How To Potty Train Your Puppy In 4 Easy Steps + Best Puppy Urine Cleaner

Potty training your puppy is one of the most important things you can teach them! Training your puppy to go potty outside can seem overwhelming at first but it’s easier than you think! Whether you’re potty training your puppy in an apartment or your own house, these four easy steps can applied at either and the best time to start is now!

In addition to these four steps, I will also be sharing my favorite urine cleaner from one of my favorite pet cleaning product brands, Nature’s Miracle!

Let’s get started!

P.S. Have you checked out my full Puppy 101 Section? Learn what 10 items you need to buy for your first puppy, how to puppy proof your home and yard, and more!

1. Utilize Your Puppy’s Crate As A Tool

The first tip for potty training your puppy is to utilize your puppy’s crate as a tool. While dogs love to play in the dirt, they don’t like to be covered in their own pee or poop. By ensuring that your puppy’s crate is the right size (not too small so they can’t move and not too large so that they have room to sleep and an area to potty), your puppy will start to notify you when it has to go potty by either whining or pawing at the crate.

Make sure to take your puppy out immediately when this happens to prevent any potty accidents in the house.

*Have a lot of patience during this time. Potty training is a process and there will be accidents in the house. Some puppies are quicker to learn than others, but they all learn!*

2. Create A Schedule

The second tip is to create a schedule. Puppies are like clockwork (with a few surprises ha). They always have to go after certain activities and by keeping track of this you will prevent a lot, if not all, puppy potty accidents in your home!

Potty Training Schedule:

First thing in the morning
after playtime
after eating
after drinking
after taking a nap
after chewing on a bone or toy
right before bedtime

One good rule of thumb is to cut off their water at a decent time of night prior to bedtime so that you can avoid any middle of the night potty accidents. I always cut it off at 7pm.

3. Choose A Word To Associate With Bathroom Time

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The third tip for potty training your puppy is to choose a word(s) that you will associate with going to the bathroom outside. My family has always used the same two words: “potty” and “outside”. When you take them outside, make sure to reiterate those words throughout the entire process. For example: when you go to the door tell your puppy you’re going outside.

It’s actually quite funny when we say outside at my parents house because our dogs literally BOLT to the backdoor. They know that going “outside” also means playtime, which is a good thing because it keeps that word associated with something positive.

4. Reward Good Behavior

The last tip is to reward good behavior. I can’t stress this enough! Once you take them outside and they go potty, immediately tell them that they’re a “good boy”, “good girl”, or “good dog” in a very happy tone. They’ll start to associate their action with your positive reaction and learn that they’re doing something right.

Never scold them in the beginning for having an accident in the house. Puppies can’t hold their bladders (just like babies) and they don’t even know when it’s going to happen. As mentioned before, have patience and know that they’ll learn the more that you reward them for doing good.

Best Puppy Urine Cleaner

Now, let’s talk about what to do when your puppy does have an accident in the house. If you have any type of carpet or rug in your home, you’re going to want to invest in a urine cleaner. The best puppy urine cleaner in my opinion is Nature’s Miracle Advanced Stain & Odor Eliminator.

I have used this product for more than just cleaning dog pee out of carpet. I also use this for cleaning up dog throw up, initial poop accidents in the house, etc. This cleaner does it all!

Instructions for removing stain or odor elimination are on the back of the bottle and are super simple. If you do have carpet in your house, go ahead and buy two when you first buy this because you’ll need it ha!

**Make sure that you do not allow your pet (or any children) to go near the area until it has dried.**

Thanks for reading my post about how to potty train a puppy! How is potty training your puppy going? Feel free to ask any questions the comments below, I’d love to help!

If you loved learning these helpful puppy training tips, check out some of my other posts about puppy tips and puppy training like:

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Photography: Charli Cassidy Photography