Potty Training

Matt got Summer when she was only 5 weeks old. She was a tiny little thing that cried constantly but she was extremely precious :)

The 'look'  - 6 weeks

Potty training was EXTREMELY easy. Much easier than I imagined. However I do think our schedule (Both Matt and I were in school) helped A LOT. This is how we did it...

Go out every hour.

To avoid accidents we took Summer out pretty much every hour. If she went potty we gave her a treat immediately and lots of praise. If we saw her potty in the house we would say no, put her nose in it, and then take her outside. Again, if she went potty we gave her a treat. 

6 weeks

If you don't see it happen, you can't do anything.

If you find an accident but didn't see it, DO NOT do anything to your dog. At such a young age it is YOUR fault, not theirs. However, when Summer got older and hadn't had accidents in a while we did punish her once. She had been out but didn't potty and not long after that Matt caught her going in the apartment. He swiftly spanked her on the butt, told her no, and took her outside. She didn't have anymore accidents after that. If she did, they were our fault (being gone for a long period of time).

Its a fact....

10-30 minutes after they eat they will need to potty. Take them out after they eat and everyone will be happy. This is a great time for a walk or play time outside. ALSO - most dogs will need to potty after a nap. If you can watch your dog and learn their schedule life is much easier. 

6 weeks

If you have to be gone for long periods...

I can't find the chart but I believe that puppies can't hold it for more than 6 hours until 6 months at the earliest. If you have to leave your puppy make an area where they can pee. For summer we took a shower curtain and made a puppy pen for her to stay in. It wasn't a huge area but it gave her room to play and to potty since we know we would be gone too long. We put her crate in there so she had her place to stay. We wanted her to learn that her crate was not a place to potty. We didn't have to do this for long as Summer quickly learned to hold it for as long as she could. 

6 weeks - with her sister Bijou

Remember...

Every puppy is different so do your research and make sure you find what works for YOU and YOUR puppy. We got so lucky that Summer was easy to potty train but I also think it's just a matter of making sure she had plenty of opportunities to succeed. Raising a puppy is so rewarding and if you are patient with this it will make your life much easier in the future.

Our baby,

Summer is such an angel and will tell you whenever she needs to potty. She sits near the door, stares at you, and whines. According to my sister it sounds like she says, "I have to PEEEEEE!". Hehe :)

About 2 months