6 Puppy Potty-Training Mistakes and How to Avoid Them 

Potty accidents are one of the most irritating problems people face with their puppy or dog because it’s a day in, day out thing. Sometimes it feels like you’re cleaning up messes no matter what you do. 

Here are some common mistakes and what to do instead! 

1) Sending your puppy to the backyard alone 

Prediction is the most crucial part of potty training: unless you know when your puppy needs to toilet, it’s difficult to get him in the right place at the right time. 

Sending your puppy out to toilet alone makes prediction virtually impossible because you have no way of knowing whether or not he went. 

Go out with your puppy every time 

2) Giving your puppy a treat inside the house 

Treats for a job well-done are useful and definitely speed up the potty-training process. However, when you give the treats inside, your puppy thinks he’s getting a treat for coming indoors. Oops! 

Give the treat outside, 1-2 seconds after he finishes toileting. 

3) Relying on a doggy door 

Doggy doors do give the puppy unlimited access to the yard, but there’s no guarantee he’ll use it when he needs to toilet. The unlimited backyard access also means he’s going to be out in the backyard alone which makes prediction and accurate reinforcement impossible (see points #1 and #2). 

Be that weird person who goes out and watches their puppy toilet. 

Every single time. 

4) Allowing your puppy to wander the house unsupervised 

If you aren’t supervising, you won’t be able to interrupt an accident or know when the accident happened (important information for accurately predicting the next toilet break — see point #1) 

Reduce accidents and speed up the potty training process by keeping your eyes on your puppy. Use baby gates to make this easier and a crate when you need a break.

5) Waiting for the puppy to tell you he needs to go 

If you’ve ever potty trained a toddler, you know that waiting for her to come tell you she needs to go is just asking for an accident. Same thing with puppies. 

During potty training, all the toilet breaks are human-initiated. 

6) Swatting your puppy, or rubbing his nose in the accidents 

Punishing for accidents is just messy. Instead of teaching him to potty outside, punishment teaches your puppy to hide from you when he toilets — a MAJOR problem — or stay away from you in general. 

(And don’t be fooled into thinking he knows he did wrong when he “looks guilty.” The guilty look is actually just his automatic body language response to a perceived threat.) 

When accidents happen, thoroughly clean with an enzymatic cleanser like Nature’s Miracle and take him out sooner next time. 

If you’re at your wits end with your puppy or adult dog’s accidents, I offer Potty Training Consultations at Koinonia Training and Boarding!