Housetraining Basics – Switching From Paper Training to Outdoor Pottying

If you live in the city and just got a new puppy, you should immediately introduce him to paper training, which is usually the first stage in urban housetraining. If you live in an apartment or condo in a high-rise building, you obviously can’t teach your dog to go potty outside in the hall. For most dog owners, paper training is just a stepping stone to real outdoor pottying but if your dog is a small breed, you can actually let him do his thing on paper permanently.

Before you start training your dog to pee and poop on paper, you have to realize that once your dog learns this, it cannot be unlearned. So if you have magazines and papers lying around your home, you should put those away lest your dog mistake them for his paper pile.

Soon after starting your training, you will realize that your dog may prefer certain surfaces over others. Most dogs don’t like smooth surfaces and prefer porous ones like bedsheets, rugs and carpets.

It is very important to learn how to impose your will on your dog when it comes to housetraining instead of the other way around. For example, just because he seems to like doing his thing on blankets doesn’t mean you should give in and let him do it. Once he gets used to going potty anywhere he wants, it will be much harder to retrain him when he gets older. Right from the beginning, you should teach him to go in the right spot.

Moving Up to Outdoor Pottying

Unless you have decided to let your paper training go on until adulthood, you should eventually start to shift the training towards outdoor pottying. This might be a lot harder than you expect, especially if you reside in the upper floors of an apartment building.

When it’s absolutely time for your dog to go potty, it’s impossible to tell him to hold it until you make your way out onto the streets. For this reason, you should prepare yourself for accidents during the first few tries.

A good trick to use for preventing these accidents is to carry your dog out into the street instead of letting him walk on a leash. When his feet are touching the floor, it is more likely for him to relieve himself rather than if you carry him in your arms or with a dog carrier. If you do this every time he needs to go, then your pup will be completely housetrained in no time at all.