Toilet training a puppy is one of those things everyone claims is easy, right up until you’re standing in the hallway at 6:17 am, holding a kitchen roll, whispering, “But we just went outside.”
If your puppy seems to wee with the enthusiasm of a small garden sprinkler, you’re not alone. Welcome to the club.
Before we begin, if you’re still choosing a puppy, take the Which Dog Breed is Best for Me? Quiz. A surprisingly large number of toilet-training meltdowns could have been avoided by knowing which breeds prefer weeing on soft furnishings.
Pickles’ Aside: If humans had to go outside every time they needed a wee, they’d riot.
What Toilet Training Actually Is
It’s not misbehaviour.
It’s not stubbornness.
It’s not spite.
It’s a teeny tiny, confused baby animal learning where the bathroom lives.
Your puppy isn’t plotting. They’re simply operating with a bladder the size of a walnut and the impulse control of a toddler on jelly beans.
The Golden Rule
Take your puppy out more often than your sanity thinks is reasonable.
If you think, “I probably don’t need to take them out yet,” you’re wrong. Go now.
Owner insight:
“My entire personality has become taking my puppy outside. I don’t know who I am anymore.”
Pickles’ Aside: If I blink twice and sniff the air, escort me to the garden immediately.
The Super-Actionable Toilet Training Schedule
(Backed by thousands of 4 am owner confessions)
Puppies need to go out:
- after waking
- after eating
- after playing
- before bed
- every 20 to 40 minutes, even if you swear they don’t need to
Step 1: Outside. Same door. Same spot. Same routine.
Dogs learn through patterns. Let the pattern do the heavy lifting.
Step 2: Stand still. Be boring.
Your job is to become a decorative garden ornament.
Do not talk.
Do not scroll.
Do not turn toilet time into playtime.
Step 3: The second they finish, praise like you mean it.
Treat within two seconds.
Your puppy cannot connect the dots with delayed rewards.
Step 4: Back inside calmly.
No fanfare. No fuss. Just clarity.
Owner insight:
“The day I stopped chatting to my puppy outside was the day she finally wee’d.”
Pickles’ Aside: I did the wee. Please send treats directly to me.
Puppy Toilet Cues You Cannot Miss
These signals last approximately half a heartbeat.
Look for:
- sniffing
- circling
- wandering off
- Suddenly going quiet
- pausing mid-play
- doing the guilty look before the crime
Owner insight:
“My puppy gives me exactly one sniff of warning. One. Then destruction.”
Accidents Are Guaranteed. Here’s the Right Response.
Accidents are part of the process. You are not failing. Your puppy is not failing. Your floors are simply collateral damage.
Do Not:
- shout
- scold
- use guilt
- say “you know what you did” (they do not)
- rub noses in anything (prehistoric nonsense)
Do:
- Interrupt gently (“Outside, little one”)
- Lift them and go out immediately
- Praise if they finish outdoors
- Clean indoors with an enzymatic cleaner
Scent tells puppies where to toilet. If the smell remains, so will the crimes.
Pickles’ Aside: If the carpet still smells like wee, I assume it’s my designated area.
Night-Time Toilet Training
Welcome to the zombie chapter.
Use a crate or pen
Puppies avoid weeing where they sleep, unless they’re desperate.
Set alarms
Every 2 to 4 hours for young pups.
Keep night trips boring
Dim lights. No chatter. No cuddles. Just business.
Owner confession:
“I aged ten years during nighttime toilet training.”
Yes, Your Puppy Will Wee Indoors And Probably On Things You Love (any you)
Let’s normalise this now:
Your puppy will wee inside.
Your puppy will wee on rugs.
Your Puppy will wee on you
Your puppy may wee on the exact thing you told them not to.
This is normal.
This is training.
This is survivable.
Pickles’ Aside: If your rug survives puppyhood, frame it. It deserves recognition.
Puppy Pads
The topic that divides dog owners more than whether pineapple belongs on pizza.
Puppy pads can be useful when:
- You live in a flat
- You’re recovering from surgery
- You physically cannot go outside as often as needed
- Your puppy is too young to venture outdoors
But the downside:
Pads teach puppies that weeing inside is acceptable.
Many pups struggle to unlearn this.
Real Owner Insight:
“The day we removed the pads was the day toilet training finally began.”
The CrazyDogs’ guidance:
- Use pads only if you must
- Keep them in one location only
- Slowly move the pad closer to the door
- Remove pads as soon as outside toileting is reliable
A Word on Enzymatic Sprays (The Secret Weapon Everyone Underestimates)
Let’s clear something up:
We are not talking about “toilet attractant sprays” here.
We are talking about enzymatic cleaners and they are absolutely essential.
These sprays don’t encourage toileting.
They remove every trace of scent, even the ones you can’t smell.
Because if your puppy can smell it, your puppy will assume:
“This is the designated toilet spot. Excellent. I shall return.”
Enzymatic cleaners are your best friend for:
- Preventing “favourite wee corners”
- Stopping repeat offences
- resetting the area completely
- keeping training on track
Real owner insight:
“The day I switched to an enzymatic cleaner was the day my puppy stopped revisiting his crime scene. Life changing.”
CrazyDogs Guidance:
- Use an enzymatic spray on every indoor accident
- Regular cleaners only mask the smell to humans
- Dogs can still smell their wee, and smell = habit
- Treat every accident like a training reset
Pickles’ Aside: If it still smells like pee, I assume the party continues.
Little-Known Toilet Training Tips
The good stuff. The things no one tells you until it’s too late.
The Morning Reset Walk
Take a short sniffy walk immediately after waking.
Sniffing triggers the bladder.
Cuts morning accidents dramatically.
Reward the Pre-Wee Sniff
If your puppy sniffs the toilet area, praise.
Rewarding the early hint speeds up training.
Create a Boring Toilet Area
If your garden is a wonderland of leaves and smells, your puppy will forget to wee.
Choose one quiet, dull corner.
Try Different Surfaces
Some pups hate wet grass.
Some prefer gravel or bark.
Find the preference, then transition.
Play After Toileting, Not Before
If you play first, your puppy will forget to wee.
Then they will remember indoors.
This is a universal truth.
Use a “Go Wee” Cue
Say it as they begin.
Within weeks, you’ll have a dog who wees on command.
Life-changing in the rain.
Lick Mats Before Bed
A calm puppy wees less at night.
A wired puppy wees everywhere.
Reddit gem:
“Overexcited pups have random wees. Calm pups don’t. Took me three weeks to learn this.”
Pickles’ Aside: Calm me and I forget to commit crimes. Overexcite me and I become chaos.
When to See a Vet
Toilet training issues can have medical causes.
Check with a vet if you see:
- crying while weeing
- blood
- constant dribbling
- excessive thirst
- sudden regression
Trust your gut.
Thinking of Bringing Home a Puppy
Stay sane with the New Puppy Paw-rent Planner. It includes toilet trackers, schedules and the exact survival checklists you need. If you got everything else covered but you just want to crack the Toilet Training, try our Toilet Training tracker, which keeps you organised and on a schedule.
Once your floors recover, treat yourself to Cartoon Pet Portraits.
Pickles’ Aside: If you survive toilet training, the rest of dog ownership is easy.