Potty Training Your Doodle Puppy
The time proven housebreaking method.
Housebreaking a puppy can be an easy process or very difficult depending on the method chosen. Before bringing your puppy home you should have everything necessary to make housebreaking easy and know exactly how you plan to do it.
I personally love “doggy door training” we have a sliding glass door insert and it works great but all my dogs are also crate trained. If it’s not possible for you to install a doggy door — the following potty training method works great and fast too.. how fast will depend on how consistent you are…
- Get your puppy on a set feeding/sleeping and eliminating schedule ASAP!
- Buy a bag of small dog training treats, you can also use small pieces of chicken. Don’t use Hot Dogs. Each training treat should be no bigger then a dime and easy and quick to eat.
- Have plenty of puppy potty cleaning supplies. I personally recommend the Nature’s Miracle Stain & Odor Remover or the Rocco and Roxie Professional Strength Stain & Odor Remover.
- Make sure you have a 6ft – 10ft leash and collar. Every Dreamydoodle Puppy comes with a nylon martingale collar and a matching 6ft leash!
- Pick a “designated “potty spot” where you want your puppy to go potty. This will helps in a few ways, for one – puppies go potty where they’ve gone before and for two – it makes it easier for you to spot and clean up and for three – dogs just prefer it. If you dont pick a spot, they will and you might not appreciate where they pick.
- Wait for them to completely finish going potty before you start praising them. If you reward them mid-stream – you may cause them to stop or even rush.
- Make sure they’ve fully emptied their bladder & bowel before bringing them back inside, watch to make sure they actually go potty. Some puppies will go a little outside or not at all and then the minute they get back inside – go potty on the rug. This is one of the most common issues we hear from our potty training families.I wrote a post on what may cause this to happen and how to deal with it here.
- Treats Work Great as a Potty Training Incentive – At First! If you decide to use treats as a potty training incentive, just don’t overdo it – give them one treat per potty break and once they understand what you’re asking, in this case (to go potty outside) – then you remove the food reward and replace it with just praise and affection, you don’t want to have to give your dog a treat everytime you ask them to obey a simple command and believe me this can easily happen. Eventually you want your dog to listen to you – with or without treats. This holds true for all types of Training.
- Keep a Close Eye Out for Potty Ques! When you can’t have all eyes on your puppy then you need to put them back in an enclosure, x-pen (playpen) or crate until they’re consistently housebroken.
- Avoid Accidents– it’s much harder to train a puppy once they’ve gone potty on the carpet a few times, they are attracted to the scent so make sure to thoroughly clean up any potty mess with a enzyme spray like Natures Miricle Spray.
- The backing on carpet has a smell that makes them want to us it for potty. Therefore, it’s better to restrict the puppy to hard surface floors for at least the first couple weeks.
Read Our Post On: How to Housebreak Your Dog in 7-14 Days – Crate Training Schedule for Families Who Work Full-Time and One for Families Who are Home All Day
Time Proven Potty Training Routine..
The following house training approach will be effective with most puppies. You must be diligent for this method to work. Using the steps for a few hours/days and then skipping a day or two will not lead to a housebroken puppy.
From the moment the puppy comes home you have to begin the outside training process. Immediately upon bringing a puppy home, put them on a leash and take them directly to the door that leads outside and where you have your bells hanging, take his paw and ring the bells, then open the door and take him to his new go potty spot.
When the puppy has reached the location where you want them to go potty, use a potty command phrase that you’ve selected and do not say any other words. I personally use the phrase “Go Potty!“
Then wait for the puppy to do something. Immediately upon seeing the puppy completes going potty, bend down and give the puppy a small treat. Praise your puppy! I like to say “Good Go Potty Outside!” (and use their name)
Be consistent with whatever you choose to say and say the same thing every time!
Only one treat per completed job.
When finished, lead the puppy back into the house, play with the puppy for maybe ten or fifteen minutes.
- Then place them back in their crate.
- Repeat this process every two to three hours.
Always be consistent, soon the puppy will begin to understand the routine.
Place the puppy back in the crate or enclosure unless you’re going to be able to monitor them at all times.
- Never leave the puppy to roam the house when housebreaking. One accident can set you back.
Be vigilant when your puppy is in the house especially on the carpeted areas of your home.
Watch for potty ques like circling, sniffing etc. if you see them doing this take them directly outside.
During potty training you must have your eyes on your puppy in the house at all times to avoid accidents. Like a HAWK!
Accidents can happen if you’re not paying attention..
If the puppy has an accident, do not discipline them, a calm and assertive energy is going to be key to gaining your puppies trust. If you’re yelling and screaming then your puppy will just think that you’re unbalanced and that you can not be trusted and this is really not the way you want to start a lifelong relationship with your puppy.
Labradoodles and Aussiedoodles are very smart dogs, training them is easy but you also need to be careful what you’re training them, you can unintentionally train them unwanted behaviors without even realizing you’re doing it by providing attention to those unwanted behaviors and training them with anger – will only teach them that humans can not be trusted.
BEING A GOOD PUPPY PARENT
Puppies learn to read your body language and your tone before they learn our verbal language.
Dogs follow assertive energy, but will only fear angry or frustrated energy – so pay close attention to your body language and your tone when training your puppy.
Puppies respect the leader… the boss… they know you’re not a dog but they do get the concept that you’re the leader of the pack or the household. You feed them, walk them and you decide when those things happen.. plus you offer them affection.. just make sure you have balance. Too much affection and not enough boundaries and limitations and your dog will rule the home.
If you catch your puppy squatting in the house, rush over, pick them up, say in a calm but assertive tone of voice… “No, you go Potty Outside” Take the puppy directly outside using the same routine (do not put the puppy back to the crate first so you can clean up the mess).
Take the puppy outside first and then clean up the mess once the puppy is back in their enclosure. Use your Nature’s Miracle Stain & Odor Remover
If the puppy marks the inside of the house with accidents that are not cleaned up completely, it will use the pheromone in these accident areas as the indicator of where it should go again and again – that is why the best rule is to avoid the first accident by containing and watching your puppy like a hawk when it’s not contained until you think they’re reliable going outside.
Do not use any of these old school potty training punishments we’ve all seen used in the past.
- Do not yell at the puppy for having an accident, especially if you didn’t catch them in the act.. that was your fault for not containing them or supervising them closer when they were not contained.
- Do not use a newspaper to swat them,
- Do not rub their nose in it
Make certain everyone in the household and any friends or guests understand not to punish the puppy for an accident. If the accident was inside the crate, then you may need to be letting them out more often or get them on a more consistent eating schedule so you know better when to take them out.
Do not give your puppy food or water at least a couple hours before bedtime.
Do not let the puppy train YOU with moans and whimpering at night. Leave the puppy to adjust to its new environment. In the morning, go to the puppy and put the leash on their collar, pick them up and carry them to the door quickly and begin the housebreaking process again.
Following all the before mentioned steps. If the puppy soiled its crate, cleanup the mess without bringing attention to the puppy that it had an accident. After a month or more when the puppy always goes to the door to go outside, begin to wean the puppy off treats.
Skipping a treat every once in awhile. When the puppy is completely house broken you can wean them off the treats completely. Just remember to not give up on training the new puppy to follow a set procedure to let you know it wants to go outside.
Do not use doggy doors until the puppy knows its proper spot to go potty and not to go inside.
Be diligent, have patience and consistency in your training and your new puppy will be housebroken in a short period of time.
Puppy Potty Schedules
Setting Up Your Schedule Puppies urinate frequently and predictably. They go after waking up, after eating, after playing, and when they get excited.
Always take your puppy out to the same place, the same time, and following his meals. It is important to allow your puppy to earn space in your home. Only allow him in a new room after he has gone to the bathroom outside.
Do not overextend his limits. He needs to gradually work up to extended freedom in the home. Do not wait until your puppy is 6 months old to show him your living space, he will not consider this part of his “den” and may not respect it. Good manners are taught young. Within 10-30 minutes after you feed your pup he will have to relieve himself.
All your walks do not need to be long. The first walk in the morning is just to relieve himself then bring him back in for breakfast in the crate. Pull up all food and water by 7pm (depending on your schedule, climate, etc.). Your puppy needs to go to bed on an empty stomach and bladder. An ice cube instead of a whole bowl of water is helpful…. It gives them liquid in the bowl gradually and/or is a fun snack.
Feed your pup in his crate for now. This does several things, it enables him to eat with more peace of mind knowing he’s in his own space, and it makes the crate a more enjoyable place to spend time in.
Giving your puppy dinner by 5pm allows him to digest and urinate prior to bedtime. If he seems hungry later a biscuit around 7 is ok.
Example of Puppy Schedules
Download 2 more training schedules –
NOT INTO THE CRATE IDEA?
TRY POOCHIE BELLS…
3 step training instructions
- STEP ONE – INTRODUCTION – Hang PoochieBells inside the house on a doorknob or hook next to the door your dog exits to go out and leave it there so it is accessible at all times for your dog to ring.
- STEP TWO – ASSOCIATION – Every time you let your dog out to potty, bring the dog to the bells to sniff, ring them, and state a command such as “Outside, ring your bells!”, praise the dog, then take him/her out to potty. We do not recommend playing with or giving the dog a treat at that time. You want him/her to associate ringing the bells with potty time only.\
- STEP THREE – PRAISE AND REPEAT – Throughout conditioning, continue your command, be consistent and praise your dog for their attention and wanted behavior. Consistency is key.
BUY POOCHIE BELLS ON AMAZON HERE!
Crate Size information:
The first few nights, you can place the crate beside the bed so that the puppy can hear and smell you. It is your choice to place a pillow, towel or puppy pad inside the crate.
Normally puppies will not soil their sleeping area. Dogs are den animals and are naturally clean, they do not want to sleep in their own potty mess. If they’ve been raised in a clean environment to begin with at the breeders then you can use their natural instinct to your benefit by using a crate to potty train your puppy. Using a crate is not mean.
They may not like it at first but they will eventually see their crate as their den and safe haven. A chew toy is usually the best thing to place inside a crate and nothing else.
You want to make sure however that the crate is not big enough for them to make a bathroom area and a sleeping area in their crate. It needs to be big enough for them to turn around, lay down, stand up and sit down without their head hitting the top of the crate.
If the crate is too big they will divide the crate with one side being their potty spot and one side being their sleeping spot. You do not want this. If your puppy is going potty in their crate then you are waiting too long to take them out to go potty and you need to adjust their eating and drinking schedule.
A puppy that eats and drinks all day will also go pee and poop all day.
PUPPY & ADULT CRATE SIZES – Midwest I-Crates
XL Dog Crate | MidWest iCrate – 48L x 30W x 33H Inches
Medium Size Standard Size – Adult Doodles – iCrate
Measures 42L x 30W x 28H inches
30 Inch Size I-Crate – For Standard Size Aussiedoodles and Labradoodle Puppies
Standard size Labradoodle and Aussiedoodle “Puppy” Size: Medium: 30″L x 19″W x 21″H
24 Inch Size I-Crate – For Mini Size Puppies – Aussiedoodles and Labradoodle Puppies
Mini Aussiedoodle Puppy Size: Small: 24″L x 18″W x 19″H (this size may work for them as adults as well depending on how big they get, you can always get the Medium size to begin with as well)
36 Inch Size I-Crate – For Moyen and Smaller Standard Size Aussiedoodles and Labradoodle Adults
Standard Labradoodle and Aussiedoodle Adult size: Intermediate: 36″L x 23″W x 25″H
The Midwest iCrate comes with the following:
- Single Door or double door options
- Fold and Carry Configuration
- Divider Panel ( to make a larger crate smaller until they grow into it)
- Composite plastic Pan
- Safe and secure slide bolt latch
For people who work or for those people who can not take their puppy out every 2-3 hours, I do recommend they use a contained area with access to a litter box until they’re a little older and can hold it for the full 8 hours in a carte.
You can use either baby gates or an x-pen with a crate inside of it to contain your puppy in a small area. I personally like the wire x-pens which you can find on amazon.com for really cheap. I like to put a plastic tarp (as seen in this picture below) under the x-pen.
I’d rather see you use a litter box with paper pellets. Puppies tend to chew up puppy pads which causes a huge mess.
You can find these x-pens at Amazon.com, Petco and Petsmart – Amazon Link: Midwest Black E-Coat Exercise Pen, 24″H x 8 x 24″W
Great Video by Cesar Millan
