Potty Training is the most important parts of training your dog to be a valued member of the family. The best way to potty train a dog is to use the dog’s own instincts for your benefit. Dogs are instinctively clean. So, house training is much easier than you think. Basically, dogs do not want to soil the areas where they sleep and eat. Additionally, dogs are able to develop habits regarding where they would like to urinate and defecate. For example, dogs that do there business on concrete or gravel will prefer to do their deeds on concrete and gravel and not grass or dirt. You can use these instincts to help train your dog.

The first thing you need to do to begin house training your dog is to set up the training area. A small space that is confined is best for this purpose. For example, a bathroom or a part of the kitchen or garage will work best. Please do not confuse this with crate training. Crate training is great for both puppies and small dogs. However, many larger dogs will find a crate to confining.

It is important for the owner to spend as much time in the training area with his or her dog as possible. It is important for the owner to play with the dog in the training area, and to let the dog eat and sleep in that area. The dog should be provided with a special bed in the training area, anything from a store bought bed to a large towel to a large box. At first, the dog may eliminate in this area, but once the dog has recognized it as his or her own space, he or she will be reluctant to soil it.

When the dog is used to sleeping in the bed the owner can move it around the house and relocate the bed from room to room. When you are not with your dog; the dog should be confined to the training area.

Setting up the potty area is the second party of potty training. The dog must have access to this place every time nature calls. It is also necessary for the owner to accompany the dog each time until he or she get into the habits of eliminating into the toilet area. This will ensure that the dog only uses his established toilet area.

Giving your dog a set feeding schedule will make the house training process a lot easier for both the owner and the dog. Also, feeding the dog on a regular basis will help create a regular schedule for the dogs toilet habits. Once you know when your dog is likely to need to eliminate, it is will be easy to take your dog to the established toilet area.

It is very important that your dog has access, to his area, on a regular basis. If he is unable to get to his potty area he may have an accident and this will make house training much more difficult.

You can expand the dog’s training area when he consistently used his training area. This process needs to be done slowly. First you need to start with one room and then expand to the rest of the house. You should only expand this area when you are sure that that the dog is able to control his own bladder.

When you first expand the training area to a single room, let the dog eat, play and sleep in that room, but only when supervised. When it is not possible to supervise the dog, place it back in the original training area. Then, after the dog has accepted the room as an extension of the original training area, the area can be extended.

If this process is too lengthy for your needs, it can be speeded up, but it is important to proceed cautiously. It is easier to take your time up front than to retrain a problem dog later. One way to successfully speed up house training is to praise and reward the dog each and every time it uses the established toilet area. It is also important not to punish the dog for mistakes. Punishment will only confuse the dog and slow down the house training process.