Potty training for your puppy is probably one of the most important training goal. The earlier you train your puppy to let go at the right place, the less hassle you will have to deal with. An untrained puppy will let go any place, and at any time - even at the most inconvenient time like midnight.
As the owner, you must understand that this is not the puppy's fault. You shouldn't get angry with the puppy just because it urinated or needs to poo poo at the wrong time. A puppy is just a baby dog. And like all babies, it needs to be taught what to do. But until you can train it to behave in a satisfactory manner, be patient ok?
If you just bought a new puppy, find out from the previous owner whether the puppy has been potty trained or not. If it has been trained, that will save you a lot of trouble. Communicate with the previous owner and find out about the potty schedule as much as possible. When does the puppy usually need to relieve itself? You can pick up the training from there.
But if the puppy has never been potty trained before, you need to start everything from scratch. So how do you begin?
A good point to start, is by observing the natural habits of your puppy. Your puppy, not knowing what is the right thing to do, will let go whenever it feels like it. It doesn't care where, and it certainly doesn't care when. It's your job, as the owner, to train the puppy so that it can develop acceptable potty habits.
In the beginning, it may be a little bit tough. You won't be able to get the puppy to change immediately. Reserve a space specially for your puppy while it's undergoing training. You certainly can't watch over it for 24 hours! This is just a temporary phase. Until the puppy learns good potty habits, it will have to defecate in the confined space. It's also easier to clean up.
There is another good reason for keeping a confined space for the puppy. When a puppy urinates or defecates, there is going to be a strong odor. Cleaning up the same space with soap and water will remove the odor, but only for human noses. But the puppy, having a much more sensitive nose, will still be able to small the odor. It may think that's the defecating area, and goes back again to poo poo again. If it's doing it at the confined space, that's fine. Imagine the puppy going back to your expensive sofa set to defecate!
But if you find your puppy doing that, you can always go to a pet store to buy some special chemicals that will remove the odor completely - even for dogs.
Your puppy needs a lot of water as it is still a baby. Keep a fix schedule when you are giving water to the puppy. For example, if you give the water to the puppy at 2pm, observe when it urinates. Usually, the puppy's biological clock will tell you what to do. If you don't want your puppy to be urinating at odd hours, then control the feeding!
The next thing to do, is to let your puppy know when is a good time to relieve itself. The best way to do this, is to keep repeating the same behavioral patterns day in and out. For instance, take your puppy out to do its business after each meal. Keep doing this until your puppy falls into the habit of letting go after eating.
When you are out with your puppy, don't play with the puppy. Let the puppy know, gently, that it is supposed to be potty time, not play time.
