The first few weeks with a new puppy are full of excitement—and usually quite a few puddles as well. The good news is that most puppies aren’t being naughty—they’re simply learning.

Fortunately, it’s only a phase. The secret isn’t waiting for your puppy to grow out of it. It’s careful management while they do. With the right routine, most puppies become clean surprisingly quickly.

Set your puppy up to succeed

Until your puppy is reliable, good management is your best friend. Supervise closely, keep your puppy nearby and use a crate or playpen when appropriate. Every accident indoors is simply another opportunity to practise the wrong behaviour.

• Take your puppy out after waking.
• After meals.
• After drinking.
• After play.
• After excitement.

Some puppies sleep through the night surprisingly early. Others genuinely need one or two overnight toilet trips for several weeks. Both are perfectly normal.

The mistake almost everyone makes

One of the biggest mistakes owners make is assuming that because their puppy has been outside, they’ve already been to the toilet.

Quite often they haven’t.

Many puppies have simply been asleep in the garden or happily watching the world go by. Then they come inside, start moving around… and whoops! There’s a puddle on the floor.

Whenever I let our own Koolie puppy, Blink, back inside, I don’t head straight for the door. Instead, we spend a couple of quiet minutes wandering around the garden while I softly say, “Toilet.” The gentle stroll encourages her to empty her bladder before we go indoors.

If you want your puppy to develop reliable outdoor toilet habits, don’t rush this part. Those few quiet minutes wandering around the garden are some of the most valuable you’ll spend during toilet training.

Blink has already learned her toilet cue, and those extra two minutes have saved us countless accidents.

Catch them getting it right

The moment your puppy finishes toileting outside, reward them immediately.

• Say ‘Yes.’
• Give a small treat.
• Offer quiet praise.

If you catch your puppy toileting indoors, interrupt gently and calmly take them outside to finish. Stay calm—no yelling, no chasing and no anger. Puppies learn far more from being shown the right place than from being punished for getting it wrong.

When you can’t get home

Sometimes life gets in the way. If your puppy genuinely can’t hold on, don’t expect them to do the impossible.

Rather than putting a pee pad inside the sleeping crate, create a separate toilet area. Attach a second crate or exercise pen to the sleeping crate, leaving the doors open between them. The sleeping area remains cosy, while the second area contains a pee pad, artificial turf or even a tray of real grass.

Keeping the sleeping area separate from the toilet area helps preserve your puppy’s natural instinct to keep its bed clean while still giving them somewhere appropriate to toilet if they simply can’t wait.

Be patient

Our new CLEAR Dog Training puppy, Blink, had a few accidents in her crate during her first few nights at home. We were fortunate that she soon settled into sleeping through until 6 am, although she still tears downstairs every morning before producing what seems like a five-minute pee!

Not every puppy develops this quickly, and that’s perfectly normal. Every puppy learns at a different pace.

Today, Blink races downstairs every morning because she knows exactly what’s expected. That’s where every well toilet-trained puppy starts—with good routines, patience and a little time.