How To Potty Train Like A Pro

Disclaimer:

1. Yes, I use a lot of em dashes - I fucking love them.

2. Yes, I know I 'talk like a robot' - that's according to my daughter - but it's not AI. 🤷🏻‍♀️😆 I've 'sounded like AI' my entire life. I have no clue if it's a blessing or a curse now.

Welcome to Puppy Training 101

It's every parent's nightmare - constantly taking them outside only for them to come in and immediately wet all over the floor, cleaning up pee and poo on a regular basis, & making the time to ensure your dog is set up for success - and it's a lot to handle, especially if you're already dealing with the puppy blues.

I have potty trained many a puppy of all shapes and sizes, all during my work shifts at kennels. It's something I'm strangely good at. My daughter was even fully potty trained by 18 months - No, I'm not lying. That would be such a stupid thing to lie about, but I have been accused.

Alas, I shit you not, she did in fact shit in the pot at a surprisingly young age. Whether that was simply luck, she's a toilet savant, or I have a gift, I don't know. But let's pretend it's a gift for today's purpose. My method hasn't failed me yet, and it doesn't include pee pads, punishment or leveraging fear to get them to do what you want.

What Are The Puppy Blues, And How Do I Survive?

They're essentially just like the term "Baby Blues" humans use to describe the daunting process of raising a newborn. Similar to the first year of a human's life, puppyhood is a time period during which the days are long and nights are longer, the responsibility of another life is overwhelming, and sleep is a rare commodity.

Many people will argue that raising dogs is nothing like raising children, but I'm not one of them. In some ways, I actually think raising a child is easier. At least children continue to grow and mature each year, and can learn to tell you exactly what they want, and when. I see dogs as more of a perpetual toddler, a two-year-old...with fur.

Because I view them as children, my toilet training techniques are much the same for my dogs as they were for my human daughter as a small child - I treat them all with respect, compassion, and understanding rather than contempt. In life, I let them make their own choices, unless that choice harms someone. I conduct my training in exactly the same manner; it's choice-based, fear- and force-free. There is never a reason to use force with your dog - period. Every command you want your dog to learn can be accomplished without your hands ever making direct contact with their body.

Honestly, though, those first months are hard, so take puppyhood a day at a time. Baby steps forward, you'll make it through. Being intentional with your dog's day is the quickest way to get them adapted to yours. It all starts with a sing-song voice and a hefty dollop of patience - no, not Daisy - on your part.

Force- and Fear-Free Training

These techniques are exactly as their names imply. There is no force, and there is no fear. To begin, I need you to toss out every preconceived notion you have about these forms of training and hear me out. There is never a good reason to hit or "spank" your dog. There is never a good reason to punish your dog. There is rarely a good reason for a shock collar - in fact, I haven't found a dog that has needed one, ever. Not once, in my years of experience, have I ever found a reason to hit a dog while caring for thousands, nor have I ever even thought about doing so.

Dogs don't have the working memories we do. Theirs are short and finite, and they cannot comprehend having a past, present, or future. If your dog has a life-changing event today, that dog would have no stored memory of what life was like before that. They would only know it hurts at that moment. With this in mind, it stands to reason that punishment simply won't work for them - they don't understand it.

And this is why I say consistency is key. Dogs thrive on repetition, routine, structure. If you give them a set schedule and stick to it every day, dogs will pick it up, and quickly. It really only takes a few repetitions of tricks to teach them, but the catch is continuing to practice consistently. There's that word again, and you'll see and hear me use it a lot when discussing dogs, especially when referencing training.