Lesson 9: Create a Simple Plan to Finish House Training

You have a good grasp on your puppy’s training now. To complete your puppy’s house training, you need to continue following the House-Training Rules until its bladder is fully mature, which, as you now know, is typically around six months of age. Some pups will be trustworthy earlier but most are not.

Create a Simple Training Plan

You know to:

• Confine your puppy whenever you are not actively watching it.
• Actively watch your pup anytime its free inside, whether in your house, someone else’s, at a training class, etc.
• Take your puppy outside on leash every time it gives you a signal.
• Say your potty command each and every time you take your puppy out.
• Generously reward your pup with praise and treats every time (and play and walks some of the time) it potties outside.
• If your puppy did not potty, ALWAYS confine it when you come inside.
• Build your pup’s bladder muscle by confining it for short periods in the crate before the next potty trip.

You are also teaching your puppy to ask to go outside, either by coming to you to ask or in another way that works with your living situation. Wow, you have learned quite a lot over the last few weeks, and are making great strides in your pup’s potty training. Congratulations!!

You Can Do It!

But now comes the hard part…continuing to follow this course for a few more months. By now you have watched your puppy like a hawk inside for hundreds of hours and taken it out hundreds of times. You have repeated your potty command ad infinitum. We know it is getting old. What you also need to know is that your puppy is progressing at a normal rate and all this effort will be worth it in the end. Remember, it takes even more time to potty train a child that you can converse with!

So stay the course for another month or two. We promise it will be worth it! You will have long forgotten how much work this was as you enjoy the benefits of your puppy being trustworthy in your home for years to come. Keep your eye on the prize. Visualize this...your puppy is now two years old lying on its bed in the den while you are working on the computer or reading a good book. After a few hours your puppy comes to your chair and sits quietly staring at you. You give your pup recognition by scratching its head and saying hello. It continues to stare at you when you realize your puppy needs to go out. You ask, "Do you have to go outside?" at which point your puppy runs to the door and waits for you to open the door to let it out. Your puppy does its business and comes back right back to you for a small treat, a pat on the head or both. You both then retire back into the den for some more quiet time together.

Why Many Others Fail

This is the point where many people fail in potty training. They either continue to treat their older puppy like a baby, taking it out every hour or two, or they see some semblance of bladder control and they just turn their puppy loose in the house, which ends in disaster.

The truth is your puppy is still a puppy! It has some control of its bladder muscle, but you still have to continue to teach your pup to make a choice of where to potty; indoors or outdoors. How? You guessed it--continued confinement, watching your puppy when it is loose, rewarding your pup when it does it right, and building its communication skills so your puppy tells you it needs to go. Knowing what you need to do to succeed and continuing to spend the time to follow through until your puppy’s bladder is fully mature will give you a dog you can trust to understand not to potty in its room, which will end up being anywhere indoors.

If Your Pup Is Having Accidents

If your puppy is having accidents, they are likely due to the most common mistake people make--expanding their puppy’s space too soon!

Your puppy should have three “rooms” in its life right now: its crate, its ex-pen and the room it is loose in while you watch it. Your puppy will have the rest of its life to enjoy all your home and life have to offer!

If your puppy is having accidents in the:

crate, please email us or schedule a coaching call by contacting us at info@avidog.com.

ex-pen, you need to make it smaller by a panel or two. Don't feel guilty!! Your puppy spends most of its time sleeping in the ex-pen, so it won't matter to your puppy.

• Once your pup has gone for a week with no accidents you can try enlarging the pen by a single panel.
• If it has an accident, immediately reduce the size. When your puppy is accident free for a week you may enlarge the pen with an additional panel.
• There is no need to make an ex-pen larger than its original eight panels.
• We typically confine our puppies to their ex-pens until they are a year old if we are away from the house. They happily go to their “room.” Oftentimes we have to stop the older dogs from trying to get into the ex-pen first because they know that's where all the good stuff is!

house, you need to watch your puppy more carefully, reduce the room(s) it has access to, or leave it out for shorter periods.

• Use an ex-pen to block off an area of the room to make it smaller.
• Put gates in the doorways so your pup cannot leave the room to go potty.
• If you need to take your eyes off of your puppy, put it in the crate or expen. It only takes a moment for accidents to happen!

The ONLY way to effectively potty train your puppy is by using your puppy's natural instincts to live in a clean area. Giving too much space, whether in the crate, ex-pen or house, enables your puppy to potty indoors and still be able to sleep and play in a clean area. This will only confuse your puppy, which you don’t want to do after working so hard over the last few months.

One of our favorite quotes is from Bob Bailey, a world renown animal trainer: “It’s simple, but not easy!” That sums up potty training in five words! Potty training is done by following a few simple steps! Following through so your puppy can be successful is not easy, but we promise, it will be worth it in the long run!