Toilet Training

Toilet training is an essential part of your puppy’s development and requires consistency, patience, and positive reinforcement.

Take your puppy outside regularly, particularly:

• • Immediately after they wake up
    
  • After eating or drinking
    
  • After play sessions
    
  • Any time you notice signs that they may need to toilet (such as sniffing, circling, or restlessness)
    

Never punish your puppy for toileting in an inappropriate place. Puppies do not understand punishment in this context and may instead learn to associate toileting with being told off. This can result in them becoming reluctant to toilet in front of you, even when outside. Instead, calmly clean up any accidents without drawing attention to them. When your puppy toilets outside, provide immediate and enthusiastic positive reinforcement. This may include verbal praise, food rewards, or toys—use whatever motivates your puppy most. Consistently rewarding the correct behaviour will help them quickly understand where they should toilet.

Putting your puppy on a lead for toilet trips in the garden can be extremely helpful. Gently walking them around the garden encourages movement and sniffing, which often stimulates the puppy to toilet more quickly. Using a lead also helps your puppy understand that this trip has a specific purpose.
This approach clearly differentiates toilet breaks from playtime in the garden. Once your puppy has toileted, you can then remove the lead and allow supervised free time or play, helping them learn that toileting comes first and play follows.

The use of puppy pads is generally discouraged. Training a puppy to use pads encourages indoor toileting and often creates confusion later when transitioning them to toileting exclusively outdoors. Avoiding pads from the outset helps establish clear and consistent expectations for your puppy.