Having a new puppy in the house can be a source of joy and mirth, but at the same time, you also have to put in a lot of hard work and patience into taking care of the dog. The most difficult part that most of us face in taking care of dogs is its potty training. Dog potty training is the most fundamental part of a dog's grooming, and it is best to teach it the proper rules in the puppy stage itself as it becomes increasingly harder for the dog to learn new habits after it has grown up. However, there are many things to keep in mind during dog potty training, and it is not always necessary that you have to use harsh tactics to train your dog. The same results can be obtained without harshness, but with lots of patience and diligence on your part.First, you have to keep in mind that a young puppy can hold food and water in for only a short duration. Therefore, it is essential that you take the puppy outside at regular intervals - this is the first basic habit to be inculcated in the dog: that it always has to go out in order to pee / do potty. Another thing to keep in mind (as the puppy slowly grows up) is to have fixed meal timings, and absolutely no snacking in between. This will create a rhythm in its body and lead to fixed potty timings - slowly. Thus, you have to make it a point to take out the puppy at the following times - once as soon as he wakes up and once before he goes to bed at night; right after breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and after his naps in the day.If you are wondering that all of this is too much, then get it straight in your head that dog potty training is no easy job. Slowly, as the puppy grows up, you can start a practice of taking it out only after his mealtimes, and the dog will adjust to this routine.There is also a strict list of "Don'ts" to be kept in mind during dog potty training. These include:- Never hit your dog when it does potty or pees inside the house. Just ignore him straight out and clean up the mess without a word. Give your dog the silent treatment after that.
- After you have set up a fixed routing of walks for the dog, you will find that it starts getting excited at those points of the day (wags the tail, jumps around, etc.) - this is its way of telling you to get up and take it outside. Never ignore these messages, or else you shall send the wrong message to the dog that it is OK to go ahead and pee in the house.
- Remove all that carpets and rugs of your house, and generally keep the floor bare for the initial period of dog potty training.
- Don't feed your dog snacks and tidbits at odd times; food intake has to be strictly periodic for proper potty training. Always keep water in a trough for the dog though.
