Puppies have little bladders and will need to pee often. This could literally be every few minutes with an eight week old puppy.

An eight week old puppy will also need to do a poo within about 30 minutes of eating – the number of poos will depend on how often they eat and their activity levels.

As puppies tend to be fed little and often this means that you can expect to make lots of toilet trips, day and night.

Start potty training your puppy from day one. Young puppies have short attention spans but the earlier that you start toilet training the better.

• If you have a garden, you can start potty training your puppy to go outside. If you don’t have a garden, choose a spot in the house for your puppy to start potty training.
• Give your puppy lots of opportunities to go to the toilet. This should include when they wake up, have finished eating, after a play session, when someone has come home, and before you want to go to bed. Be prepared for lots of toilet trips!
• Choose some words to encourage them to go to the toilet – e.g. ‘Do a poo’ or ‘Do a wee’ and say this to them when you take them into the garden or toilet spot. They won’t know what this means at first, but if you reward them with lots of praise and a treat after they have been to the toilet, they will learn to associate your words with going to the toilet.

We all want to know how fast you can house train a puppy, so the rule of thumb is that by the time your puppy is six months old, they should be fully house trained (no accidents indoors) and won’t need to wee or poo during the night, but some may take longer. The success of your house training will depend on your ability to get your puppy to the right place at the right time by learning what their subtle signals are. Consistency is the key.

New puppy owner tips!  

We asked other dog owners to share their tips on the best way to toilet train a puppy. 

It’s highly likely that in the early days there will be accidents because your puppy won’t be able to hold a wee or poo for very long. Whilst it’s not nice finding a puddle or a poo on the floor but the worst thing you can do is tell your puppy off or rub their nose in it (this is an old wives’ tale, which does more harm than good). Your puppy won’t understand that they have done something wrong and will just feel scared of you if you scold them. They will also be less likely to go to the toilet in front of you, which will make toilet training even more difficult!

Instead, clean up the wee or poo and take your puppy to the garden or their toilet spot and praise them when they go to the toilet where you want them to go. It’s much easier to establish good habits with a puppy than break bad habits so the more you persevere with the house training routine, the sooner the accidents will stop.

There are bound to be some accidents in the house as you toilet train your puppy. Using the right cleaner to get rid of the smell of pee is really important. This is because a lingering scent of pee on the carpet or hard floor will encourage your puppy to go in the same spot again. Avoid using regular household cleaning products that contain ammonia. This is because your dog’s urine contains ammonia, so an ammonia-based cleaning product won’t get rid of the smell – in fact it will just make it worse. Instead, you need an enzyme cleaner to effectively get rid of all trace of your puppy’s pee. You can buy enzymatic pet urine cleaners online or from pet shops. Alternatively, you can try making your own.

You will need to get up during the night – probably a couple times in the early weeks to take your puppy to the toilet. By doing this you will both help your puppy to learn about where they should go to the toilet and prevent little accidents. Read more about toilet training your puppy at night.

You may be tempted to use puppy pads at night to catch any accidents. However, dogs don’t like going to the toilet where they sleep and could become distressed if forced to do so. It’s much kinder to your puppy – and better for you in the long run – if you take them out to the toilet during the night.

There is mixed opinion about puppy pads – the gist of it is that if you use puppy pads your puppy will learn to go the toilet indoors and this could be a hard habit to break. If you have a garden, then it’s best to start taking your puppy outdoors straightaway, but if you live in a flat or an apartment and it’s not easy to or it’s too early to take your puppy outside, this may not be an option. You can still begin potty training and get your puppy used to using the toilet spot by using your chosen words and reinforcing their good behaviour with praise and reward. 

You will probably find that you have good days and bad days with toilet training your puppy. As a new puppy parent, you’ll still be getting used to your puppy’s routine and if you’re busy with other things it can be easy to forget to take the puppy to the garden or their toilet spot. Regular supervised trips to the toilet spot should be your aim rather than expecting your dog to let you know if they need to go out.

If your puppy has an accident when they have been left alone at home, this is likely to be because they felt anxious. Slowly getting your puppy used to being alone can help minimise their stress and accidents in the house.