When Should You Start Potty Training Your Puppy?

Potty training your puppy immediately after you bring them home, is the best way to ensure success. Potty training should begin around three weeks of age, when the puppies are able to go to the bathroom on their own, unfortunately most breeders do not begin the training process at this time, so it is up to you to train them.

If you are lucky enough to get a puppy from a breeder who did begin potty training with your puppy, than finishing the job will be a much simpler endeavor. When a puppy is started on potty training at a young age, they tend to develop a strong dislike for their own fluids. Because of this dislike, they won't want to pee or poop where they sleep or in their immediate living space, which makes it easier to potty train them.

Unfortunately, potty training doesn't usually happen for most pups at this early stage in their life. Part of this could be that owners don't typically bring a puppy home until they are around 6 to 8 weeks of age. Up until the time of purchase, if the breeder hasn't worked with the puppy, they have had free reign to potty wherever they so choose, including their sleeping and living space, which will often make training much more difficult for the new owner. A puppy that has had at least some amount of training will be a much easier pup to work with.

It's important to begin potty training your new puppy the minute they get to their new home. Begin teaching the puppy where they should relieve themselves immediately, but avoid using scare tactics, as this could make the puppy more difficult to manage. There are a couple of reasons why you should do this.

To let the puppy know that there are specific places that are acceptable to potty in, and other places that are absolutely not. Constant reminders are necessary for puppies if you want them to learn a behavior. The second reason is that allowing them to potty wherever they choose will only lead to the puppy thinking that their behavior is acceptable, and they will continue to follow this pattern. The future consequences of this will be extremely problematic.

Your potty training efforts with your puppy will go much smoother if you are reinforcing the proper and improper times and places to use the bathroom, as soon as the puppy comes to live in your home. To avoid confusion, use the same approach throughout the potty training process. In order to train dogs, you but be consistent and repetitive. So when it comes time to work with your puppy, decide on the method that you want to use and be sure to stick with it.

If you are starting from scratch in potty training your puppy, or if you find that you are having to work on undoing some inappropriate behaviors, your puppy's potty training may take quite a while. So, you will certainly help your cause by beginning to work with them immediately after getting them. By doing this, you should have a much less difficult time with potty training your puppy, and hopefully complete this task in a shorter amount of time.

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