Puppyhood is not a walk in the park. The highlights definitely outshine the obstacles one might face, but the smell of poop is too stinky and robust for us to ignore. Poop looks and smells nothing like flowers and towering trees. So, if you are wondering how to potty train a puppy fast, then continue reading this post.
Go outside and take a deep breath of fresh air because there isn’t such thing as potty training your dog fast. Your dog isn’t a machine, so don’t expect to get the results you want in a specified amount of time. Think of burning body fat; it varies from one person to another but staying consistent helps out a lot.
The same goes for any form of puppy training. All you could do is stay consistent, and the rest will come with time. There are a few things that could help catalyze and fasten the process, most of which will be discussed in this blog post.
Table of Contents
How to potty train a puppy fast – It starts with you
Like with everything else in life, before you start changing someone else’s behavior, you have to work on yourself first. Maybe you’re ahead of most us and can probably endure prolonged periods of tedious events.
Don’t worry if you aren’t, most of us are nowhere near achieving that high level of mindfulness.
Patience
This is a trait that you’ll work hard to get. However, once you obtain it, patience will change your life. You get to hit two birds with one stone when you potty train your dog. You teach your dog to be obedient, and you learn and evolve to becoming more patient and perceptive.
Patience is a highly treasured virtue and the most important pillar needed to have a well-trained puppy.
Yoga and meditation could help you improve your mindfulness. While there are lots of options on the internet for you to learn from, I highly recommend Yoga for meditation videos from Yoga with Adriene. She has videos that are under ten minutes, which would perfectly fit in your busy life schedule.
Yoga will definitely help you achieve your desired zen mode, but the way you react to seeing poop inside your house is when your newly obtained power gets tested.
The power of spoken words
If words cut deeper than a knife, then imagine its power if used in a positive light. Giving someone a genuine compliment could turn their mood one hundred and eighty degrees.
Now, I know that you don’t speak doggish and your dog doesn’t speak any human language. However, there could still be an effective way of communication. Body language and emtions are nonverbal forms of communication that are extremly effective.
Then why did I title this section the power of spoken words? Great question! If you use all three varying forms of communication, then you’ll make the dog understand the meaning behind those words.
If you’ve tried learning a new language as an adult, you might have noticed how many instructors refuse to speak in English and only converse in the language you’re trying to learn. They use body language and facial emotions to imitate the meaning of their words!
Your nonverbal actions and reactions help your dog translate the meaning behind your verbal words. This is probably why animals can understand all languages.
Positive Reinforcement
This is a training technique that teaches your dog how to behave properly. Positive reinforcement means that you applaud and praise your puppy for their good behaviors, and turn a blind eye to undesired actions and behaviors.
Hitting your dog, no matter how lightly, is not acceptable and is animal abuse. Even yelling isn’t okay. You might wonder if yelling could be a form of implementing the power of spoken words, and the answer is no. Your emtions and body language should never stem from anger.
The angry tone might scare your dog, and make them lose their trust in you. Fear doesn’t always lead to obedience, and even if it does, it is a very toxic way of developing and nurturing any form of relationships. You may not be abusing your puppy physically, but this is emotional abuse.
Stick to training your puppy with positive reinforcment, and with time, they’ll understand what is acceptable and what isn’t.
How to potty train a puppy fast – Your simple guide
Now that you know the mindset you need to be in so you could swiftly potty train your puppy, let us talk about the major and minor technicalities.
When to start
You should start as soon as you adopt your puppy. Puppies are only allowed to be separated from their mother and litterbox when they turn eight weeks old.
Any time before that, they’re exposed to the risk of having mental and behavioral issues. It is really crucial for them to spend the first eight weeks with their mummy and siblings. Anytime after that, the puppies are mentally and physically cable of handling most types of training, so start as soon as you adopt them.
Where’s the bathroom
Always take your puppy to the same spot to pee or poop. This helps them understand that this is where they allowed to go to the bathroom. This won’t happen overnight, and won’t work on its own, but if done along with all of the other things, then you’ll soon have a potty trained puppy.
Of course, their bathroom should be outdoors. You don’t want your dog to associate going to the bathroom with the house.
Speaking of associations, you get to use the power of words in this scenario. When you take your dog outside to their bathroom, use a trigger word like ” Poop!”. This will tie the action of going to the bathroom with the word poop. When they poop outside the house, applaud them for their good work with spoken words.
When you pat them, smile as you say “Good job, buddy.” They’ll use the positivity of the atmosphere to understand that they did something good. This will make your puppy want to poop outside. You could also give your dog some treats after telling them “Good job, buddy!”.
If you see your puppy pooping inside your house. Remind yourself that you’re mindful, pick them up, take them to their bathroom, say the trigger word, then let your puppy finish pooping.
You’re going to ignore the fact that they pooped inside, and reward them for finishing outside. So basically, you’ll implement mindfulness, attention redirection, and positive reinforcement all at once.
If you find a piece of poop on the floor, but missed your puppy in action, then just clean up the place and don’t do anything else. If you yell at your dog, they won’t understand what you’re so angry about and as we’ve mentioned before, grow to be scared of you.
When to take them out
There is a straightforward math equation that you could use to know how frequently you need to take your puppy outside to poop. You’ll take your dog’s age in months, and use that to know when to take your puppy to the bathroom.
If your puppy is three months old, then you’ll have to take them out every three to four hours. After they become eight months old and older, they’ll have to go outside to do their thing every eight hours.
How to crate train your puppy
Despite popular belief, crates aren’t evil or wicked. Do some people abuse the tool, and use it to torment their dogs? Yes, but the wickedness related to this object stems from the way it is used. If used correctly, it will be your puppy’s haven. So crate training is sctually teaching your dog that their crate is a safe space.
Crate training is often used for behavioral and potty training. I will give you a couple of tips on crate training, but I highly recommend you go read my How to Crate Train A Dog | The Ultimate Guide blog post for more details.
Here are some important tips on crate training your puppy:
- Don’t leave your puppy in the crate for more than four hours at a time.
- It is not recommended to crate train your puppy twice a day, so don’t put them in the crate for two separate four hours periods.
- In case you do that, then don’t repeat this vigorous day of crate training again during the same week.
- Toilet rules still apply, so take your puppy for bathroom breaks according to their age.
The reason why crate training doubles as potty training as well is due to the dogs’ nature of not wanting to stin up the place they sleep in. So as long as they’re in the crate, they won’t pee or poop cause the crate is a place for them to relax in.
What signs should you look for
If you ever find your dog looking through the window or at your door, then they turn and glance at you before returning their eyes towards the window or door, then they need to go to the bathroom.
Also, if they start whining out of nowhere, then they might need to go out to poop. If your puppy starts giving you these signs, then you could give yourself a pat on the back and your dog some treats because they’re finally potty trained. Congratulations on surviving this hard phase of puppyhood!
That’s it! I wish you the best of luck with training your dog, and I hope you now know how to potty train a puppy fast. Remember that puppyhood won’t be easy at first, but it is all worth it. Let us know what kind of dog you’ve adopted and what did you name them in the comments down below.
