Potty Trained Puppies
Potty Trained Puppies Start With a Dedicated Breeder
At Perfectly Pug we believe that sending home potty trained puppies (or pups well on their way) helps elevate a lot of the stress that arises during the first few weeks of puppy ownership.
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We start by taking advantage of the fact that puppies do not like to potty where they sleep by setting up a potty area (like a pee pad, or artificial turf) right beside their sleeping area. Even puppies as young as 2 weeks will start to venture out of their beds to potty.
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Once the puppies start walking and have started to wean, we provide them with more space and ensure that there is a separate space for them to potty away from their eating, drinking and playing area. After the puppies get the hang of using their potty area we start allowing outdoor access and encouraging puppies to go outside during the peak times they would need to potty - such as first thing in the morning, when they awake from naps and about 20 minutes after drinking or eating. We also start to increase their sleeping area size to including a good sized play area. This approach helps sets them up to recognize that their den area is not for eliminating in and they will seek out spots further and further away from their sleeping area.
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By using these tactic and working with the puppies natural instincts we establish healthy habits that you can then reinforce when you bring them home, allowing you to spend less time cleaning messes and more time playing with your pooch!
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Continuing With Potty Trained Puppies
From the first day with your pup, it is essential that you establish good habits in housetraining them. To help facilitate this process, consider taking some time off work and stay at home, as this will give you extra time to introduce potty training in those crucial first few days. Keep in mind that even if you start with the basics straight away, your pup won't be reliably housetrained until around 6 months old.
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One of the best ways to ensure successful housetraining is to stick to a regular schedule. Having your puppy's meals, exercise and playtimes set out at specific times during the day will make housetraining much smoother. If food is made available all day long, it will be more difficult for you (and your puppy) to know when they need to go outside. That's why it's important that you give them 10-15 minutes to finish their meal and take away any leftovers afterwards.
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The key to successfully establishing good toileting habits in your pup is about giving them access to the toilet area frequently and at the right times. Every 30 to 45 minutes - right after play, meals, drinking and most importantly just after they wake up in the morning - treat your pup's toileting time as an opportunity for positive reinforcement.
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NEVER allow your pup to roam the house unattended. When you are home to monitor him, either have him on a leash or confine him to a crate/play pen for gradually increasing periods of time, helping him to develop self control. Immediately after he has pooped and peed in his proper toilet area you can allow him supervised freedom for short periods in your home, but don't let him out of your sight.
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If you are not home or cannot tend to the puppy for more than a few hours, then you must make sure he cannot make a mistake! Confine him to a puppy-proofed room/pen and line the entire floor with a durable fabric and provide a puppy pad for them to potty on. We have already instilled a sense of cleanliness in the puppy so they know they don’t want to go potty where they sleep or eat, so put their food and bed on the opposite side of the area and they will instinctively got to the potty pad to eliminate.
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All this may seem overwhelming at first but putting in extra effort now will save you from messy surprises later on down the road; the progress you make now will ensure that your pup will be toilet-trained in no time at all!
