Potty Train Your Puppy Cheap and Easy

Little puppy dog eyes have the same effect on a human as falling in love: we become blind to any other possibility no matter the cost. Then you get home and reality sets in. There will be a cost and it is about three dollars a square foot--it is your carpet. Cute and cuddly as they may be, puppies are notorious for peeing and pooping on the carpet and here is a simple and effective way to help motivate your pup to potty outside!

Most people start with something that seems simple: newspaper or puppy pads. But when you start to think about it, this is not natural for a dog. Dogs and all other animals prefer the great outdoors, their pooping and peeing is all about scent--marking their territory. It is a natural and innate sense an animal is born with. So I say skip the paper and that nasty bottle of urine smell to attract the puppy to the paper, train the puppy to outside to potty, it should not take any longer than any other potty training method.

How do you get your puppy to go outside on cue? The Puppy Door Bell-- hang a bell on the door puppy will use to go outside to potty. First, you need a long ribbon or string and a jingle bell (can be found in the Wal-Mart craft department or any craft store) Tie the bell to one end, tie the other end to the door knob so that the bell hangs at the best level for puppy to reach easily with his/her paw. You can have a friend help with training if you like. Start with ringing the bell then opening the door, close it and repeat a few times. Have your friend stand outside the door with some tasty treats the puppy can eat quickly, some crumbled bacon works great. Now, close the door and from inside help puppy ring the bell with his paw, have your friend open door and give the puppy a treat, repeat several times.

Puppy may not have put together that this is about the potty yet, but he knows that bell and that door give him bacon so we're moving in the right direction. Give puppy a rest and play outside for a while. Later try again, ring the bell, open the door, take him out into the yard and then give bacon, repeat a few times (don't give whole pieces of bacon, just small pieces, or you're going to have one bloated sick puppy with the runs you do not want to have to clean up!)

From now on that bell is your friend, puppy should catch on quickly. Every time you announce potty time to go "outside, outside" ring the bell,open the door and take the puppy out to the lawn to potty. Before long puppy will ring the bell and wait for you to let him go outside to potty.

We used this technique with our own dachshund and surprisingly our cats caught on too. You would think the cats would have used it as a toy and I'm sure they did, but they enjoyed their new found freedom. Ring bell, go outside! It's that simple. In the beginning when we went to our family's home to visit we took a bell and string and showed her where the door was and that her bell was there--she liked the sense of home and was comfortable ringing the bell. She is almost 8 years old now and we have since graduated from the bell, now she just goes to the door and scratches. I have been very pleased that she does not sit by the door and bark, yelp or whine, which would be annoying. We have set up a line of communication that works for us. Another interesting tid bit--she would ring the bell once to go out, if we didn't get there quickly she would ring it again but with more intensity until she go our attention. It's a life long training technique that will help save your carpet and your sanity!