Zoes Doodles

LICENCED GOLDENDOODLE BREEDER

Potty Training

Practice, patience, & persistence!

Potty training takes time and requires practice, patience, and persistence. Accidents will happen! Don't panic. Simply clean them up and try to do better next time.

Restricting access - Use gates, pens, and the crate to keep your puppy out of areas of the home where you can't immediately supervise. Close all doors to help make initial training areas smaller. Once your puppy can keep one room of your home clean and they consistently go potty outside for one week straight, add another area to their space. Continue making their living space bigger and bigger, so long as your puppy is successful in keeping the new space clean.

Establish a routine - Puppies do best on a regular schedule. A schedule teaches them that there are times to eat, times to play and times to do their business. We recommend recording the times they eliminate for the first few weeks as it will help you anticipate when your puppy will need to go.

Take your puppy outside frequently - Young puppies may need to go every 15-30 minutes through the day. As a general rule of thumb, puppies need to go during the day:

when they wake up
right after you release them from their pen or crate
after eating or drinking
when they change activities
if they are more excitable for some reason or another
when they start sniffing, circling, or wandering to a different part of the room
when you notice pacing and whining

Pick a bathroom spot outside - Always take your puppy (on a leash) to that spot. It is important that you also go outside with your puppy to mark and reward the second they finish going.

If they don't go potty after one to two minutes of being in their spot, return inside. Don't let them play outside or do anything else other than their potty business. Play and rewards only come after they're done, not before. You'll want to try again after waiting a short time. Don't allow them the freedom to roam during this period. Instead, keep them tethered to you so you can watch for indications they need to go potty (such as sniffing the ground, pacing, or turning in circles). If you're unable to keep a close eye on them, place them in their crate or puppy pen. Wait just five to ten minutes before taking them outside again for another chance to go potty.

Mark and reward come as a pair - While your puppy is relieving themselves, use a specific marker word or phrase that you can eventually use before they go to remind them what to do. “Go Potty” and “Get Busy” are commonly used commands.

Reward your puppy every time they eliminate outdoors - Praise and give treats, but remember to do so immediately after they’ve finished, not after they come back inside. This is important, as your puppy will not associate a treat with going potty if you wait to give it to them until they come back inside. They will think the reward is for coming back inside. This often leads to puppies who go outside, don't actually go, then come back inside and potty on the floor. Before rewarding, be sure they’re finished. Puppies are easily distracted and if you praise too soon, they may forget to finish until they’re back in the house.

Put your puppy on a regular feeding schedule – In the beginning, your puppy should be fed three times a day. Feeding your puppy at the same times each day will make it more likely that they'll eliminate at consistent times, making house training easier for both of you.

Pick up your puppy's water dish – Puppies are input and output machines, so we suggest picking up your puppy’s water dish around 8pm, or two hours before bedtime. This will reduce the likelihood that they'll need to relieve themselves during the night. Over night Most puppies can sleep for approximately seven hours without needing a bathroom break. If your puppy does wake you up in the night, don't make a big deal of it; otherwise, they will think it is time to play and won't want to go back to sleep. Turn on as few lights as possible, don't talk to or play with your puppy, take them out to the spot where they relieve themselves and then return them to bed.

Sleeping (7) hours at night is a good benchmark to reach and is very possible for an 8-10 week old puppy. As your puppy gets older and is more capable of holding it, they can go longer at night, but don't rush it too quickly. Do what works for your puppy based on their age and size. Preventing accidents is important so sleeping in on weekends may need to go on the back burner for a few months.

We don't recommend punishment for housetraining accidents - This will only encourage your puppy to hide from you when they need to go. If you catch them starting, startle clapping your hands, then rush them outside to finish. When they go, mark YES and reward with praise and treats. If you don't catch them in the act, they will not connect any sort of punishment to going potty in the house. Simply clean up the mess and remind yourself to watch them 100% when out and about in your house.

Watch for the signs your puppy needs to go. For example, puppies usually begin to circle when they need to go poop, so look for it and get that puppy to your desired potty location right away.

Proper clean up - We recommend using an enzyme cleanser to completely rid any indoor accident area of the smell, so your puppy won't continue to use the same area to go potty again.

BELL TRAINING YOUR PUPPY

Bell training your puppy is one way of teaching them how to alert you when they need to “GO POTTY”.

So, how does it work? Some people swear that all you have to do is hang a bell from the door and ring it every time you take your dog outside until they eventually start ringing it themselves. The process of bell training your canine companion or teaching them to ring the bells as their way to let you know they need to go outside, is best when you break it down into basic steps. Our partner, BAXTER & Bella, suggests the following training method:

STEP 1: TOUCH THE BELLS

Introducing your puppy to the bells and helping him become comfortable with them and the noise they make.

Bring your puppy to an open area with their favorite treats and the bells you will be using moving forward.
First mark and reward them with a yummy treat for consciously looking at the bells, next mark and reward them for touching them and lastly, mark and reward them for clearly "demonstrating" they have become comfortable with them.
Next, pick up the bells and hold them a couple of inches (5-10) in front of your puppy’s nose and encourage them to reach out and touch them. DO NOT bonk them with the bells - we need them to like them and hitting your puppy with them does not help! Mark "YES!" and reward your puppy with a yummy treat when they ring them - repeat a couple of times over and over so they get comfortable with it.
NOTE: This is the first step in teaching them to use the bells. Once they have done this well, move to the next step.
If your puppy is scared of the bells, place them on a towel on the floor to dampen the sound and leave them there while your puppy plays. Anytime they interact with the bells reward your puppy.

STEP 2: HANG UP THE BELLS

Teaching your puppy where the bells will reside within the house.

Once your puppy is comfortable with and knows how to properly make the bells ring, hang them where they will be easily accessible to your puppy and loud enough to signal you throughout the house. We choose to hang our bells by our backdoor, which is conveniently the door we use to access our puppy's designated potty spot.
Start by placing your bells either directly on your doorknob or on a wall next to the door. It is important to hang the bells at approximately nose height for your puppy so they do not need to jump on your door or wall in order to ring them. Obviously you want to make this as easy as possible for them thus helping with their learning curve and beginning to create the habit sooner than later.
Similar to step one, we now want your puppy to recognize where the bells are and to become comfortable with sounding them effectively.
Do this by again marking and rewarding them for touching the bells first and then sounding them loudly. As needed, it may help your puppy if you smear bacon grease or peanut butter on the bells to help get them started.
Repeat this exercise multiple times in a row (5-10) and then a couple of times throughout the upcoming days as needed until your puppy is not only good at touching the bells as they hang, but sounds them loudly all the same!
For the next couple of days, begin working toward the next step in bell training by encouraging your puppy to sound the bells immediately prior to opening the door. This will help them begin to associate the ringing of the bells with the physical opening of the door - AWESOME!
NOTE: This is the second of three steps to bell training your puppy with the next step being that of your puppy connecting the dots that these bells are their way to properly to inform you when they need to go out.

STEP THREE - CONNECT THE BELLS MEAN POTTY

Helping your puppy make the connection that when he physically sounds the bells, this is the correct and desired behavior for him to signal to you that he needs to go outside.

Now that your puppy is comfortable with and knows how to properly make the bells ring, knows where they are located in the house and is sufficiently good at sounding them loudly, it is time to help them make the connection that ringing the bells is our desired behavior for them to signal to us they need to go potty.
Encourage your puppy to ring the bells immediately prior to opening the door. This will help them begin to associate the sounding of the bells with a physical opening of the door.
Moving forward, every time they touch the bells, enthusiastically mark "YES!” and immediately open the door to take them out. Give him 3-5 minutes to do their business (praise and reward them if they go as normal) and then return back inside. As needed, it may help your puppy if you smear bacon grease or peanut butter (make sure you check the ingredients - xylitol is NOT good for dogs and some peanut butter now contains this - puppies love peanut butter though so simply be aware and choose a xylitol free brand) on the bells to help get them started.
Repeat this exercise over and over again and soon enough, they will do it entirely on their own and it is AWESOME!

house training

Watch them like a hawk!

The quickest and most successful way to housetrain is to monitor your puppy around the clock. Think of your new little puppy as your 24/7 sidekick, and constant canine companion that is glued to your side and never out of your sight. Watching them 100% of the time may seem daunting, but it is crucial for success.

Your puppy should be in one of these five places throughout the day:

Inside with you, under careful supervision. Using a short leash to prevent them from dashing off to a far corner of the house for a potty break or other mischievous behavior. As your puppy matures and is both more responsible and better trusted, cautiously begin to expand the living space until the whole house is opened up.
Outside with you under careful supervision, on a leash, long line, or in a secure fenced area.
In the crate, or another confined space your puppy understands as "my space." You will continue to add additional spaces (rooms) as your puppy progresses. The crate helps them learn to hold it, as puppies do not like to mess in their sleeping area. During the day follow the month equals time rule. That is, a two-month-old puppy can be left in the crate for two hours max. A three-month old puppy can be left for three hours maximum without a break and so on.
In a supervised play area, such as an exercise pen or other small puppy safe room, with safe play toys.
At the potty spot (go with them so you can monitor and reward for proper potty breaks and other good behavior).

Many puppies can be fairly dependable by six months. Yet, some puppies might take up to a year to be fully house trained. We promise that your hard work will pay off. Eventually your puppies schedule will be based on your schedule. You’ll take your puppy out at times that are convenient to your work hours or your daily plans. But in the early stages of housebreaking, the schedule must be based on their needs and the length of time their little bodies can reasonably be expected to wait between potty trips.