Module 4 — First 30 Days Academy™
The potty schedule that actually works
About 5 minutes
The families who housetrain in three weeks and the families still cleaning up in month three are not doing different training. They are running different schedules. Every accident is a missed trip, and the puppy is not the one who missed it.
The triggers
Out the door first thing, after every meal, after every nap, after every play session, and every forty-five minutes in between while awake. Set a timer for the first week, because you will lose track and the timer will not.
Same door, same spot, same words
One exit, one patch of grass, one phrase said quietly while they are going. Within about two weeks the phrase starts to work as a cue, which is genuinely useful at eleven at night in February.
The log on the fridge
Write down every trip and whether anything happened. It takes four seconds and it does two things: it shows you the pattern within about four days, and it ends the conversation where one adult assumes the other already took the puppy out.
When there is an accident
Say nothing. Interrupt only if you catch them mid-stream, and then only with a cheerful noise and a walk to the door. Punishment after the fact teaches a puppy to go somewhere you cannot see, which is a much harder problem than a wet floor.
Clean it with the enzymatic cleaner, then look at your schedule and find the trip you missed.
Before you move on
- —Timer set for 45-minute intervals
- —One designated potty spot
- —Log sheet on the fridge
- —Enzymatic cleaner in the room where accidents happen
- —Both adults using the same cue word