Potty training is teaching your dog to pee and poop in a designated spot. This area is usually outside, though some very young puppies or very small dogs may use an indoor potty area in lieu of/in addition to the outside area.

Puppies are furry little input-output machines that don't develop full bladder control until around five months of age (and often later for small breeds). For the first several months of a puppy's life, never expect them to let you know if they have to pee or poop. Because... they don't even know when this is!

Tools Needed

• • Crate, exercise pen, and/or  baby gate(s) 
  • Leash
  • High-value training treats
  • Optional: indoor potty area with a novel substrate like artificial grass or a litter box with wood pellets (stay away from newspaper or soft potty pads!)

Focus

Before we get to the specifics, here are four basic principles to apply to any skill you’d like to teach your puppy:

Set your puppy up for success.
Meet your basic needs and your puppy’s basic needs before you begin training. Make sure both you and your puppy are feeling safe, comfortable, and secure in your surroundings. Work in a place where both of you can focus and at a time of day that works for the two of you. Make sure you have all of the tools you need.

Remember that your dog is a very good dog.
Dogs are an entirely different species from humans, with a different set of social rules, environmental affordances, developmental milestones, and genetic mandates. It is imperative to remember that most human rules are not inherently reinforcing for our canine companions.

Teach your puppy to love the behavior you want to see.
The fastest way to teach a puppy what is acceptable in our human world is to teach them to genuinely love our rules. Help your puppy love goal behaviors by rewarding those behaviors with things your puppy already loves.

Start at the beginning.Start easy, and gradually work through challenging but achievable goals. When training is easy and fun, your puppy will love to learn and to build on their skills.

When to Train

Take your puppy to their designated potty area on a recurring schedule. Typically, young puppies need to potty every 30-90 minutes and older puppies need to potty every 1-4 hours. Puppies also need to potty when in transition to a different activity (most especially right after they wake up or play), and also about 15-30 minutes after they drink and 15-90 minutes after they eat. Every puppy is different, so consider keeping a potty log to learn your puppy's typical elimination schedule. Once you dial this in, set a timer so that you don't forget to follow it! 

Most mistakes occur when puppies are given too much responsibility too early. Don’t wait for your puppy to tell you when they need to go potty until they are at least five months of age and your puppy is at a 100% success rate for pottying outside.

If your puppy doesn’t go potty within three minutes of being let out, bring them back inside, closely confine them or monitor them for ten minutes, and then try again. Repeat this process until your puppy goes potty outside.

Where to Train

By nature, dogs do not prefer to soil their living area, which you can use to your advantage when potty training your pup. Most of the time, you can confine your puppy in an area such as a 4x4 exercise pen atop a hard surface. However, at high-risk times when mistakes are likely to happen, it's important to make the confinement area even smaller. If your puppy is crate trained, a crate works great for this. If your puppy is not yet crate trained, be sure to tether them to you with a leash and then watch them very closely during all these high-risk times. As with all puppy topics, be sure to manage your puppy’s environment so that they are set up to only engage in desirable behavior.

How to Potty Train Your Dog

• • Use management tools such as crates, baby gates, and exercise pens. Puppies typically do not soil their living area (this becomes more and more accurate the smaller the area of confinement).
  • Bring your puppy to their potty area whenever they transition from one activity to another, whenever they wake up from sleeping for any period of time, and on an otherwise recurring schedule (dog-specific).
  • If your puppy is very young or has just woken up, carry them on-leash to their potty area. If your puppy is older, walk them on-leash to their potty area. As you walk outside, say "outside!"
  • While holding the leash, set a timer for three minutes. Be sure to wait until your puppy goes potty before playing and interacting with them. 
  • Once you know when your puppy is about to go potty, you can label the behavior with a cue. When you see them start to squat or raise a leg, say “Go Potty!” (or "Get Busy!" etc). Pair the words to the behavior 30-50 times to create a firm association.
  • If your puppy pees or poops, give them high-value treats, praise, and attention. Throw a big ol’ puppy party. You want your puppy to LOVE going potty in the desired potty spot. Make potty training a really fun game that your puppy gets to WIN a lot!
  • Set another timer for three minutes in case your puppy has more in the tank. Reward them if they eliminate a second time. (Many puppies go potty two times in a row!)
  • If your puppy has pottied in the allotted time and it is not the middle of the night, consider letting them off-leash for outdoor play (in a fenced area) or a leashed walk (as long as they would find those activities enjoyable; if your puppy would find going back inside the most rewarding activity, bring them back in!). 
  • When you do go inside, always give your puppy a high-value treat the moment you walk inside the door. (Put a cup of treats right inside the door to help make this happen!) Giving your puppy a high-value treat will reinforce coming inside, so that you don’t have a dog who plays door-keep-away.
  • If your puppy does not go potty at all in the allotted time, unceremoniously walk them back inside and either crate them (and set a timer for ten minutes) or watch them like a hawk (and set a timer for ten minutes).
  • When the timer goes off, repeat the steps above.

✔️  Keep in Mind

Overnight Potty Training
Bladder production slows down when a dog is sleeping, so puppies can often hold their bladders overnight if they are closely confined. (Very young puppies may need one or two potty trips during the night. If you are sleeping with your puppy’s crate/confinement area close to you (highly recommended!), you will likely hear them stirring when they wake up. If you are a heavy sleeper, consider putting a little bell on your puppy collar so that you wake up when they begin to move about.

Changing the Potty Timetable
At around twenty weeks of age (five months), you can begin to teach your puppy to “hold their bladder” by slowly pushing back their usual potty time. Since every puppy is different, this will largely be on a trial basis. Every three days that you have success without potty accidents, you can push back the confinement time by about ten minutes. Repeat this process until you reach a goal time of approximately six hours.

For example: Your puppy is older than twenty weeks and tends to go potty every 90 minutes…

• • Closely supervise or confine them when they are approaching the danger zone. Then, take them outside at 90 minutes to potty. If no mistakes happen for three days...
  • Closely supervise or confine your puppy when they are approaching the danger zone. Then, take them outside at 100 minutes to potty. If no mistakes happen for three days...
  • Closely supervise or confine your puppy when they are approaching the danger zone. Then, take them outside at 110 minutes to potty. And so on!

Mistakes
If you see your puppy about to make a mistake (or in the process of making a mistake), say “Outside!” and then immediately and swiftly redirect them outside to give them an opportunity to go in the right spot.  

Dogs have a keen sense of smell and are likely to go potty in a place they've gone before by sniffing out a previous spot. Prevent this by cleaning mishaps with an enzymatic cleaner (which will remove the smell by breaking down the proteins in the urine).

Try to avoid mistakes, but if they do happen, remember that punishment will not help and will only cause added stress to your pup's training. Instead, show your puppy what you DO want and then use management to prevent future repetitions of undesirable behavior.

Indoor Potty Areas
Many people prefer to only have their puppy potty outside. If you want your puppy to have an indoor potty area, however, it’s best to choose a distinct potty spot that looks very different from anywhere else in the house (i.e. a litter box or a raised box with grass-like turf). It is not recommended to use any kind of newspaper or potty pad, as this surface feels far too much like rugs and carpeting.

Potty Variety
Puppies are creatures of habit and may not automatically go potty in places away from home, on substrates they are not used to, or off-leash if they have been practicing going on-leash. Therefore, give your puppy opportunities to do their business away from home, on various substrates (ie grass, pebbles, wood chips, etc), and off-leash, as well as on-leash.

Lesson Activity

Recommended Media for Potty Training

• Listen/Watch: "Potty Train Your Puppy in a Week, Susan Garrett, Shaped by Dog
• Watch: Potty Training with Beacon Dog Training, That Dog Geek
• Read: Way to Go!, Patricia McConnell
• Read: Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy, Steve Mann