Molly, a black lab, came to live with us on Friday, February 28th, 2014. She is eleven weeks old, cute and not house trained. Her name was Peggy when she came home. Then it was Penny, Maggie, Lucy, Margaret, back to Peggy. Penny again for a few hours, and now it is Molly.

The last time I potty trained a puppy was in 2004, ten years ago. I completely forgot how often they pee. We didn’t have a plan, but after she peed three times on my daughters rug, we moved into OPERATION POTTY OUTSIDE

How to potty train a puppy in 7 easy steps.

1. Take the puppy outside after it plays, eats, drinks or sleeps. Take it outside IMMEDIATELY. Do not pass go and collect your $200 dollars. Do not go to the bathroom first. You can hold it longer than a puppy. Pick the puppy up and carry it outside. You often don’t have time to allow the puppy to walk to the front door.

2. Barricade the puppy in the  kitchen. Do not allow the dog on carpeted areas. If you are not paying attention and the dog pees, it will be on linoleum and not on carpet. We used a sofa, a child’s table and a puppet stage to barricade the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

3. NEVER be mad at your dog. DO NOT stick its nose in the pee or poop. Take the dog outside and give it a chance to finish its business. And then calmly clean up the mess and dispose of it.

4. Take the dog outside and go for a walk around the block several times a day. Puppies need a lot of exercise. They are not a cute toy. They need to run and play. Just like people. Do not allow the dog to sit in front of the television watching sports or soap operas all day. And absolutely no bon-bons, chocolate or potato chips.

5. If your puppy will not pee or poop outside and you know it has to go, put it in a kennel when you get back in the house, or keep it beside you and watch it like a hawk watches a mouse. The puppy would rather do its business inside a warm house than outside in the rain and cold. Give it a few minutes to stop whining and then take the puppy outside again. Do not say, “I will let it poop inside just this one time. It is so cold outside. The poor little thing.”

It is easier to train a dog to have good habits then it is to unlearn bad habits. [ Would you like to tweet? tweet tweet]

6. Do not use pads in the house to let the dog pee and poop on. The dog won’t know understand why it can’t pee and poop in the house when the pads are gone. Crate train your dog. It won’t mess in the crate if it is the correct size. It the crate is too big, it will make one area a bathroom and one area a sleeping area.

7. Think of the dog as being glued to your hip. The dog is either in the crate or beside you. You can tie the lease to your belt-loop while you cook.

A well-trained puppy is a joy to live with.

If the puppy is not well-trained, it is NEVER the puppies fault. The owner is responsible.

How did you potty train your puppy? Please tell me in the comments. I would love to talk about dog pee and poop.

p.s. The dogs name is now 3.14159265 or Pi

p.s.s. Pi slept peacefully besides my daughters bed last night, and I didn’t sleep in the kennel again. I slept in a dog kennel last night