If you want to house train your puppy in the fastest and easiest way possible (and who wouldn’t want to do that?) you need to follow this simple rule. AT ALL TIMES your puppy should be:

(1) Actively engaged with you playing or training….this does not mean, you watching him/her play from afar while you do something else. This means hands on and eye to eye contact in whatever activity you are engaged in with your puppy.

(2) Your puppy should be tethered to you by a leash. This is easy, just slip one end of the leash through your belt loop and clip the other end to your puppy and then go on about your routine. If you are laying on the couch watching TV, the puppy is on the floor by your side. If you are sitting at the desk answering emails, the puppy is by your side. If the phone rings and you jump up to get it, the puppy comes too, and will quickly learn to stay tuned to you and your movements. Tethering accomplishes a couple of things. Most importantly with regards to house training, it never allows your puppy to make a mistake and potty on a rug, behind the sofa, around the corner….It can’t happen. Remember, the puppy needs to potty after ever time he/she eats and every time he/she wakes up. If he/she falls asleep by your side and wakes up to then take two steps to go potty, you know it instantly and can prevent it from happening. As a bonus, It teaches the puppy to focus on you, rather than the other way around, it makes leash training much easier, as he/she knows to follow you and, it teaches him/her that you are the Alpha pack leader.

(4) Reward puppy with praise, treat, or both after going to the potty outside.  Make it want to go outside.

(5) Time your puppies feeding schedule around times you will be available to take it outside to potty.  Make sure this is a consistent schedule, and look for nose down circling.

(6) And the last condition…., if you are not actively engaged playing/training, or tethered to the puppy, he/she should be in his crate. Those are the only three scenarios.