How to Potty Train a Puppy

Puppy hygiene and cleanliness: One of the best ways to potty train a newly arrived puppy to become house trained is to not only limit the freedom it has when roaming around the house but also to make sure to only allow it to use the potty in one unique place.If the puppy is allow to freely explore the whole house the chances that it will eliminate in an inappropriate place are very high and once the puppy has gone potty (toilet) within the house it will be drawn to return to that same place by the residual smell of its urine and feces. Since dogs instinctively will not defecate in their sleeping area it is a good idea to keep the puppy's bathroom and sleeping areas separate, otherwise you risk changing this very helpful behavior. If you hope to house train your puppy then you must be sure not to just let it defecate wherever it wants to or else it will never learn that it is necessary to hold it. If you haven't taken the time and effort to house train your puppy then you cannot get upset with it when it uses your plush carpet as a bathroom (potty).
Neither can a puppy be shown the correct place to eliminate only once or twice and then be expected to take care of business all on its own nor can you just take it to eliminate a few times a day. It helps sometimes to think of puppies like babies as they are somewhat similar and have many of the same needs. Puppies need to defecate and/ or urinate every couple of hours, after every meal, after waking and right before bed.  You as the puppy owner should also learn to spot the signals that make very clear when the puppy needs to use the bathroom. Some of these "precursors" are: intently smelling around one spot or turning around in a circle with its bottom close to the ground. Since you will have chosen a "spot" for your new puppy to use as its bathroom (before it even arrives in your home) you will want to take it to that location immediately after every meal, upon awakening from nap and/or every couple of hours and let it do what it needs to.