In order to successfully potty train you need to control and eliminate as many chances as possible for them to make a mistake. The more success you have with all their training the faster they will learn. Setting up schedules for potty training will help to eliminate the number of accidents your puppy has. There are several times of the day that you can take advantage of such as between 5-20 minutes after a meal, are as soon as they get up from a sleep and during/after play. When you take your puppy outside to the washroom they should go in the first 2-3 minutes that they are outside. You should never have to wait long periods of time for them to go. If your puppy doesn't go and it is a time that you think they should, bring your puppy in, place into their crate and wait 20 minutes. After the time has passed try again. If you have trouble just keep repeating until you have success. This will help to eliminate the accidents because dogs do not like to go to the washroom where they sleep. As long as you don't leave them in the crate too long and as long as it is not too large they should't go inside the crate. If you had just brought your puppy inside and let them walk around you would probably have an accident within about 5 minutes. If you were wanting to teach your puppy to eliminate in a particular area in the yard you will need to leash your puppy and walk them to the place.
It is very important to have an enzymatic cleaner available to clean up any messes. This is a biological agent that naturally breaks up the stain and odor and gets rid of it. Do not use household cleaners as many of them have ammonia in them which to a dog smells like urine and will attract them to use that area again. Your puppies sense of smell is over 400 times that of yourself which means that even if you don't smell anything, they will. If there is a chance that there are smells from urine and feces left in your home from other animals you may want to get a black light to help you find each spot so you can treat them.
By Stacey Brickman
