Ollie’s Toilet Training

Ollie Diaries

Our home was buzzing with excitement with arrival of our pup Ollie. We got her home on Monday. She received a grand welcome right in the building lobby by my mom, our neighbors even the building watchman. Asmi was super happy to have her younger sister at home & connected to her instantly.

I had already set up & puppy proofed our home for Ollie to settle down in the house easily.  From the first night, I made her sleep in her crate in the night, next to our bed & she slept in it with no issues at all. For the next 2 days I observed every little thing about her, food pattern, activity levels, even made note of her pee/ poop timings. She peed in couple of spots near the bathroom. I had also placed a pee pad right outside our bathroom door, dabbed in her urine , but Ollie thought of it as a chew toy  & nothing else. So I decided not to use it.

On Thursday I decided that today is the day I’m going to get her toilet trained. I quickly got ready after waking up & decided to take her down immediately. Out of the crate, leash on & straight we go down in the building compound. As she is not fully vaccinated, I chose a quiet corner of the building compound to walk her, instead of taking her out on the road. I walked her there for 10-15 minutes. She happily sniffed the floor, looked at leaves, felt the breeze & enjoyed her time out in the sun but did not pee. I took her back home & let her rest.

For next 3 -4 hours, I restricted her access around the house. She was either in her crate or restrained with leash. Gave her lots of chew toys to keep her occupied. While I was going on about my day, I watched her like a hawk. I repeated the process of taking her down to the same spot every hour for 10-15 minutes. I even made her run a little bit. At home, I tried to keep a watch on any subtle moments by her indicating that she wanted to pee such as licking her butt, scratching, yawning, sniffing the ground etc. By the time we repeated this process 3-4 times, it was afternoon.

By this time I could feel that she was getting restless & wanted to pee.  If I would have left her open in the house, she would have peed  in 2 seconds. So we go down again to the same spot and Ta Da……she pees immediately on the chosen spot….. I was so proud of my little girl & praised her lots while she was peeing.

As she was exhausted by the day’s activity she slept for the next 4 hours. As soon as she woke up, I took her down again to the same spot & she peed within 5 seconds. What a relief !

We are following the same morning routine since last 2 days , restricting her access while we are busy with work, taking her down every 4-5 hours & letting her run free & play every time she pees down.  And we now have a happy bouncy puppy in the home with no indoor toilet incidents! I also make sure to clean up immediately after she pees/ poops in the compound.

Tips for Toilet Training Puppies

• Patience
• Controlled access around the house
• Keeping a watch on pups body language