It wasn't easy! We took her out every 20 minutes while we were at home. When we were at work, we came home expecting an accident. She would get taken out twice before we left for work, three times on my break, and every 20 minutes when we got home.
We learned to understand Roxy's body language. When she would start sniffing around and ducking her head, we knew she needed to go potty. We knew she needed to get outside, and FAST.
One of the most important parts of potty training, I've learned, is supervision. You can't ignore a puppy and expect them to not have an accident while you are doing other things. [This will also help protect your furniture!]
Whenever Roxy seemed to need to use the restroom, or already used it inside, we would rush her outside. It's important to do this quickly so the puppy makes the association between "potty" and "outside". We would verbalize to Roxy when she needed to go potty "Let's go outside!". When we got outside, I would tell her "go potty". Once she went potty, I would tell her "Good potty!" in an excited voice.
We are and have been crate training Roxy since we took her home. I have probably cleaned poop and pee [epic porportions]out of the kennel 500 times. Some dogs won't use the restroom in their kennel because they see it as their "den". And you don't sh*t where you sleep! ;) Roxy had never heard this expression before.
But she eventually understood that it wasn't ok, and would expect me to come home and take her out as soon as I walked in. Now, when she needs to go potty and is outside the kennel, she sits next to the door.
Housetraining Puppies : The Humane Society of the United States
[Humane Society offers great advice and support to pet owners! Check it out!]
