About Puppy Preschool

---

• Dogs are naturally clean animals and do not want to eliminate where they sleep. Keeping that in mind, crate training with a puppy is imperative. 
• In my experience most puppies do not know how to regulate their water intake when they are young, so if you have a puppy that will drink the entire water dish it is your job to regulate their water. Regulating their water intake will also help to get your puppy on a potty schedule.
• Getting your puppy on a potty schedule will allow them to start figuring out when they will have an opportunity to go outside again, which will help to avoid accidents in the future.
• You want to make sure you build a reward history with your dog going potty in the right place and in your presence. A reward history is simply rewarding your dog with some treats, petting, and praise many times so they think about all the good things they got for doing what you want. Your goal is to make it so rewarding to go potty outside that your puppy will  hold it as long as they can to get the chance to go potty outside.
• If you build a really good reward history for going potty outside and in your presence, then when you catch them in the act of going potty in the house and you have to tell them what they are doing is wrong, they will understand it was for them going potty inside and not for going in front of you.

How to potty train your puppy:

• Get some treats in your pocket and put a leash on your puppy before you go outside.
• Bring your puppy outside to an area you would like for them to go potty and stand in one place. Don’t move around, if you do you will create more areas for your puppy to investigate before doing their business and can extend the amount of time you have to wait for them to go. If you puppy has gone to the same area a couple times in the past, bring them to that spot.
• Once your puppy starts doing their business you can softly and quietly praise them by saying “gooood”. If notice this distracts your puppy then skip this step in the future.
• As they are finishing, get some treats in your hand, once they are done give them to your puppy and throw them a little “party”. Show them how happy it makes you when they go potty in the correct area and in your presence.
• Build a “reward history” for going potty outside on leash. 
• As your puppy gets better and better at not having accidents in the house and going potty quickly when you bring them outside, you can stop rewarding them with food and just pet and praise them for a little while longer. 

Common Mistakes:

• Teaching your puppy to “tell you” when they need to go outside.  This often leads to your dog being vocal in their crate, demanding to go outside when they don’t need to go potty, and it can give your dog the wrong impression of your relationship.
• Taking them for a long walk to go potty and turning around to go home after they do. You may notice that your walks take longer each time or your puppy doesn’t go potty during the walk and waits until you are home and does it in the house. What your dog has learned is: potty = end of the walk, so they hold it as long as they possibly can. Solution: Have your puppy go potty first, then go on a walk. Doing so should get your puppy to go potty faster. What your puppy learns: going potty = walk.
• Getting mad at your puppy for going potty in the house when you did not catch them in the act. Dogs live in the moment and have a VERY short, short term memory (1.3 seconds is the average). If you did not catch them in the act, it is too late to teach them what they did was wrong.
• Standing in the doorway and giving your puppy a treat when they get to you after going potty. Because of how short a dog’s short term memory is, your dog is going to assume they are getting rewarded for coming back in the house and not for going potty in the yard. This is why it is important to bring treats with you and go out there with them.
• Watch out for the fake squat! Some dogs will squat like they are going potty, but they are not actually going. They are just trying to manipulate you for more food, so make sure they are actually going!