How to potty train a puppy?
Let’s be honest here - potty training a puppy, especially very young puppy, can feel like a full-time job in the early weeks or first few months.
Between being excited for a new puppy in the house and the frustration of finding “happy accidents” around the house it’s important to keep in mind, that things will work out.
You just need to know what and how to do things, and soon enough you don’t even remember how much trouble potty training a puppy can be.
What is the Puppy Diamond Method?
While figuring out, how to make the puppy potty training as easy to understand for new puppy owners, Ki, the creator of Pocket Puppy School app, came up with the “Puppy Diamond Method" .
Essentially the idea of the Puppy Diamond Method is to give your puppy a consistent, predictable schedule, that helps them learn and understand when and where to go to potty.
You can think of it like a diamond-shaped routine - it’s clear, it’s balanced and most importantly, it’s easy to follow.
The schedule that you want to follow with your puppy is this:
Go for a long calm walk
Play with your dog after coming back
Give food, if food time
Go out for a short potty break
Crate time for a couple of hours
… and then repeat from step 1.
We have also made a video about this very topic, so definitely check it out. 👇
Key parts of potty training
Even if you don’t follow the schedule one to one, here are the most important take aways that you can follow in your everyday life.
Wake up -> straight outside - whether it is morning or daytime nap, when your puppy wakes up, take them straight outside to potty. Puppies have little bladder size and control, so reacting quickly when they wake up is the way.
After meals and playtime -> straight outside - small puppies have small bladder and quick digestive system. So after playtime and meals, there’s a high chance that your puppy wants to go to potty.
Controlled time inside - between potty breaks it is safer to let your puppy wander in the house, but in a controlled way. Put them in the puppy playpen or get a house-leash to keep your puppy in your eyesight.
Praise and reward - the moment your puppy goes to potty outside, do not underestimate rewarding. Keep some yummy treats with you and make a happy voice, when your puppy does the right thing at the right place.
Calm and controlled walks outside - every walk doesn’t need to be exciting all the time. If you keep your puppy excited the whole walk, then at home they will relax and what will most likely happen with relaxation - pee or poo inside.
Why it actually works?
It might surprise people, but actually puppies thrive on routine. The diamond method helps puppy owners to create a predictable schedule that reduces confusion, speeds up learning and in general helps your puppy to build good habits from literally day one.
Also, when you’re pairing each potty opportunity with consistent rewarding, the chances are, that your puppy will quickly understand what you’re expecting from them.
Avoid doing this!
Being inconsistent - like said before, puppies thrive on consistency. If you skip steps, change the routine according your own activities, then it will only make it harder for your puppy to learn.
Waiting too long between breaks - puppies, especially vey young ones (2-4 month old) can only hold their bladder for quite short time. Every extra emotion, activity will only bring their need to go for potty closer.
Punishing accidents - it does make owners upset, but getting angry, will make your puppy anxious, and might lead to them going to potty secretly, behind a couch, to hide the thing you got upset about.
What’s next?/Now what?
If you have gathered all the info, you are prepared, then the next thing to understand is that puppy potty training isn’t and shouldn’t be overly complicated. You can always use some helpful products that we wrote about in this blog article. But other than that, the next thing to do is just start.
That’s why Ki came up with the “Puppy Diamond Method” - it is all about keeping things simple, clear communication, consistency and setting your puppy up for success.
With patience, repetition and lots of praise, potty accidents lessen week-by-week, day-by-day and soon enough the habit of going to potty outside becomes instinctive.
Haven’t heard about Pocket Puppy School before?
Pocket Puppy School is a completely free dog training app. Our mission is to make information about raising dogs accessible to everyone in the world.
But in addition to our app, we have a blog (that you are currently reading 🤓) where we talk all things about dogs.
We post some informational and fun content to our Instagram page and believe it or not, we even have a merch store. 🥹 In the store you can get a t-shirt or a hoodie with your own dogs’ picture that we will make into an awesome design.
Feel free to check out all of our channels, and if you have any questions, leave a comment down below.
Thank you!
