Toilet train your puppy in 10 days

Toilet training puppies can be quite stressful for some owners, and for the puppies if not carried out correctly. The housetraining method I have used over the years is to use a puppy crate when the puppy is not supervised and especially at night.

During the day if your puppy pees on your nice clean carpet, then it’s YOUR fault for not taking it out enough, or for not recognising the signs.

Times when you should take your puppy out for a pee are:

• just after he/she wakes up
• straight after meal times
• if you see your puppy suddenly start sniffing the carpet

If you are 100% vigilant every day for about 1-2 weeks you should find that your puppy asks to go out, scratching at, whining, or standing by the door. You will now need to recognise these signs. The less he/she does actually manage to pee inside the quicker the transference to outside will be.

Crate training during the day

When your puppy is sleepy during the day, I recommend that you pop him / her into a puppy crate. This should have a small bowl of water and bedding material that covers the whole of the crate. The idea is that puppies will not pee by choice on their bed and so when confined to the crate they will paw at the door of the crate or whine to get out. A vigilant owner will hear this and rush the puppy straight outside.

Crate training at night

At night take the crate into the bedroom. For those who would prefer the dog not to be in the bedroom I would say that you are not  teaching the dog to be in the bedroom: it is sleeping in the crate not in the bedroom. Bring the crate down during the day and take it back up at night.

When your puppy is toilet trained the crate can continue to be used as its den / bed downstairs.

Having the crate in the bedroom helps the puppy to overcome the stress of being in a totally alone in a new and alien environment and is really only for a week or two at most.