Basic Training: House Training Your Puppy

Probably the only time you will yell at your pup is when he makes your guest room carpet his toilet area. Yelling won’t help. Training would, specifically housetraining.
Like babies, pups do not know where to “go” unless taught so. The more consistent you are in following the basic housetraining procedures, the faster your puppy will learn acceptable behavior.
According to Vinay Sharma, dog trainer and breeder, it may take several weeks to housetrain a puppy, and with some of the smaller breeds, it might take longer.
A pup under six months of age cannot be expected to control his bladder for more than a few hours at a time. If you have to be away from home for more than four or five hours a day, this may not be the best time for you to get a puppy. Don't give your puppy an opportunity to soil in the house; keep an eye on him whenever he's indoors. For a small pup you will have to look out for elimination every two hours, after each meal and play. Some things you can do are:
- Watch for signs that he needs to eliminate, like sniffing around or circling. When you see these signs, immediately grab the leash and take him outside to his bathroom spot. If he eliminates, praise him lavishly and reward him with a treat.
- Praise your puppy generously every time he eliminates outdoors immediately after he's finished eliminating, not after he comes back inside the house. This step is crucial, because this is the only way he'll know what's expected of him.
- Pick a spot and always take your puppy to that spot using a leash. Take him out for a longer walk or some playtime only after he has eliminated.
- If you clean up an accident in the house, take the soiled rags or paper towels and leave them in the bathroom spot. The smell will help your puppy identify the area as the place he is supposed to eliminate.
- While your puppy is eliminating, use a word or phrase, like "go potty," that you can eventually use before he eliminates to remind him what to do.
Put your puppy on a regular feeding schedule and feed a high-quality diet to make housetraining easier. Depending on their age, puppies usually need to be fed three or four times a day. Feeding your puppy at the same times each day will make it more likely that he'll eliminate at consistent times as well, and that makes housetraining easier for both of you. Housetraining a puppy requires a lot of vigilance, patience, and plenty of commitment. Never punish a pup if an accident happens, dogs don’t understand punishment, even if it’s only seconds later after the accident. Punishment will do more harm than good.