Potty training is the first thing that you should start doing when you bring your puppy home. This essential life skill is much easier to teach a young dog and will be a smooth process if you are consistent. The first component is getting your puppy on a good schedule.
How Long Your Pup Can Go Without A Potty Break
To make a successful potty training schedule, we need to know how long the puppy can go without having an accident. This answer varies on a few different qualities. The general rule is that a puppy can hold it for one hour longer than their age in months through the night. This means that a 3-month-old puppy can hold it for 4 hours at a time. Some puppies can far exceed this, while others stay very true to it. Smaller breeds have smaller bladders, so expect shorter time frames.
These time frames will also vary based on the puppy’s activity level and eating schedule. Puppies should always go out within a half-hour of eating or drinking and should go out right after playtime or right after they wake up from a nap. Be very conscious of these times, as they are the times your puppy is most likely to have an accident.
Keep Potty Training Consistent
You also want to keep your puppy on a regular schedule with their feeding and bedtimes. If your puppy always has different feeding times, it will be harder to predict their potty habits. The same is true for sleeping schedules. It will be much harder for your puppy to settle and go to sleep if he never knows to predict that it is bedtime. Set these activities simultaneously every day, and you will make potty training a dog much more straightforward.
Get Everyone On Board
It is essential for multiple-person households that everyone is on the same page with the house training schedule. Make sure that everyone is maintaining the same program and keeping track of any slip-ups that occur. If you are rewarding the puppy for going outside, make sure that everyone does the same thing. If you have found that the puppy needs to go out at a specific time every day after meals, make sure that everyone who feeds him knows this.
Potty training a dog doesn’t have to be a struggle. Following the right steps in the beginning will lead to a dog that you never have to worry about as an adult. If you have any questions, contact us at The Doghouse.
