Supplies you will need:
• Crate; this should be just big enough that your puppy can stand up, turn around, and lie down
• Exercise Pen aka Puppy Pen, a Baby gate or a small uncarpeted room (bathrooms work well)
• Kong™ dog toy
• Nylabone™
• A small piece of sod, paving stones, or potty pads

Some Things to Keep in Mind
• Crate Training will only be effective if you are diligent and consistent! 
• Your puppy should never have full run of the house without direct supervision unless you trust him/her 110%
• If your puppy has accidents in the house don’t blame him; it is your responsibility to keep an eye on him.  You wouldn’t get mad at an infant for having an accident, would you?
• Young puppies can only hold their bladders for a short period of time a good rule of thumb is about one hour=one month; for example an 8 week old puppy can hold his bladder for a little less than two hours, a three month old puppy can hold it a little less than three hours. 
• If you work eight or nine hours per day you will have to provide a potty area for your puppy, they simply can not hold it that long!

Step 1 The Crate
(If you aren’t familiar with crate training, please see our “Crate Training” handout)
While your puppy is young the crate should only be used for temporary confinement; while you are at home or if you need to run errands for just a few hours (less than two).  You don’t want to leave your young pup in the crate too long because he can’t hold his bladder for more than about two hours.  If your puppy has an accident in the crate it could set you back weeks in training! 

We will use the crate to teach your puppy that she cannot go potty wherever and whenever she wants.  The crate is not where your puppy will live but it is an important management tool when you cannot directly watch your puppy, think of it like a play pen for your toddler.  Keep in mind that the crate will not potty train your puppy; it is your job to potty train your puppy the crate is just a tool that will make things easier. 

Step 2 Setting up a Long Term Confinement Area  
If you work away from home for more than two hours a day you will need to set up a long term confinement area for your new puppy.  This should be an area that you can easily clean up because it is likely that your puppy will have an accident while you are away.  Usually setting up the long term confinement area can be done in a bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, or any other room that has hard surface floors; just remember to put anything that the puppy might chew out of range (i.e. electric cords, toilet paper, trash cans, etc.)  Use the ex-pen or baby gate to block off a small area, in this area you should provide your puppy’s crate,  a few stuffed Kong™ toys, a Nylabone™, a bowl of water, and most important a potty area.

This is where the piece of sod, paving stones, or potty pads come in handy; because your puppy will be going potty in this area which happens to be in the house you want to provide an area that they can relieve themselves.  Whether you use sod, the paving stones or potty pads will depend on where you want your puppy to eventually go potty; if you want the puppy to go potty on grass use the sod and if you want the puppy to go potty on cement use the paving stones.  It may help to place the paving stones or sod inside a large kitty litter box or under bed storage container to prevent them from moving around the confinement area.

You should leave your pup in this long term confinement area any time you plan on being away from home for more than a few hours.  Put the pup in his area a few minutes before you leave, and don’t make a big fuss when you do leave.  You don’t want your puppy to feel more anxiety then he needs to about your departure.  All you need to do is put the pup in his area, say something like “watch the house”, and then leave. When you return home it is also important that you don’t make a huge fuss over the puppy; in fact it is better if you wait a few minutes before you let the puppy out.  I know that you have missed him while you were gone and I am sure that he has missed you but you don’t want him to stress too much over your arrivals and departures.

Step 3  Getting the Puppy on a Schedule
Now that your puppy is accustomed to the crate and you have solved the long term confinement issue we get to the matter of potty training your pup. The whole concept of potty training is really simple: increase the probability that your puppy will eliminate in the appropriate areas while you are present so you can reward the behavior; and prevent the puppy from eliminating in the “wrong” areas so he doesn’t develop bad behaviors. Dogs naturally dislike soiling their sleeping areas and will not do so as long as there are given the chance to eliminate elsewhere.

It is important that you get your puppy on a reasonably consistent feeding schedule so that you have a pretty good idea when she will need to go potty.  You should establish an area outside where you want your puppy to eliminate; start by taking your puppy, on leash, to this area every hour or so.  When you get to his potty area tell him, “Go Potty!” or “Do your business” or some other command you decide.  Give him a few minutes to relieve himself; if he does tell him what a good boy he is and make a big fuss over him bring him back inside (supervised)!  If he doesn’t eliminate take him back inside, put him back in his crate and try again in an hour.  Keep track of when your puppy eliminates and when he doesn’t; this way you will get an idea of his potty schedule.

Pretty soon you will only need to take your puppy out every few (3-4 hours) instead of every 1-2 hours; as your puppy gets older you will need to take less and less potty breaks outside.

Step 4 Increasing your Puppy’s Freedom!
Now that you have your puppy on a schedule and he hasn’t had any accidents in the house it is time to start increasing his freedom.  At this point you should remove the potty area from your puppy’s long term confinement area.  The puppy needs to become accustomed to “holding it” while you are away from home.  After your puppy has been successful in his long term confinement area for a couple of weeks we can increase the size of this area (maybe a larger room or adding the bathroom and a bedroom).  If your puppy has any accidents you need to backtrack a few steps and decrease his freedom. 

Your puppy should pick this up pretty quickly, just remember to always praise your puppy when he eliminates in appropriate areas and prevent her from going in inappropriate areas.

MY CLEVER CANINE DOG AND PUPPY TRAINING  -  WWW.MYCLEVERCANINE.COM  -  (707)451-0103