Getting a new Goldendoodle puppy is very exciting. You probably have a new bed, toys, new food, and all kinds of other things ready to help make your new puppy comfortable when they get to your house. If you have never had a dog before, or you have never had a puppy in the past, you also need to make sure that you are prepared to potty train your dog.
You will want to be sure that you have the right things in your house to help with potty training, and you should also learn more about how to teach your dog not to make messes in the house. Having a good strategy for how to train your puppy to go to the bathroom outside can help make this process a lot smoother. This is often one of the toughest parts of training a dog, particularly if you don’t have any experience.
If you want to know more about how to potty train your Goldendoodle puppy, you need to keep reading.
When to Start Potty Training Your Goldendoodle Puppy
You might wonder if you need to start training your Goldendoodle puppy to potty training right away. Puppies are not ready to be potty trained until they are about 12 weeks old. Most breeders will not let their puppies go much sooner than this because of this issue. You can start to prepare your dog for this part of the training process at about 8 weeks of age, but they will not be ready to really be potty trained until they are a little older.
Potty training at about 12 weeks old is ideal because your puppy’s bladder will be big and strong enough for them to actually hold it. Before this age, they will not usually be able to hold their bladder for longer than about an hour.
When your puppy gets home from the breeder, you will be able to start working on potty training them right away. The breeder might have already begun this process for you, but you will need to keep working on this training for a few more months, at least. It is important to remember that potty training a dog is a long-term process and not something that happens overnight.
Tips for Goldendoodle Potty Training
There are some really helpful tips that can be used to make the potty training process much easier. Goldendoodles are very trainable, and it can be easy to teach them any task if you are consistent enough. These tips will make your potty training process much easier overall, which is better for your relationship with your new dog, and it also helps to breed trust with your new pet.
1. Feed on a Schedule
If you are not feeding your dog on a schedule, you can create problems that lead to messes in the house. You will want to be sure that you feed at the same time every day so that your puppy can also go to the bathroom on a schedule. Dogs usually need to go to the bathroom about half an hour after they eat, so this kind of schedule can help to make potty training easier.
Feeding twice or three times a day is really normal with puppies, but you do need to plan to let your puppy out to go to the bathroom around half an hour after they eat each time. This will help a lot with messes in the house and help create a schedule for your puppy to stick to. Puppies love schedules, and this is a great way to establish your potty training regimen.
2. Watch Your Puppy
You will want to keep track of your puppy closely for the first few months that they are living with you. You can often catch your puppy right before they make a mess and take them right outside to do its business. This is the best way to help make the connection between asking to go out and going to the bathroom. You cannot just turn your puppy loose in the house and not pay attention to them.
It can be really hard to turn back the clock and tell your puppy that you aren’t okay with them making messes in the house once it has happened a few times. Keeping track of your puppy is important, and you will want to use a crate or a small space to keep your puppy in when you cannot watch them. This is fair to your pet, and it helps to make them feel comfortable with you and your training as well.
3. Let Your Puppy Out Often
Your Goldendoodle puppy will need to be let out to go to the bathroom every hour until they are about 18 weeks old. This is because puppy bladders can grow at different rates. Your puppy might be able to hold their bladder for a few hours already at 12 weeks of age, but some dogs are not ready for that expectation for a few more weeks.
Puppies often need to pee hourly when they are young. Make sure that you take them to the same place where they have made messes in the yard in the past as well. This can help them connect that area with going to the bathroom. This is part of tapping into their wild dog behavior, as a group of dogs that live together will tend to go to the bathroom in the same place.
If you need to be gone for the day, take your puppy to doggy daycare or to a friend’s house. You will want to be sure that you don’t assume that they will be able to hold their bladder for longer than an hour for the first few weeks that you own them.
4. Use a Command
When you are potty training your dog, you will want to be sure that you use a verbal command each time they are out going to the bathroom. This is a great way to help your dog know that you want them to go to the bathroom when you take them outside. This can also help to get your dog to go to the bathroom reliably when you let them out before work or before you leave.
You can use any combination of words or single-word commands that you want for this training. Many people use something like, “go potty”, but the word choice is up to you. You and your dog will get into a routine right away with this part of the process, but be sure that you don’t try and change the command once you have picked one. This can confuse your puppy and lead to messes in the house and other problems.
5. Use Positive Reinforcement
Be sure that you are being positive with your puppy. Positive reinforcement is really important to train your puppy, and you should use it for everything that you are working on. Be upbeat and positive with your tone and your actions when you are teaching your new pet anything they need to learn.
Treats and other reinforcing items can also help make training this kind of process more fun for your dog and more enjoyable. Many puppies are really confused at first by the potty training process, which can lead to them not totally engaging with the thought process needed to learn it. Offering motivation like a treat can help focus their brain so that they look forward to the process and recognize that it is important to them.
6. Use a Crate
Crate training can be really helpful for your puppy because dogs do not like to make messes in a small space they need to lay in. This is because wild dogs will not make messes in their den where they sleep. You can use the crate to help encourage your puppy to hold its bladder and wait to go outside to use the bathroom. You cannot leave your puppy in the crate for hours at a time, but you can use the crate to keep your puppy out of trouble while you take care of things that need to be done and while you are sleeping.
Make sure that you still plan to let your puppy out every couple of hours, even when they are in the crate. Crate training will not make your puppy capable of holding their bladder for longer, but it can help them to understand that the inside of the house is not a place for messes.
When puppies have access to the entire house, they might think that they can go to the bathroom anywhere that is not near their food and water. This is, of course, not what you want, so you will need to be sure that you use the crate to help create a sense that a house is a place for sleeping and eating and playing with your family, but not for making messes.
7. Clean Up Properly
If your puppy does make a mess in the house, make sure that you clean up properly. You cannot use half measures to clean up these kinds of messes. Your puppy has a very sensitive nose, and they will be able to smell that they went to the bathroom in a location they made a mess in unless it has been cleaned really well. If your puppy can smell that they made a mess somewhere, they will want to do it again. You will need to be sure that you clean up really well when your puppy makes a mess so that they cannot smell that they made a mess there in the future.
You might need to use white vinegar and baking soda to help neutralize the smell of a mess, and you can also invest in a pet-mess cleaner that is specially made for this task. This can make all the difference in preventing messes from happening over and over in the same place. Your puppy is still learning where they are allowed to make messes, so you need to be sure that nowhere in your house smells like a place where they can go to the bathroom.
This is better for the health of you and your family as well. You want to be sure that your floors or furniture are not ruined by this kind of mess, and cleaning up promptly is really important for many reasons.
8. Choose the Same Place Each Time
When you take your puppy out to go to the bathroom in the beginning, make sure that you place them in the same area each time. This area will be familiar to the puppy, and they will smell that they have gone to the bathroom there before. This will help cement that this part of the yard is for this process and help teach them to go to the bathroom right off when you take them out each time.
Being sure that your dog is clear about where to go to the bathroom can make a big difference in your work. This helps them to know that going potty happens outside and not inside the house. The power of your dog’s sense of smell and their need for routine is easy to tap into when you use this kind of consistency.
9. Play With Your Dog
When your dog does their business, you can follow up with something fun like some fetching or playing with them in their favorite way. This helps make going outside fun and low-pressure and not something that your puppy doesn’t want to do. You want your dog to be excited about going out to do their business, and this can help make potty training fun and enjoyable for you both.
Sometimes this kind of tactic can also help encourage your dog to go to the bathroom on days they are not very focused. Once they start running around and smelling things, they will probably realize they need to go to the bathroom. This can be a great tactic to get them to refocus on the potty project and not other ideas they might have.
What do I do If I Have to Take my Goldendoodle Puppy to Another House?
What if you need to take your puppy to someone else’s house before they are fully potty trained? This is a question that a lot of people have. This is not as hard as you might think. If the person has pets, it will be even easier.
You will want to make sure that you do bring your puppy’s crate with you so you can put them away for a while as you hang out with your friend and keep them from getting into trouble. You can also tell your friend that maybe you should spend a lot of time outside when you visit so your puppy doesn’t make a mess in their house.
You might also be able to lean on the other dogs in the household for example. Puppies often follow the example of older dogs, so if your friend or a family member has other dogs, your puppy will probably want to do what they do.
Taking your puppy into public places should probably wait until you know that they are fully potty trained. It’s not really fair to your puppy or you if you take them to the mall or even a pet store before you can count on them not to make messes inside. This experience can be really overwhelming for your puppy as well, which can lead to messes they would not normally make at home where they live.
How do I Know if My Puppy Has to Go Outside?
This can be the tough part in the beginning. Before your puppy knows how to tell you that they want to go outside, it can be tough to tell when they need to go out. Some people start out by taking their puppies to the door and setting them down, then opening the door and putting them out to go to the bathroom. You can also reward your dog for heading to the door with a treat. This can help bridge the gap so that the puppy will know that they need to go to the door to ask to go out.
In the beginning, you won’t wait to see if your puppy asks to go out. You will just assume that they need to go outside every hour. This can sometimes be enough to get your puppy trained to ask to go out when they want to, but not every puppy is as smart about asking as others.
When you are tracking your puppy’s behavior, look for signs of interest in going to the bathroom. They might sniff around a lot or act uncomfortable. Some puppies will whine. You will want to be paying attention to the signs that your puppy chooses to show before they go to the bathroom. This can help you to get your puppy out before they make messes in the house.
You can also pair this awareness with asking a question to your dog. You might say, “Do you need to go out?” or something like this when your puppy is showing signs they need to go to the bathroom. This can connect the phrase you have chosen with the action of going outside. This can be handy later when you aren’t sure if your dog wants to go out or not. The cue that you pick needs to be consistently used, however. Don’t change the cue later on, or your dog will be confused.
Be Prepared to Take Your Time
Potty training a puppy can be a really time-consuming process. Some people, who have to be gone all day at work, would be wise to consider leaving their puppy with the breeder for longer until the breeder has had time to get them ready to move in with you and be fully potty trained. If your puppy stays with the breeder until they are a bit older, this will also help you out since they will be able to hold their bladder for a lot longer.
When potty training your puppy, consistency, patience, and attention to detail matter. This is not a process that happens overnight, and you need to be willing to commit to doing this process right. This will pay off later on, and your dog will trust you and build a great relationship between you and your puppy as well. Potty training can be really stressful when you are not prepared, and you will have a much better time with this process using this guide.
Potty Training Your Goldendoodle Puppy Doesn’t Have to be Tough
If you have been worried about potty training your Goldendoodle puppy, this guide will help you to be prepared to take care of the process with ease. Make sure that you are consistent in your efforts and that you let your puppy out often enough in the beginning. You can also choose to leave your puppy with the breeder for longer if you need help with the potty training process due to your work schedule or your own discomfort with handling it.
You and your puppy will be able to build a relationship during the potty training process, and you should be sure that you are ready to be patient with them to ensure that your dog feels comfortable with you and safe in your presence. Many people make potty training more confrontational than it needs to be, and this can be hard on their relationship with their pets. You will find that potty training gets much easier as soon as you have a plan, and you and your Goldendoodle puppy can get through this process with ease.
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