House Training & Home Manners

Potty Training: Schedule & Setup

House Training & Home Manners

Overview

House training is 90% management and 10% teaching. Take your dog out on a predictable schedule, reward heavily for going in the right spot, and prevent accidents by supervising or confining. Most puppies are reliably trained by 4–6 months with consistency.

Why it matters

Accidents in the house aren't "spite" or "stubbornness." They're a management failure. Fix the setup, fix the problem.

Watch: demonstration

[VIDEO PLACEHOLDER] Trainer walking through a daily potty schedule with a puppy. — trainer to attach a video via the admin uploader.

Step by step

  1. Take your dog out first thing in the morning, after every meal, after every nap, after play, and last thing at night.

  2. Puppies can hold it for roughly their age in months plus one, in hours (2-month-old = ~3 hours max).

  3. Pick one potty spot outside. Take them to it on leash. Wait quietly.

  4. The moment they go, mark ("yes!") and reward within 2 seconds — heavily.

  5. If there's an accident inside, clean with an enzymatic cleaner. Never punish after the fact.

  6. Supervise or confine — a puppy having "free time" unsupervised is a puppy about to have an accident.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER] Sample potty schedule for an 8-week-old puppy. — trainer to upload one or more still images.

Common mistakes

  • Punishing after an accident — teaches the dog to hide, not to hold it.

  • Rewarding after the dog comes back inside — reward at the spot, immediately.

  • Giving free run of the house too soon — earn freedom room by room.

Practice this week

Log every potty outcome (success / accident) for 2 weeks to spot patterns.