Potty training a new pup or an older dog may seem like an enormous undertaking, but when you break it down you'll find that anyone can successfully teach their canine friend where the "right" spot is and how to let you know when it's time to go.

DOG'S PERSPECTIVE:
Dogs instinctively do not want to potty where they live. In the wild "where they live" consists of the nest that they make by turning circles and digging out an area that is large enough for them to lay down on comfortably. If a dog in the wild needs to potty, they will get up from this nest, move a few feet away, potty and return to their nest. They have effectively not messed in their home.

In our world, the home is several hundred times larger than any home a dog would have on their own. It is therefore necessary to teach the dog that is it not enough to simply move away from their bed or favorite play spot, but that they need to go to a specific spot (either on a potty pad in the house, or outside) to potty. This can only be done in baby steps. Below and in subsequent blogs I will walk you through exactly how to teach your puppy (or older dog) to potty where you want them to.

NUTRITION:
Believe it or not, what we put into our dogs plays a big role in what comes out of our dogs. A healthy, well balanced diet is best. When it comes to dog food, you really do get what you pay for. When you look at the nutritional analysis and see that product A (sold for $18 for 40 lbs) contains 20% minimum protein and product B (sold for $40 for 30 lbs) contains 20% minimum protein, you probably think to yourself: "They both have the same nutritional value, but product A is way nicer on my pocketbook, so I will buy that one!" It's a no-brainer, right? Wrong. You cannot base your decision solely on the nutritional analysis as this can be extremely misleading. If the protein is entirely made up of soya and wheat gluten, then there is a lot of product in the food that your dog will have difficulty digesting (using) and little if any actual meat protein which is what your dog is designed to digest effectively. 

Why am I bringing this up here? Because if you feed your dog a low quality food that contains lots of fillers and other ingredients that your dog cannot digest easily, if at all, then you will end up feeding your dog a lot more in the long run due to lack of nutrition in each meal. Also, the more filler and other non-useable ingredients in the food, the more poop you have to clean up. Poop resulting from a low quality diet tends to be large, more frequent and very stinky.

If, on the other hand, you feed a dog food that has no fillers and a quality meat based protein, then you will reduce the overall amount of food you have to feed your dog in order for them to have proper nutrition. You will also reduce the size, frequency and aroma of the poop. This is something we can all live with.

So, how do you determine if a food is high quality or not? Read the ingredient list. The items are listed in order of prevalence in the food starting with the ingredient that makes up the largest part of the food and working down to the item that is only just a little bit of the overall product. You should be most concerned with the first 5 ingredients.

The first ingredient should be a meat protein. Meat proteins include chicken, lamb, fish, beef, and venison. It may say it is a "meal" such as Lamb meal. This is OK. A meal is created when they squeeze out all of the water content, leaving behind a concentrated form of the ingredient. So the difference between Lamb and Lamb meal is that the lamb meal is a more concentrated version of the lamb in its orginal form. (Avoid byproduct. If the ingredient list says chicken byproduct meal this could understandably be confusing. What is that? It is a concentrated form of all the byproduct  from the bird - feathers, feet, beak - stuff that has very little nutritional value). There is at least one very well known product that has been around forever whose ONLY "meat protein source" is chicken byproduct meal and it is the 5th ingredient down!

The second ingredient should be a whole grain such as brown rice, brewers rice or whole grain sorghum. These are packed full of nutrients.

You will find variations in the ordering of ingredients. You may find a list that reads, "Lamb, lamb meal, brown rice..." or "Lamb meal, brown rice, lamb..." So long as the first 5 ingredients are protein and whole grains (and that first ingredient is protein) you are doing well.

AVOID: corn meal* and wheat meal* as these are mostly filler with little nutritional value and are also two of the most common allergens for dogs.

*The nutritonal part of corn and wheat is the gluten - the protein. If it is whole ground corn or corn gluten meal (same for wheat) it is higher quality than just straight corn meal or wheat meal.

PORTION SIZE:
Read the label on the food you are using. There is a guide that will tell you how much to feed your dog based on their age and weight. The information you see on the label is a DAILY allowance, NOT a per-meal allowance. Portions are based on a standard 8 oz cup. You should take the listed portion and split in half or thirds depending on how often you feed your dog.

FOOD AND WATER SCHEDULE:
Allow your dog 10 minutes to eat each meal. This is a guideline. If at the end of 10 minutes, Fido is happily munching away, let him finish his food. If, on the other hand, he has wandered away and is occupied doing something else, pick up the food and DO NOT OFFER IT AGAIN UNTIL THE NEXT MEAL. This will quickly teach Fido that he should eat when food is presented or risk going hungry. Provide plenty of clean, fresh water for Fido to drink while he is eating. If he finishes the bowl of water, refill it and allow him to keep driniking until he decides he is done. Try to make meal times at roughly the same time every day. By creating a routine schedule of when he gets to eat and drink, you will be helping Fido's body develop an internal schedule for when he needs to piddle and poop.

NOTE ON WATER:
It is not necessary to leave water available 24 hours per day. Let Fido drink his fill of water during his meals. If you are home with him, you can offer him water every 2 hours or so. If you must leave for more than 2 hours, you can put out a bowl with some ice cubes in it. Fido can lick at the ice, chew the ice (that's a fun game!) or drink the melted ice. This will allow Fido to stay hydrated while keeping him from gulping down an entire bowl of water in one shot. If he takes it in slowly, his body has a chance to process it and will allow him to hold his bladder for a longer time.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE SO FAR:
If you know when the food/water goes in, you will have a much better idea of when it will need to come out. So create a food and water schedule for your furry friend. It will help them learn to hold it and to anticipate when they will be allowed to go.