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The more you can be around for your puppy to take them in and out for bathroom breaks, the more quickly they’ll pick up on their housetraining.
But what if you can’t be there during the day? Or you’ve got a young puppy still vulnerable to catching diseases in public places and you don’t have a private yard to use as a potty area? Or what if you just can’t go outside as often?
In these situations, you’ll need to set up a small living area for your pup with a temporary indoor toilet. You can teach your puppy to use their indoor toilet in the same way you’ll teach them to go outside–keep them in their crate when you’re not with them, take them to their doggy toilet every two hours, and praise and reward them for using it.
Once they’ve got the hang of using the indoor toilet, you can leave them in their living area with the crate door open when you leave the house.
Setting Up An Indoor Toilet
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1. Set up your pup’s living area. Gate off part of the kitchen or any room with easy-to-clean floors, then furnish it with your puppy’s crate and a water bowl.
2. Make the indoor dog toilet. Line a tray with whatever your pup’s eventual outdoor toilet will be–a piece of sod (available at pet and gardening stores), gravel, bark chips, or thin concrete tiles for urban pups.
Dogs prefer to eliminate on the same type of material they’ve used before, so choosing the right material will make the transition to going outside easier.
Place the toilet in your puppy’s living area, in the corner furthest from your puppy’s crate.
You can find an indoor dog toilet on Chewy if you don’t have the materials to make one yourself.
You may also want to consider washable wee wee pads. They can save you a lot of money as an alternative to disposable pads.
Newspaper is not recommended. You don’t want a dog with an ingrained habit of using the Times as a toilet, especially if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
3. Follow the regular, outdoor training routine during the mornings, evenings, and weekends. Housetraining takes longer if you’re teaching your pup to use both an indoor and an outdoor toilet, but you’ll get there.
Have you ever housetrained a puppy? Did you have any indoor solutions for potty time? Let us know in the comments below!
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