Potty Training a Dog

If you are tired of stepping in puddles of pee with your bare feet, you absolutely must know about the great resources out there to help you potty train a dog. Before you start, you need to recognize two facts about your dog. First, by nature a dog goes to the bathroom when it wants to and where it wants to so you are going to have to change his or her nature. Second, your dog absolutely adores you and will do anything to get your approval. You will use the fact that your dog wants to please you to overcome his or her natural tendencies. When you are ready for a complete dog training program, check the links at the bottom for some great resources or check out the Secrets to Dog Training program at the bottom.

There are three main ways to go about potty training a dog. If your dog spends a lot of time in a kennel, you can train him to go in a corner so it is in one spot. If you have a fenced in yard and will just let your dog go outside when she needs to go to the bathroom, you can train her to go to the door and let you know when she has to go. The third way, and the focus of this article, is to potty train your dog using a mat.

Potty training a dog to go on a mat is a simple concept that works really well if you don’t have easy access to an outdoor area where you can take your dog. For those of you who live in an apartment, especially if it is multiple floors up, this may be the only way to go.

The concept is simple. You put a mat in a corner of a room and train your dog to go to the bathroom on that mat. Your mat can be as simple as a bunch of newspaper or as elaborate as an artificial grass mat that simulates the outdoors. As with anything you want to train your dog to do, positive reinforcement is the key. Yelling at a dog won’t change behavior nearly as effectively as positive reinforcement when your dog does what you want him or her to do.

When you are house training or potty training a dog, remember that you got the dog to love. Your dog will do anything to get your affection and if you use that to your advantage, potty training a dog can be a quick and easy task.