How to Potty Train a 6 Week Old Puppy?

In this article, we are going to be looking at how to potty train a 6-week old puppy. You have a new puppy or a litter of them; is it possible to potty train them that young?

The generally accepted age to potty train a puppy is 7 to 8 weeks old. This does not mean that younger puppies cannot be trained.

It just means that they are a lot more difficult to train at this stage. To succeed, you need to be consistent and they will eventually catch on.

Can you Start Training a 6 Week Old Puppy?

The answer to whether or not you are able to train a 6 week old puppy depends on who you ask. Some believe that it’s too early o take a puppy away from its mother and that they would have not developed the level of understanding necessary at that stage.

Fortunately, though, you don’t need to separate a puppy from its mother in order to potty train them and they definitely can learn some things at that stage in their lives. 6 week old puppies are able to understand and can follow instructions.

It just takes a bit more work. There is quite some evidence on YouTube and other places on the internet where people have experienced great success with training 6 week old puppies.

In fact, I came across someone who potty trained a whole litter of 6 puppies at the same time. The secret to training puppies at such a young age is to ensure that you are consistent with it. They eventually do come around.

How to Potty Train a 6 Week Old Puppy?

Veterinary experts recommend that a puppy be let out 5 to 15 minutes after eating. At this point, they are often ready to go.

The simplest way is to take them out to the area where you want them to potty as soon as they finish eating or nursing. Another time that is also good for potty training is soon after they wake up from a nap.

Immediately let them out to your designated potty area and let them do their business. It can’t be stressed enough that repetition is key if you want you to succeed.

This may take anywhere from 5 days to a couple of weeks until it is locked down. You will notice that once they start getting the hang of it, they will start to signal to you when they want to go.

This may be a small whimper that they let out. You will need to be mindful of this and be on the lookout for when they give off these signals.

Just like with a toddler, you need to be a lot more patient with puppies. This means that you don’t reprimand or punish them in the event that they go indoors.

You need to encourage them with treats. A good method is to distract them with one when they are about to go indoors then lead them out. When they then potty outside, you compliment them or give them a treat so that you reinforce the behavior.

Are puppy pads a good idea?

In case you don’t know what a puppy pad is, it’s basically a material that you place in a specific place in your house where our puppy can go. It is also known as a pee pad.

This can be very useful when you live in an apartment building and it’s not always convenient to take the long trip outside.

Another reason could be that the weather outside is really bad and you can’t take your puppy out to potty. They come treated with an attractant that encourages your puppy to go and pee there.

There are also sprays available which you can spray in the places where you want your puppy to potty. Pee pads can be put in any area of your house and are disposable.

Once they are used, you can easily toss them in the trash. It is highly recommended that this only be used as a last resort when you are in the training phase.

The best plan is to train your puppy that they need to go outside to potty. Pee pads do come in handy in situations where you have an older dog that is sick and can’t go outside or suffers from arthritis.

Dogs are generally clean animals and don’t potty where they sleep. Though it may take a bit of patience, you can basically potty train or even housebreak a puppy in 5 days or less.

In order to be able to do this though, you must be consistent throughout the 5 days. If you work, you can use the weekend and take the next 3 days of the following week off in order to complete the training.

If you are inconsistent, it will take you weeks to get your puppy potty trained. You will definitely be doing a lot of cleaning up as well.

Some Common Potty Training Mistakes

Before concluding this article, let’s look at some potty training mistakes that a lot of owners make. Though it is possible to have your puppy potty trained in 5 days or less, it may actually take months until they have it figured out.

This is because they may relapse at some point or the other. Another common mistake owners make is to punish their puppy when they potty in the house.

This is not only unnecessary but may also be retrogressive. Simply clean up the mess and make sure that you keep a closer eye on your puppy in order to avoid similar occurrences in the future.

Carrying on on the same thought, make sure that you limit or control which parts of the house your puppy has access to.

This is to make sure that they are kept in parts of the house that you will not have issues with should they mess it up such as the bathroom.

Another way is to put them on a leash then attach that leash to you. By doing this, you always know where they are and can keep a close watch for signs that they may want to potty.

Conclusion

Potty training a 6 week old puppy definitely is possible. Dogs, much like people, have varying levels of intelligence. Though the recommended minimum is 7 weeks old, you definitely can begin to potty train your puppy at 6 weeks. If they exhibit a desire to want to please at an early stage, this is definitely a good sign that they will be easier to train.