What NOT TO DO and TO DO to potty train your dog
Small white dog Trixie lying on the ground. Pine trees are in the distance. Trixie is on her side. She’s wearing a blue jacket. Her eyes are closed.
Are you struggling with potty training?
If your dog has an accident, this is a BUMMER. It is SO NORMAL to feel frustrated, hopeless, even angry. I see you and you're not alone.
The ONE THING that will make potty training way harder: punishing your dog.
There’s an awful lot of crap (can’t resist a pun) advice out there about dog potty training. You may have heard to say NO in a stern voice or rub your dog’s face in the poop or pee.
This is punishment. If you punish when your dog has an accident, your dog learns to avoid repeating this scary and/or painful experience. You dog learns to avoid going potty near you.
Your dog still needs to go potty. Now your dog has learned to first go away from you and then potty. Oh no!
I learned as an adult how I had punished a childhood dog, Hobbes. As a kid, I was following terrible advice from a dog trainer. Giving myself compassion for following that terrible advice helped me move forward to adopt and help our wonderful dog Trixie.
If you have been punishing your dog for having potty accidents, you deserve to give yourself compassion for this. You’ve been doing your best with the info you had.
You are good at heart. Your dog is good at heart. (Thank you Dr. Becky.)
The quick version of what TO DO for your dog to learn to go potty outside?
Arrange the dog’s environment for zero accidents.
Take your dog out on leash. Say “yes!” and give your dog MASSIVE TREAT PARTY when they pee or poop outside.
