This is the first step in dog training, the house breaking part, and guess what, if you just got a puppy, the puppy is going to pee inside of your home, on the carpet, maybe even on the sofa, so you are going to have to learn how to potty train a puppy. Another thing that you need to know, is that they may even poop on the carpet also, you can actually count on it. Now before I get into potty training your puppy any farther, you have to realize that when puppies are young, they are unable to control and hold their bladder for a long time, if at all at first. So being mean and rubbing it’s face in the feces is one of the worst things that you can do, don’t do it. It will not teach your puppy anything as they will not know what it is that they did wrong. So how do you potty train a puppy? Let’s take a look at some of the facts that you will need to know to successfully do this.

Potty Training Your Puppy – The Basics

You must also realize when your dog is a puppy, that they are going to go to the bathroom around 7 or more times a day. So you are going to have to be around them to train them properly. Some of the ways that you can get a puppy to not pee on the carpet when you are not home is to maybe cage them in the kitchen, and make sure that you have some newspaper for them to go to the bathroom on. I am not sure why this works but puppies will almost always go for the newspaper before they go for the carpet or tile.

When you are taking your dog outside, do not do any praising or playing, until the puppy goes to the bathroom, then you can proceed to praise them. Remember in the early stages you are going to have to do this 5 or more times a day,  for even a couple of weeks in some cases, until your puppy realizes that when they go to the bathroom in the house, they do not get any type of reward, but if they wait or let you know that they need to go to the bathroom, that they are going to get rewarded.

Once your puppy gets in the routine of not going to the bathroom in your home anymore, you will have to keep a close eye on them as they will be trying to tell you that they have to go potty. One thing they may do is wait by the door, or they may even scratch at the door, if they do this you better be in a hurry to take them out as the younger puppies are the weaker their bladders are and you may not have that much time until they release.

If you are someone that has to work all the time then potty training your puppy can be a tedious task, but as mentioned before the newspaper trick does work. Crate training can also be an effective way to potty train your puppy but you will have to wait until they are a little bit older and have more control over their bladder.

Also you should take your puppy out to potty right after meals also, as they have a pretty fast digestive system and when their food is going in that means that it is usually going to come out in a little bit.

A dog that is poorly trained will give you more headaches than drinking straight bourbon all odd hours of the night, on an empty stomach. It can be annoying, devastating, and embarrassing, not something that you are going to want to show off to your friends and family. But now on the other hand, a puppy, or on that hand that is well trained, will be a much more enjoyable companion, and also much more safe. Take for instance if you dog is running from you and he is outside, when you call him he should return, as he could be running somewhere where he may be in danger, such as traffic on a busy street.

Just remember when you are trying to teach your puppy how to sit, you must be encouraging in every way that you can, such as rewarding the puppy when he carries out one of your commands. Dogs, and especially puppies do not respond well to being yelled at or attacked, most of the time they are just so scared and frightened they really do not know what is going on when you are yelling at them. So do not do that.

The basic process of teaching your dog how to sit, is to get in a routine with the dog and when the dog follows your command, reward the puppy with a treat, as puppies love treats and you will be surprised how smart they will get when they are trying to work for food.

The first step in training your puppy to ’sit’, is to introduce the puppy to the command. Even if you do not have a treat at the time, the puppy can still know when you are praising them from the tone of your voice.  Getting on the same level as the dog is another way that you will be able to treat and greet them to sit also.

Patience is very big here as you will more than likely have to go through the rewarding process many times before your puppy understands the ’sit’ command. One way you may be able to speed up this process is to put the treat on top of the dogs head and just hold it there, the dog will then start to sniff upwards, and hopefully fall into the sit stance while you are instructing him to do so, and when the puppy sits let them get the treat as a reward.

Also the speed of giving the reward is crucial also when teaching your puppy to sit. You are not going to fully teach your dog on how to sit in just one day, but every day that you go over these exercises the puppy is going to learn and be more aware of what the sit command is and what you want him to do, not only that the puppy will soon learn that as soon as he sits he is going to get rewarded with either a treat, or some praising and loving, which puppies love just as much!

Once you puppy has the sit command down to a science, then the the dog training just gets easier after that. You can then move to the next steps of dog training, which are usually the ‘paw’ or ’shake’ command, where the dog will shake your hand. After that you may want to move to the lay down command, the play dead command, or even the roll over command, and there are many other custom commands that you will be able to teach your dog.

Specifically the time that it is going to take to train a dog. You cannot expect to make a trip to your local pet smart, dog pound, or where ever it is you are about to acquire your knew dog, you cannot expect them to know what to do right away, unless of course they are house trained. For instance, puppies are not house trained, they are not born knowing what to do when it comes to things like listening to human commands, and where it is okay and not okay to go to the bathroom at.

We will be getting into all of the things that you need to know to train your dog, especially the potty training part, and how using a crate can be so effective when it comes to potty training your dog. Now there are many dog training books that are out there, and believe me I have read just about all of the. Not only that I have watched nearly every episode of the Dog Whisperer, hands down one of the best dog trainers that are out there today. You have to realize thought that the way that dogs learn, no matter what it is that you are trying to teach them, will be by routine.

Think about it, when you dog, or better yet your puppy does something that you consider good, then you will want to reward him. You can reward your puppy or dog by giving them treats, they do not even necessarily have to be those dog bone treats that you get in packages either. You can use just about any kind of food, maybe a piece of cereal. You will be surprised what your puppy or dog is going to be willing to do just to get some food in there stomach, as they always seem to make room for treats.

Dog training is a process and unless you are Caesar Milan it is not something that is going to happen overnight. The more you read, the more that you learn, and the more that you take the time to try and teach your puppy, the more successful and efficient the dog training process is going to be. All I have to say is be dedicated. Do not give up on your dog, as you will come to see dog is really man’s best friend. You will never find someone and raise them in a couple years, that you will see will be the most loyal animal, or being that you have ever been around. Dogs are more loyal to their (good) owners than any animal there is, they will die for you, they will do anything to gain your attention and make sure that you are safe. So take the time to train them properly and please stay away from harsh punishments, as the dog only knows as much as the owner will train them.