Are you potty training a puppy? The method is not hard to understand, but your patience will be needed! There are just four steps. The puppy needs to be with you. You need to take him to his pottying location at certain times. You need to clean up any accidents in a matter-of-fact way. Repeat these steps a lot and pretty soon, you'll be living with a potty trained puppy!

Here is more information on each of these four points:

1. Keeping your puppy with you as much of the time as possible gives you the best chance of catching him just before he starts to pee or poop. Even if you catch him in the act, it helps the potty training — just say NO and take him to where you want him to do his stuff.

One way to keep your puppy with you is to attach his leash to a belt around your waist. That way, whatever you are doing around the house, you know right where your new best friend is. This method is excellent for bonding between you. Very young puppies really want to be right with you all the time anyway.

Whatever ways you devise to make it work for you, do keep your puppy close at hand as much as possible. Consider crate training for when you need to be away. This article doesn't get into crate training — it's a big topic in itself — but there are some pages on it at my website on dog training.

2. When you are potty training a puppy, you are helping him to understand that when he feels an urge to urinate or defecate, he should go to his specially designated place for these activities. How will he learn this? By your taking him there:

*** Every time he wakes up.

*** Every time he has a meal.

You may be surprised to notice how many times a day he does these things! He probably won't pee or poop every single time you take him to his place, but the habit is being created. Taking him out right before your bedtime is a good plan too.

Where will his pottying place be? If you have a yard with a fenced part to it, you can actually teach him to use a part of the yard by taking him there. If you have no yard, or an unfenced one, walking him on leash is another good way to potty train him. A third option is to paper-train him inside… often good if you live in a very cold climate or many floors up in an apartment building.

3. Calmly clean up anyplace that his urine has soaked or that he has left a pile. Yelling at him does not help, because he really will not understand why you are upset. If it helps you, as it sometimes has helped me, you can remind yourself that this process should last a lot less time than if you were potty training a little human!

4. As the saying goes, "Wash, rinse, and repeat." That is, just keep going through these steps repeatedly. The more you keep up this process, the easier it will be for the puppy to understand what you are asking of him. We all learn by repetition, and this is very true of dogs.

There's lots more to say about potty training a puppy, but these tips will get you well on your way to a successfully trained dog!