You finally made it home with your sweet little puppy and as soon as you walk in the door, what is the first thing everyone is thinking? "Does she need to go potty?" or, more likely, "Is she going to pee on the floor?" 

As a dog trainer, I love that house training is the first thing on everyone's mind when they bring home a new pup. It's important! And you want to start off right from day one because every time your pup has one accident in the house, it is more likely that they will have another after that. Dogs are habitual creatures, so if you can create a habit of going potty outside from the moment you arrive home, you are less likely to have accidents in the house. 

Here I will outline an easy-to-follow house training procol that, if followed exactly, will result in a completly accident-free housetraining experience. I know it sounds impossible, but if you do this right that's exactly what's going to happen! 

The first thing you should know about housetraining a puppy is to never, ever correct a puppy for going potty in the house. I know, I know, this sounds counterintuitive. After all, how will the puppy know that they aren't supposed to go in the house if you don't tell them? Well, dogs don't think like we do. If you catch your pup going potty in the house and yell at them, there are a variety of things that they might imagine they are being corrected for. Here are some thoughts that might go through their head: 

"Oh no! I can't ever pee in front of these people!" 

"Ahhh! I can't pee when there's a leash in his hand!" 

"No! What does that mean? This guy has a scary voice!" 

As you can see, correcting a puppy for going potty in the house might not produce the result that you're expecting. So here's what I recommend: 

Tell you puppy what they SHOULD do. So if you catch your pup going potty inside say, "Outside, outside!" as you escort them outside. And then shower them with praise and treats when they finish going potty outside. "Good job, pup!" 

Now that you know what to do when your pup has an accident, how do you prevent them from having an accident in the first place? Well, it's simple. Let's start with a few supplies. 

1) A crate - we firmly believe in crate-training puppies, and the crate is essential to a positive house training experience. If you aren't using a crate with your pup, when I mention your pup going into the crate, keep them on a leash next to you at all times. 

2) A harness and leash

3) Lots of treats 

Okay, you have all the supplies, now what? Just follow these simple steps and your pup will be house trained in no time! 

If you have a young pup, they have been on a cycle that lasts about 90 minutes and goes something like this: Eat, sleep, wake up, potty, play. And repeat, all day long. Puppies need about 18 hours of sleep per day! So the quickest way to house train is to follow this cycle that your pup is used to. 

1) Put your pup in the crate with a yummy treat like a food-filled Kong. They will eat the Kong and then fall asleep.

2) Set the alarm on your watch for 60 minutes.

3) When the alarm goes off, wake up your pup, put on their leash, walk them to their potty spot and say, "Go potty!" 

4) Freeze. Do not move, interact with, or talk to your pup until they go pee (which they will because they've been holding it for over an hour!) 

5) When your pup goes pee, shower them with love and praise and give them 3 treats.

6) Tell your pup to, "Go potty!" again and freeze one more time. Let them sniff around for a few minutes in case they need to go poop. If they do, shower them with love and praise again and give them 3 more treats. If they don't need to poop after a few minutes don't worry about it - they will get more chances. 

7) Take your pup inside (on the leash) and spend some time playing with them, training them, etc. Keep them right next to you or on the leash. Do not leave them unsupervised! 

8) Once they seem tired again, put them back in the crate with a treat. 

9) Go back to step one. 

If you follow this protocol exactly, you can have an accident-free house training experience! 

Some common questions people ask: 

Is it really important to walk them outside on the leash? 

Yes! The reason is that your pup needs to learn the route to their potty spot so that when they are older they will go on their own. In addition, wouldn't it be great to only have one spot in the yard to clean up poop? If you use the leash your dog will habitually go potty in the same spot forever! If you put them down outside to freely go anywhere, their poop will always be spread around. 

Are the treats THAT important? 

Yes! Dogs respond very well to training with treats. And shouldn't they earn a jackpot for doing the behavior that is probably the most important to their humans (going potty outside)? 

Other things to know: 

Dogs to not have full bladder and bowel control until they are about 6 months old. Your pup may be doing very well with house training before then, but keep in mind that if they do have an accident they probably just weren't able to hold it anymore. 

Puppies love to go potty in quiet deserted places in the house! In the wild, dogs will go away from their den and family to go potty, so this is natural. That's why it's so important to keep your pup in the crate or right next to you on the leash if you can't watch them. The last thing you want is to find out that your pup has been going potty in the corner of the nice dining room you only use for guests! 

If this article was helpful, check out Liz's training website, www.PuppyPhD.com for more helpful training tips!