs to go outside.

Here are a few things to keep an eye out for:

• • Standing right in front of you and staring at you
  • Whining or barking near the door
  • Pacing to and from the door
  • Herding you towards the door
  • Circling and sniffing an area on the floor( as if they are getting ready to pee)
  • Pawing, licking, nudging, or other physical contact to get your attention

5. Try a Door Bell

One easy way to enhance your dog’s potty training is to give your puppy a better way of letting you know they’ve got to go. Potty training bells are a simple and effective way for your puppy to signal to you that he needs to go outside. 

There are a variety of styles, but the basic type is a ribbon or rope with large bells that hang on your doorknob. You can train your puppy to nudge or poke the bells to let you know it’s potty time. Lil Pals makes a super cute training bell system that we love. 

This is an extra step of training, but it’s easier and more intuitive for your dog than you think. Here are a few easy steps for training your pup to ring the bell:

• • Introduce your puppy to the bell. Let him sniff the bell and reward him for being brave enough to approach it. 
  • Every time you take him out, ring the bell and say the word potty, outside, or whatever word you want to use to help your puppy associate the bell with bathroom breaks. 
  • Start to encourage your puppy to nudge the bell to make a sound. Reward every time he does this and take him outside immediately. 
  • Repeat, repeat, repeat.

6. Reward Success

Keep treats on hand all the time. Every time you take your puppy out to go potty, reward him for doing the deed. You want him to know that he’s doing the right thing in the right place, so a tasty reward will help.

Carry a treat pouch, or keep treats safely stored by the door so that rewarding your dog is both quick and easy.

7. Food and Water

A well-fed and hydrated puppy is a healthy puppy, but their food and water habits directly affect their bathroom needs. Keep this in mind when you are planning your puppy’s potty routine.

Dogs have quicker digestion than we do, so plan bathroom breaks within an hour of each meal. If your pup gulps down a bunch of water right before bed, he’s most likely going to need to pee during the night, so schedule bathroom breaks around their eating schedules.

The type of diet you feed will also be a factor. Raw foods digest much quicker than heavily processed foods like puppy kibble, so your puppy will need to use the bathroom sooner after meals.

What to Do When Your Puppy Has an Accident

Let’s face it, accidents happen. Throughout your puppy’s potty training experience, you will likely have to clean up several accidents in the house, but this doesn’t mean you failed. It just means that your puppy needs more practice.

An important part of potty training is knowing how to handle missteps. How you react to your puppy making a mess in the house can dictate how he learns to correct those mistakes in the future. Let’s look at some tips to keep in mind when you catch your puppy in the act.

1. Interrupt

You won’t always catch them midstream, but when you do, interrupt them and bring them outside or to the correct bathroom spot immediately. To help them associate the act with the place, you need to move quickly.

2. Use a Vocal Command

Use the same vocal commands each time. Pick one word that you will use when you bring your puppy to the bathroom. It can be outside, out, bathroom, potty, or any other short word that you choose. You want them to learn the word and what it refers to.

3. Don’t Get Mad

Of course, it’s frustrating, but your puppy doesn’t understand your anger, so do your best to stay calm. When you get mad, you are likely to stray from the routine or even frighten your puppy, which will confuse the lessons you are trying to teach.

Take a breath, use your vocal commands and take your puppy outside as you always do.

4. Clean It Up

The least fun part of puppy training is the clean-up, but it’s an important part of breaking bad habits. Dogs leave behind pheromones in their urine that their sensitive noses can detect even when ours can’t.

So a quick clean job may get rid of the stain and odour for you, but if your puppy can still smell it, then he’s much more likely to go back to the same spot, thinking it’s the bathroom. Be diligent and use a pet-safe cleaner designed to eliminate these pheromones.

Using a Crate to Potty Train a Puppy

Canines are natural den animals. They feel safe and protected when they curl up inside a closed space. Your puppy will eventually come to love his crate and view the location as a place of security.

The dog crate can quickly prove an invaluable housebreaking tool. Most dogs will not soil where they sleep. Placing the puppy in a crate when you cannot supervise the pet can aid in the housebreaking process.

When picking a crate, make sure that your puppy can stand up, lie down, and turn around. Pick either an easy-to-clean plastic crate or a wire crate with a solid tray bottom. You can cover the bottom of the crate with a blanket, towel, or washable dog bed for added comfort and to make the puppy feel comfortable and secure.

Make the Crate a Home

You want your puppy to view the crate as a positive place, so one way to encourage that is to use small puppy treats to lure the dog into the crate when the door is open. When the puppy is inside of the crate then be sure to give lots of love!  The combination of praise and treats will reinforce that the crate is a positive place.

Once you feel that your puppy is comfortable in the confines of the crate then it's time to close the door. You can still pass treats through the door to reassure the young dog that everything is okay.

Make Bathroom Breaks a Priority

When you take your puppy out of the crate, immediately take the young canine outside to go to the designated potty area. Potty training puppies should be fun so provide ample praise and traits when Fido goes potty outdoors!

Crate your puppy only for short stretches of time, such as 15 minutes at first. As your pup grows older, you can increase the crate time as needed.  Usually, an older puppy who is familiar with his crate can stay inside for three to four hours without elimination.

Dogs are smart and your pooch will soon learn that after spending time in the crate, you’ll immediately take the pup outside to go potty. 

Using a crate to potty train your pup relies on the dog’s natural instinct to maintain a clean environment. In the wild, a canine will not urinate or defecate in the den. 

The crate is one of the best ways to potty train a puppy when you cannot supervise the young animal every minute. 

Common Puppy Potty Training Problems

Potty training puppies isn’t without challenges. Simply buying a crate and sticking your young pooch in it isn't an immediate fix to your puppy potty training problems.

Let’s examine a few common puppy training problems that you might encounter and how to overcome them. 

The Crate is Too Big 

Most puppies don’t want to soil an area where they lay or sit, so using a crate for potty training helps teach the pooch to wait to potty outside.

Many pet owners use a crate during the night and for short time periods during the day to potty break a puppy. 

A wire dog crate is remarkably effective for potty breaking, but on occasion, the pup might potty in the crate if the crate is too big. The youngster will think that they can potty on one end of the large crate and lay on the other end away from the mess. Invest in a smaller crate to solve the problem.

Some crates also feature designs that let you install an included divider in the crate to make it smaller. You can then remove the divider as the puppy grows.

Using a crate is one of the best puppy potty training tips at night as long as the crate is the correct size for the pet. 

Leaving Your Puppy in the Crate Too Long 

Your puppy does not want to wet his dog bed. Even if the crate is the appropriate size for your young dog, if you leave a young pup in the crate for too long then they might potty because they simply cannot hold it.  

Ideally, you should never leave any puppy under six months of age in a crate for longer than three or four hours. They simply cannot hold their bladder or bowels for any greater length of time.

When exploring puppy training tips for at night, you’ll find that a crate is a useful tool to assist in housebreaking. However, you might need to set your alarm clock to wake up and let the pup out one or more times per night because a tiny puppy simply cannot hold their bladder or bowels all night. 

Expecting Your Puppy to “Ask” to Go Potty 

When learning how to potty train a puppy, many owners think that their young pup should ask to go potty by whining at the door. However, a puppy often doesn’t naturally associate going outdoors with going potty so won’t ‘ask’ to go potty. 

You’ll need to watch your young pup closely for signs the pooch needs to go outside or set a schedule to regularly take the pet outside to avoid accidents. 

Leaving the Puppy Outdoors Alone

Many pet owners think that they don’t have to wait outdoors for their puppy to go potty. A young pup depends on their humans for protection. When the puppy is outdoors alone, they can start to feel anxious and afraid which causes the young pup to forget to even go potty.

You should always accompany the dog outdoors and when the pup goes potty, praise the pet and even offer a treat for a job well done when your pooch eliminates in the designated area.

Too Many Distractions

Puppies just want to have fun. They become easily distracted if there are toys and adventures to enjoy.

If you want your pup to focus on going potty, then you’ll need to limit the distractions outside by making sure there are not too many dog toys or other fun items for the young dog to focus on.

Smelly Carpets

A carpet often feels like grass or a puppy pee pad to a young pooch. When learning how to potty train a puppy, you should avoid letting the canine on your carpet or the puppy might empty his bladder on the soft, spongy material.

Never allow your puppy on the carpet unsupervised. If the pup should soil the carpet, promptly clean it using an odour neutralizer specifically formulated for pet urine on carpet. If you do not clean away the smell from the carpet fibres, then the pup will be drawn back to the spot to again relieve himself. 

When Weather Impacts Potty Training

If your puppy has been doing a wonderful job going outside to potty, then you might become upset when the pup stops due to bad weather. It is not uncommon for a pup to start having accidents in the house during rainy or snowy weather.

If your pup is objecting to going outdoors to use the potty, then you might want to invest in an umbrella, doggy rain gear, or a doggy sweater.  If your pup still refuses to go outdoors to potty then you may want to try puppy pee pads during inclement weather.

Puppy Potty Training in an Apartment

Living in an apartment can make potty training your puppy a little trickier. When you don’t have immediate access to the outdoors, it can be a little more difficult for your puppy to hold it long enough to get outside.

Living on the 10th floor means a long elevator ride for a young puppy who just woke up and has to go now. It doesn't mean you can't train your puppy to go outside, but it's good to have a contingency plan for days or times that you can't make it all the way downstairs.

Fortunately, potty training a puppy in an apartment is still totally doable, but you might have to try a different approach to get started. To make sure your puppy has quick and easy access to a bathroom, it’s a good idea to start your puppy on pee pads. 

What is a Pee Pad?

A common potty training tool for young puppies is pee pads. Pee Pads are absorbent training pads you can have in the house for your puppy to go to the bathroom. These are popular for very young puppies, and puppies in apartments where going outside is a longer trip. 

These pads are often infused with a puppy training pheromone, a synthetic version similar to the pheromone in their pee, to indicate to the puppy that this is the appropriate place to relieve themselves. 

Pee pads are a great way to start your puppy’s potty training because you can place the pee pad close to the areas where your puppy commonly hangs out, like his crate. As your puppy adapts to the pee pads and gains some bladder control, you can slowly transition them from using the pee pads to going outside.

How to Pee Pad Train a Puppy

Even though pee pads are scented to attract puppies, the process of pee pad training isn’t always intuitive for young puppies. To make sure they understand how to use pee pads properly, you’ll have to take some steps to help them understand what it is and how it works. 

Here are a few things you can do to get your puppy started on pee pads:

1. Let them Explore the Pad

The first step is to let them sniff and explore the pee pad. They’ll be able to smell that synthetic pheromone, so they’ll be curious. Encourage them with verbal praise if they walk on the pad. At this stage, some puppies will instinctually mark the pad by peeing on it. Great! Give lots of praise and reward, so they know they did a good job. 

2. Stick to Your Potty Training Schedule

Just like you would have a routine for taking your puppy outside, you should stick to that same schedule for the pee pad. You want to get them used to going to the bathroom at regular intervals so that it’s easier to transition them to outside bathroom breaks. 

3. Make it Recognizable

If your puppy is not picking up on the pee pad’s subtle scent, it can help get some of their own scent on the pad. When they have an accident in the house, dab the pad in your puppy’s urine. This can be a great signal to your puppy that the pad is where they should go. 

4. Easy Access is Important

Keep your puppy’s pee pad close, but not too close. You want the pee pad to be accessible at all times but still separate from where your pooch eats, sleeps, and plays. Pee pads aren’t 100% leak-proof either, so pick a non-carpeted area of the house, like the kitchen or bathroom. 

5. Reward, Reward, Reward

Just like any type of training, make sure to always reward successes. Every time your puppy uses the pad, give him a treat or toy. Keep rewards close by so you can treat your puppy as soon as he’s done his business.

How Often Do You Change Pee Pads?

Pee pads don’t hold a lot, so you need to check them a couple of times a day. Partially because you don’t want puppy pee to soak through the pad to the floor, but also because your puppy might not want to use the pad if it’s already too heavily soiled. 

Pee pads may need to be replaced a few times per day, so stock up. Unleashed Puppy Training Pads use special quick-dry technology to turn liquid into gel and lock it into the pad for a less messy potty training experience. 

Pee Pad Tips

Pee pads aren’t always the cleanest option for potty training. Puppies can miss the pad or soak through if they have a particularly heavy flow. For male dogs who lift, you risk them spraying the wall or having pee splashback on the floor around the pad. 

You also have to watch out for puppies that like to play with the pads by digging, chewing, or just picking them up and dragging a soiled pad around the house. Here are a few pee pad tips to help keep your house a little cleaner during potty training:

• • Use a pee pad holder to keep your puppy from being able to move the pad around. These plastic frames are designed to hold the pee pad so your puppy can’t fuss with it and have non-slip rubber grips on the bottom to make sure the pad doesn’t slide around.
  • For a cheaper DIY method for keeping the pee pad in one place, try a couple of pieces of double-sided tape on the bottom of the pad.
  • To keep your walls from getting sprayed with splashback, hang some thick plastic sheets on the walls next to the pee pads.
  • Consider a washable, waterproof pad like this one from Tall Tails for something a little more eco-friendly. It can hold up to 1.5 cups of liquid to keep your floors clean and dry.

Pee Pad Alternatives

Pee pads aren’t the only solution for indoor potty training. A somewhat outdated version of a pee pad was to lay down some newspaper for your puppy to go on, but it’s not a commonly used method anymore.

We have much more sophisticated options for indoor potty training than paper, like dog bathroom systems. Unlike disposable pee pads, bathroom systems collect urine in a tray below the surface that can be emptied or drained, and the whole system can be washed and sanitized. 

Some systems even use a simulated grass texture or grass scent on the surface to make potty training easier. Indoor dog bathrooms aren’t always the cheapest option, but they can be cost-effective compared to months of buying disposable pee pads. 

The systems are also really good for potty training your puppy on a deck or balcony of an apartment, condo, or townhouse.

Transitioning from Pee Pads to Outside

Dogs can use indoor bathroom solutions, like pee pads, into adulthood, but they are most commonly used temporarily at the beginning of the potty training process. Ideally, you want to transition your puppy from pee pads to going outside as soon as you can.

Once your puppy has built good bathroom habits with the pee pads, you can easily transition them to going outside by moving the pee pad to as near the door as possible and then to just outside the door. After a few days of taking them outside to pee, you can remove the pads entirely.

Keep in mind how long your puppy can hold their pee, though. Without a bathroom option indoors, your puppy may have an accident if you wait too long between bathroom breaks.

Potty Training A Dog

Not every pooch that needs potty training is a young puppy. Fully grown adults and senior dogs may need potty training when you bring them home. Some rescue dogs have never been house-trained, so they need to learn the rules of your home just the same as a puppy would. 

Older dogs tend to have bad bathroom habits ingrained already, so they may be a little more stubborn about adapting to a new routine. Relearning bathroom routines can take time because your dog is already used to the bad habits he’s already learned. 

Beyond breaking bad habits, you also need to consider health factors that could contribute to your dog’s accidents, like incontinence and mobility issues. 

Incontinence

Senior pets are more likely to suffer from health issues that cause incontinence. Incontinence is the inability to hold their bladder and or bowels. This could be due to injury or disease and can lead to your dog “going” wherever he happens to be.

While incontinence can, in some cases, be treated with supplements or medications, some dogs will need to wear dog diapers to manage their issues. Just like baby diapers, you can choose from either disposable or washable options to suit your dog’s needs.

Mobility Problems in Dogs

For dogs that have limited mobility, getting to the bathroom in time might be an issue. Managing their hip and joint health can help improve mobility, reduce pain, and promote better bathroom habits.

Mobility issues are common in senior pets but can affect younger dogs and breeds with predispositions to joint issues. Giant breeds like mastiffs, breeds with back issues like basset hounds, and even small breeds prone to knee injuries like Boston terriers could have trouble getting to the bathroom when they are in pain.

UTIs and Kidney Issues

Urinary health can be another factor in a dog’s bad bathroom habits. Dogs suffering from a urinary tract infection or compromised kidney function will need to pee much more often. If you find your dog needs to pee more frequently or is straining to urinate, then it’s time to call the vet.

One Step at a Time

No training experience ever goes 100% as planned, so be prepared for mistakes and setbacks. The important thing is to always circle back to the same routines, vocal commands, and tools until your puppy starts to get it. This means you may have to repeat the steps that your puppy is struggling with. 

If you are wondering, ‘how long to potty train a puppy,’ remember that every puppy learns differently. In time, they will eventually build good bathroom habits.

Consider if your routine is suitable for accommodating your puppy’s bathroom needs and make adjustments or arrangements as needed.

Frequently Asked Questions 

When should I start potty training my puppy?

Ideally, start potty training as soon as you bring your puppy home, usually at around 8 weeks of age.

How often should I take my puppy outside for bathroom breaks?

Take your puppy out every 1-2 hours, as well as after eating, drinking, playing, or waking up from a nap.

What should I do if my puppy has an accident indoors?

Remain calm and clean up the mess immediately. Avoid scolding your puppy but rely on positive reinforcement when your puppy goes potty outdoors. 

Are there specific signs my puppy needs to go potty?

Common signs include sniffing, circling, whining, or suddenly stopping play. Pay attention to these cues and take your puppy out promptly.

How can I crate train my puppy to aid in potty training?

Use a crate that's appropriately sized for your puppy. Dogs typically avoid soiling their sleeping area, so crate training can help prevent accidents. 

How long does it take to fully potty train a puppy?

Each puppy's time varies, but most are fully potty trained between 4 and 6 months of age. Consistency, patience, and positive reinforcement play key roles in successful potty training.