How To Nail Puppy Potty Training Like A Pro

Welcoming a new little buddy to your home? Great! Having to constantly clean up their messes? Not so great. Like it or not, puppy potty training is one of the most important steps to helping your little buddy adjust nicely to living in a home.

So here’s a comprehensive guide walking you through everything you need to know – including how to keep them safe in case they run off on a toilet break outdoors.

Why it’s so important to potty train your puppy

A general rule of thumb is that a puppy should be able to hold their bladder for around an hour for every month of age. But in general, the younger they are, the more limited your puppy’s bladder control. Which still isn’t grounds for letting them pee into your houseplants, all over your apartment, and other places outdoors they really shouldn’t!

So besides keeping your surroundings clean, puppy potty training is also key to:

• Your puppy’s health, especially if you’re able to prevent accidents inside the house. This reduces the risk of infections and health issues for both you, your little buddy, and your family members.
• Teaching your puppy good behaviors, especially their boundaries. With a potty training schedule, you’ll establish a routine that’ll help your little buddy learn good habits and reinforce their understanding of where it’s okay to go (and where it isn’t.)
• Learning your puppy’s behaviors, especially signs they need to go. These might include sniffing thr ground, circling, whining, or suddenly pausing an activity midway.

💡 Most importantly, training your puppy any new skill can be an important bonding moment. How come? Because of the patience, positive reinforcement, and consistency you have to bring to every step of the process.

Which makes it all 100% worth it in the end, if you ask us.

A simple puppy potty training schedule you could follow

Now before we get started, be prepared to stick to your training for at 4-6 months. Puppy potty training is an ongoing process – and your little buddy needs a consistent schedule to succeed best. (Without regressing back to their old habits.)

As a general rule of thumb: take your puppy to their designated “toilet” spot after meals and in regular intervals throughout the day. Like, for example:

• Morning: Take your puppy to relieve themselves immediately after they wake up – and 10-15 minutes after eating their first meal of the day. (Ideally, your puppy’s sleeping area or crate is near your bedroom, so you can prioritize their toilet break first thing in the morning.)
• Mid-morning: Take your puppy on another bathroom break to prevent accidents.

• Noon: Lunch, followed by a bathroom break.
• Afternoon: Another bathroom break after your puppy’s done napping.
• Evening: Dinner, followed by a bathroom break – and another one right before bedtime. Try and avoid too much water right before sleep.

Now this schedule isn’t set in stone – you can adjust it freely according to how your little buddy does. As they grow older, you can also gradually extend the time between bathroom breaks.

What if you aren’t around to supervise?

In general, puppies can’t “hold it” for longer than a few hours, especially the younger they are. So a rule of thumb is their age in months + 1. Meaning, a 2-month old puppy can only hold it in for around 3 hours, give or take.

So if you aren’t home that day, make sure to:

• Keep your puppy indoors in a safely-confined space, with plenty of toys and treats to keep them occupied. Baby gates work great when they’re still too small enough to jump over them.
• Crate training your puppy can be another option, but do be careful not to confine your puppy to them for longer than a few hours. (The younger they are, the lesser the time they should spend in one.)
• Get someone to check in on your puppy periodically to take care of any toilet breaks. Including one of your friends, a family member, neighbor, or a pet-sitter.

• Consider installing an in-home camera to check in on your puppy throughout the day. This can also help your little buddy feel reassured you’ll come back home to take care of them, especially if they have separation anxiety.
• Once you’re back home, accompany your puppy immediately for a toilet break.
• Clean up any indoor mess (especially accidents) without scolding your puppy. They just need a bit more practice, is all!

Besides, if you keep track of your puppy’s food and water intake, so you can gradually learn to predict when they’ll need to go outside. (Like if they’ve just eaten wet food over dry food.) Make sure to avoid switching up their meals (and treats) too often, since this may upset their tummies.

Our top puppy potty training tips to nail the process

With some patience, love, and consistency, you can end up toilet training your puppy in a matter of a week or two. But in general, vets recommend following a consistent schedule until your little buddy is around 6-8 months old.¹

“For eight-week-old puppies, I recommend at least once every one to two hours during the day, unless they are napping.”

– Cathy Madson, MA, FDM, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA²

So here are some tips to help you succeed and nail your puppy potty training like a pro:

1. Pick a specific toilet spot

With a designated “toilet” spot, your puppy will gradually learn to relieve themselves quicker and easier by associating it with bathroom break time. So you should ideally train your little buddy to do their business:

• Somewhere indoors, so you plan ahead for days where the weather’s rubbish outdoors. This could be a designated potty “pad”, a disposable “grass” patch – or even a litter box. (Like cats use.) Make sure this area isn’t anywhere near where your puppy eats or sleeps or near any carpeted areas.
• Somewhere outdoors, which could be a corner of your yard or a spot on your sidewalk where it’s easy for you to clean up after them. Do your best to avoid toilet breaks in areas you see frequented by other dogs, since it can open up your little buddy’s risk for infections.

⚠️ Always keep your puppy leashed when out on toilet breaks. The chances of them running off from getting spooked, excited, or just curious about something – and ending up too far from safety – are always a given, especially the younger and less well-trained they are.

Read more: Why Do Dogs Run Away? 6 Reasons Behind It

2. Be consistent with your commands (and rewards)

Once you’ve taken them to their bathroom break spot (and if they’re quite young), your puppy might relieve themselves immediately. You can help them learn a command like “Okay, go potty,” or “Do your business,” – so they learn to associate it with a toilet break.

💡 With this command – and the sights, sounds, and smells of the toilet spot area – your puppy will naturally learn to relieve themselves on cue.

• We’d also recommend keeping some treats ready so you can reward your puppy after they go potty – whether that’s outside or inside. This helps them understand that it’s “good behavior” to relieve themselves only in specific spots.
• Did your puppy have an accident indoors? Stay calm, thoroughly clean up the mess (to prevent any odors that might attract them back to the same spot) – and don’t offer a “reward”, i.e. treats or praise.

3. Avoid scolding your puppy

The younger your little buddy is, the more likely it is they might not make it out the door before they’ve had an accident. So in these cases, do your best to stay patient and avoid getting mad at them.

Besides stressing them out, you’ll just end up making your little buddy scared and anxious – which can make potty training slower and more difficult. (As well as compromise on their love for and trust in you.) Yelling, scolding, or punishing them might just make your puppy afraid to relieve themselves when you’re around.

⚠️ Fear and anxiety are two, other key reasons dogs end up escaping from home. Rather, you’re better off using a training method built on positive reinforcement – like, for example, clicker training.

Read more: Clicker Training for Dogs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Positive Reinforcement

4. Keep an eye out for your puppy’s “toilet break” signals

No matter how consistent you’ve been, there might just end up being a time your puppy needs to go outside of their designated times. So watch for signs like:

• Restlessness or pacing up and down
• Pawing or scratching the door
• Vocalizing, including barking and/or whining
• Circling
• Sniffing around
• Fidgeting
• Squatting (Red flag! Get your puppy outdoors before they have an accident.)

💡Depending on how many dogs you have at home, you might find one breed of puppy taking much longer than others! For example, smaller dog breeds tend to have smaller bladders overall, so they might need more frequent toilet breaks.³

However, if you notice your puppy needing to pee despite feeding them and taking them on toilet breaks consistently – it might be worth getting in touch with your vet to rule out any underlying medical issues.

5. Plan ahead for distractions & escape attempts

Even the quietest, most isolated toilet break spot isn’t free from distractions. So no matter how firmly leashed you’ve got them, all it takes is a moment’s negligence for your puppy to bolt off miles away from safety – especially if you’re both outdoors. This is especially important during the early stages of potty training when your little buddy is still getting used to their surroundings.

⚠️ Besides, your puppy is still young and doesn’t know or trust you yet 100% – these things take time, trust, and effort.

Meaning they’re not just more likely to run away, they’re also less likely to be able to find their way back “home.” (Since “home” is such a new, unfamiliar environment overall!)

So you could plan ahead for a “lost puppy” situation by:

• Informing your neighbors, making both you and your puppy familiar faces. So they can keep an eye out for your little buddy and alert you if they spot them running down the driveway or exploring their backyards.
• Attaching an ID tag to your puppy’s collar, which can help a kind stranger to identify your lost little buddy. Make sure to include your contact details on their ID tag as well.
• Getting your puppy microchipped at 8 weeks, which is considered a safe, painless, relatively affordable process. Microchips work like a permanent ID tag for your puppy and contain your contact details. A vet or a shelter can scan your puppy for one to get in touch with you.

⚠️ Just remember: an ID tag can fall off or get smudged. Likewise, a microchip can only help someone identify your puppy. Not actively track them down or actually locate them for you.

Which is why we’d also recommend you:

• Strap a GPS tracker to your little buddy’s collar.

So you can track your moving puppy in real-time, over an unlimited range, and with just a glance at your phone.

“If my friends get a dog for the first time, I always suggest they get a Tractive device, first thing.

And to be completely honest, I don’t see why people wouldn’t! It’s convenient, safe, comfortable – and you never know what could happen to your pet when out on a walk together.

You can train any animal to stay close to you and work together, you could have the best-behaved dog that stays by your side all the time  – but you have to consider the worst case scenario as well.

They could get hit by a car or a bike, attacked by another dog or animal (like my dog Charlie was, twice now)…you just never know what could happen!

Which is why I would suggest all dog parents just strap a Tractive device to their dogs’ collars. So you know you can always find them.”

Read more: Lisa & Charlie the Basenji: Adventuring With Tractive

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4 fun puppy potty training techniques you could try

Once your little buddy has a solid grasp of the basics, here are a few fun puppy potty training techniques you can try. (Perfect for keeping them occupied, mentally active, and unlikely to get bored easily.)

Train your puppy to ring a bell as a signal

With bell training, your puppy learns to ring a bell to signal they need a toilet break. This helps your puppy signal their needs to you clearly and consistently. Here’s how you can go about it:

• Introduce your puppy to the bell by hanging it by the door you use to take them outside. Let your puppy interact with it, batting it with their nose and paws – and praise them plenty when they do.
• Ring the bell just before you two head outdoors for a toilet break. With time, your puppy will learn to associate the sound with heading outdoors to relieve themselves.
• Gradually, allow your puppy to ring the bell just before you two head outdoors for a toilet break. So they learn how to do it themselves.

• Keep your puppy away from the bell outside of toilet break times, so they don’t ring it constantly for entertainment.
• Always respond promptly when your puppy rings the bell and take them outdoors for a toilet break immediately. This will help them realize that the sound of the bell = toilet break and not playtime or walks instead.

Give paper training a whirl

If you two are living in an apartment, sick, or the weather’s awful outdoors – give paper training a try. With this indoor puppy potty training method, your little buddy learns to relieve themselves in a designated area covered with newspapers or pee pads.

So start by:

• Picking a specific indoor toilet break spot where you want your puppy to eliminate. Make sure it’s at least a bit isolated, away from feeding, sleeping, and carpeted areas.
• Cover this area with newspapers, pee pads, or even disposable “grass” patches.

• Encourage your puppy to head to this area for toilet breaks. Give them a treat if they go neatly and on top of the covered spots. If they’re still small, you can pick them up and place them on the papers when they show signs of needing to go. Reward them plenty once they do, so they learn that “going potty here = good!”
• As your puppy gets used to their designated indoor toilet break spot, you could gradually reduce the size of the covered area.

Get your puppy used to a litter box

Much like cats (and as with paper training), you can also train your puppy to use a litter box to relieve themselves in case outdoor access isn’t an option.

• Introduce the litter box gradually by placing your little buddy in it when they’re signalling it’s time to go.
• Reward your puppy plenty when they do go neatly inside the litter box.
• Use a shallow litter box with a puppy-safe layer beneath, like newspaper or a specially-designed dog litter.

Teach your puppy to pee in (safe) public spaces

As your little buddy grows older, they’ll need plenty of play and outdoor time to burn off all that extra energy. Meaning more walks and puppy play dates at the dog park – which also means their potty training should extend outside your yard as well.

So always go prepared for walks with:

• Poop bags
• A pair of disposable gloves to keep your hands clean
• Their leash/harness
• Their collar and ID tag
• A flashlight, if you’re on a walk in the evening or nighttime
• Ideally, their GPS tracker – in case of an emergency

When you notice your puppy signalling to go, make sure to take them to a secluded spot a little away from other people and pets.

• Reassure them with some pats to help them feel relaxed.
• Spread out some newspaper or a pee pad, if necessary. (These can make it easier for you to clean up after them.)
• At this point, your puppy should hopefully be used to to hearing you say, “Go on, go potty,” or “Do your business.”
• Clean up after your puppy – and reward them plenty once they’re done.

With time and patience, you’ll get your puppy used to safely relieving themselves without making a mess – no matter where you two are.

Never have an accident again – with these puppy potty training tips

Potty training a puppy is one of the most important steps in their early development – and your journey as a responsible dog parent. With patience, consistency, and positive reinforcement, you can successfully train your little buddy to build a solid set of bathroom habits that keep them healthy and your surroundings clean.

Just remember:

• Every puppy has their own timeline. Some might take to potty training like pros, others might need more patience and support from your end. Make sure to treat your little buddy as an individual and stay flexible to their needs.
• Every puppy needs consistency. So make sure you’re taking them to the same designated toilet spots, using the same commands every time, and rewarding them only when they go in the “correct spot.”

• Every puppy needs positive reinforcement, especially when applied consistently. Avoid scolding them if they have an accident indoors – and praise them plenty when they do relieve themselves in the right spots. This is a much more reliable way to help them associate good toilet habits with a reward.
• Every puppy needs mental stimulation, especially to prevent them from getting bored – and up to mischief for some excitement. So make sure you train them to relieve themselves not just in your backyard, but also in a designated indoor spot, as well as in a safe public area. This will keep their training fresh and also help them learn new skills and good habits.

And most importantly…

• Every puppy has a chance of running away on a toilet break – whether due to distractions, getting spooked by a passing vehicle, or just to explore some sight, sound, or smell.

Which is where you’re best off planning ahead for an emergency, by ensuring they’ve got at least a microchip – and a set of well-informed neighbors to help alert you.

💡And if you’ve strapped a GPS tracker to their collar, you’ve got an extra layer of security and peace of mind – knowing you can always locate your little buddy if they wander off during potty training.

Read more: Tractive Trustpilot reviews

Always know where your dog is

Follow every step in real-time with unlimited range. Get alerts if they wander too far. Keep them happy & healthy with Wellness Monitoring. And let others – like walkers or sitters – keep an eye on your dog too.

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For an expert take on the puppy potty training process, here’s canine expert Will Atherton sharing some tips and tricks:

And if you’ve liked this post, share it with a friend or a loved one – and let’s help build a safer, kinder world for our furry friends together.