You must have been ecstatic if you are a dog lover who finally got a chance to bring a puppy home. However, the reality hits when you are trying to teach your new pup where to go pee, and that little guy is completely ignoring you.
If that is the case for you, we are here to help. Potty training or teaching your dog where to pee isn't hard. Dogs are intelligent and learn fast, so all you have to do is remain consistent and apply the following tactics mentioned below.
Ways You Can Train your Puppy to Use a Pee Mat
While training your dog to do his business outside is essential, this can be hard for people who live in apartments or are old and for very young puppies too. Hence, Pee Mats come as a lifesaver. These mats are the best equipment to train your puppy in the initial days of his life.
- Choosing a Pee Mat
The idea behind a pee mat is to provide your puppy an area where he can go and do his business easily and not make a mess around the house. Hence, when picking out a pee mat, always ensure to choose something large enough to cover a wide area, can be cleaned easily, and is absorbent.
While people use newspapers or towels as a pee mat, that isn't something we suggest. This is because both, while inexpensive, can be a hassle to use. Newspapers will be difficult to clean up later, and towels must be washed regularly.
What to Choose?
Therefore, using a store-bought pee mat is what you should prefer. The mats aren't costly, highly absorbent, and easy to clean.
- Introduce your Puppy to the Pee Mat
It is essential to let your puppy explore the pee mat when you first bring it in. Dogs and puppies are significantly territory cautious animals and remain on high alert if they see ground or area they aren't used to.
What to do?
Let your dog roam around on the mat for a while, sniff it and get comfortable having this piece of equipment in the house before you start commanding it to go pee.
Once your dog is satisfied with the new pee mat, you can choose a pee phrase that you want to use for your new pup. The Pee Phrase will be a command you will use to let your dog know that it is time to go pee on the mat. However, ensure this command remains the same throughout so your dog doesn't have difficulty following orders.
- Anticipate Your Puppy's Behavior
Your new pup obviously cannot speak or tell you when it wants to go pee. While you won't need to ask it to go pee or use the mat in the coming days, in the initial days of training, you'd need to sort their behaviors through.
The question is how will you know when it is time for them to do their business? Well, dogs aren't too complicated to assess, and here are some ways or times when you'd know it is time for your puppy to hit the mat.
How to Anticipate Behaviors?
Dogs are most likely to pee after waking up, eating or drinking, or when they are done playing. In such events, keep your new puppy in sight, give it fifteen minutes, and then place them on the pee mat to do its business. Keep on repeating the command or pee phrase you've decided for them to learn where they should urinate and on what command too. Most puppies start sniffing a lot when in need to go pee, so keep an eye on that too.
- Supervise at all Times
In the initial training days, it is essential to supervise your puppy when placed on the mat. No one is asking you to sit on the side and watch the whole order of business, but just to keep an eye on it.
What to Ensure?
Make sure that your puppy doesn't get off the mat until it is done to avoid making a mess in the entire house. Supervision will save you the hassle and teach your puppy that this specific area is where he should empty his bladder.
- Consistency is the Key
Consistency is the key when you are training your puppy. Dogs are intelligent animals and pick up the pace quite quickly.
How to Remain Consistent?
Sticking to a proper daily schedule for your dog to anticipate and learn when it is time to go pee is essential. Moreover, place the pee mat in the same place until your dog starts going to pee itself.
When asking your dog to come to use the mat, make sure to use the phrase you have chosen consistently. This will help them learn that it is time to use the pee mat, and when they learn to use it themselves, you'll have to say the phrase and leave the rest to them.
- Reward your Dog
Everybody likes being appreciated for even the tiniest achievements they make, and your puppy will be the same. Dogs love praises, and studies have proven that they will repeat behaviors for which they are appreciated.
What to do?
Every time your puppy uses the pee mat with or without your help, reward it quickly. You can either praise it verbally and showcase your excitement on the marvel he did or give them their favorite treat to munch on, all while calling them a good boy.
Once they understand what they did is good, using a pee mat will quickly become an everyday routine for them.
- Move the Pee Mat Outdoor
Once your puppy has learned to go pee on command and understands the concept of a pee mat, you can move the mat outside.
Why So?
Keeping the mat outside is a wise decision because it will tone down the chances of your house getting dirty and will not make the inside of your house smelly too. Moreover, your dog will get privacy too when peeing, because who wants to pee in front of their human?
A Few Training Mistakes that You Should Avoid
Training your dog on where he should go pee or do his business isn't hard. However, there are some common mistakes that dog owners make while training that can put them off track.
These mistakes slow down the learning process and make training harder for the dog and the owner. Hence, if you are someone who is training their dogs, learn about these mistakes below, and try to avoid them at all costs.
- No Pee Phrase
Dogs comply with commands because they are naturally built to do so. Hence, if you teach a puppy any command when it's young, it will obey it all through adulthood.
Therefore, when training your puppy, it is essential to choose a pee phrase when you want them to use a mat or pee outside. The phrase can be anything, and your puppy will eventually pick up and know what the command is for as long as you remain consistent with it. Hence, you'd only have to command them after some time, and they'd go out and do their business themselves.
- Not Introducing the Pee Mat
Pee mat contains attractants that only dogs can smell, and hence while your dog will naturally go there when you bring it in the house, introducing them to it formally would work well too.
As mentioned above, dogs are particular about the territory or land they move around, and seeing a new piece of equipment in the house will leave them cautious and alert. Using your pee phrase and leashing them on the mat for a while will make them comfortable and more accessible for them to pee there.
- Not Notice their Body Language
Just like babies, puppies cannot come up and tell you that they need to go pee, so puppy parents need to understand their body language. All puppies have a particular type of signal or expression, which indicates that it is time to go use the mat.
In the initial days of training, dog owners need to look out for such expressions and take their dog where the mat is placed.
- Not Enough Breaks
Giving your dog enough pee breaks is essential. Failure to do so will lead to your dog peeing on the spot or dirtying around your house. While you can calculate how often your dog needs to go pee by converting her age in months into hours that it can hold her pee, this differs from dog to dog and hence isn't very standard.
Puppies require going out to pee depending on their age and how active they are; hence, two puppies of the same age can have different break tendencies. The best way to assess their break time is through observation. Start observing your dog's need to pee and how many intervals they use the pee mat, and you'll soon pick up the accurate timings.
- Not Tethering Your Puppy
Puppies are delicate creatures, and most of them are full of energy. Hence, if you have placed a pee mat outside the door and want to leave it to do their business, always ensure to tether them.
This will help secure them and ensure that they don't wander off in an effort to explore independently.
- Slacking Off on Training
If your dog is routinely going outside to pee, understands the concept that dirtying the house isn't an option, and is being a good boy, it doesn't mean you should slack off on buying pee mats.
This is because the training period isn't over yet. It takes several months to correctly put your dog on potty training and get habitual of it. So, if you feel like your dog is trained within weeks, you are wrong and should go back and buy some more pee mats.
Moreover, dogs come back to puppyhood if they are sick or during some holiday seasons. Therefore, having some backup pee mats in the house is always a good idea rather than having to clean the floorboards.
- Not Praising
If you don't praise your puppy every time they use the pee mat in the initial days of training, they will lose the motivation to use it. Dogs require attention and demand affection. Hence, when someone appreciates them for even the slightest of tasks, they are enabled to redo them again and again.
Not praising your dog will only become a bump in your training journey, so always make sure to say a few words of affection.
- Calling Them Off/ Punishing
In the initial days of training, there will be a lot of times when your puppy will make mistakes, dirt around your house, and not understand what you are trying to teach it. In such scenarios, it is important not to scold them or call them off.
Why So?
Your puppy is also learning new habits and ways to live with you, and you have to adjust together. Scolding them for tiny mistakes will confuse them about what they did wrong and make them scared to entrust or love you.
Conclusion
Dogs are a man's best friend, and having one loyal companion at your home is surreal. While having a puppy in your house is impressive, training young puppies is a handle job.
In such cases, Pee mats are a lifesaver for people who are in the process of training their dogs or people who cannot take their dogs out often. Teaching your puppy to use one isn't very hard, and with the proper steps and mistakes it avoids mentioned above, we hope your training journey becomes more manageable. However, if all this doesn’t work out we might have more solutions.
- See a Vet
If your dog isn’t training properly or is showing issues with peeing, it is advisable to go see a vet. Professional vets know the right solutions on what to do when your dog isn’t adjusting to proper training.