In part I we discussed how nutrition plays a role in potty habits. In part II, I went through the basic steps to successfully potty train your dog. In this section I will talk about the various products that are helpful in the process and explain how they work. I also go into further detail about the process of successful potty training.

HOW TO GET FROM AN ENTIRE FLOOR COVERED WITH POTTY PADS DOWN TO JUST ONE OR TWO PADS
In part II I recommended using a small space such as a bathroom or laundry room or playpen and cover the entire floor (except where the bed is located) with potty pads so that puppy could not miss and therefore could not make a mistake. But at some point, you want to be able to downsize this potty spot to just one or two pads.

You will have the entire space lined for at least 3 weeks. During this time you will notice that Fido usually goes in the same one or two spots. Typically this will be as far as he can get from his bed/living space. At the end of 3 weeks, when you see him consistently going in the same one or two places every time he uses the pads, you can begin to wean down the pads. Begin by removing the pad nearest his bed. This leaves his bed, one small area of exposed floor and the rest of the floor is still covered with potty pads. Leave it at this stage for one week. Every week that he does not have an accident on the exposed floor you can remove another pad (the next closest to his bed) until you are down to just one or two pads where Fido always goes.

Some dogs will not pee and poop on the same pad. So you may need to leave two pads out for him. Change the pads as often as needed. If 50% or more of the pad has been used, replace it. If he poops in one corner of the pad and you can remove that poop, leaving 80% of the pad still clean, that's OK. but if he urinates right in the middle of the pad and he can no longer get all 4 feet on the pad without stepping on a wet spot, replace it. Dogs will not usually go in exactly the same spot twice. So pay attention and determine if there is room for Fido to comfortably position himself to potty on the pad and if there is enough space on the pad to absorb what he is leaving.

During the weaning process, if Fido has an accident on the exposed floor, simply back up to having the entire floor lined with potty pads for 2 weeks and then begin again.

Once Fido has successfully pottied only on his pads with exposed floor for 3 weeks, you can begin to expand his home space. This can happen by using baby gates and such. If he is in a bathroom, perhaps give him access to the bathroom and the hallway, but not the rest of the house. If he is successful for 4 weeks with the added space, you can increase it to include another room. Do this a bit at a time. If you go from one small bathroom to an entire 3 bedroom house in one step, you will have accidents.

Remember potty training Fido takes as much time and patience as potty training a child. There will be setbacks. It's part of the learning process. If you are prepared for it and respond appropriately (scolding when caught, not scolding when found later, and always cleaning thoroughly with appropriate products), you will eventually have a full potty trained dog.

POTTY PADS FOR THE DOG WHO WILL EVENTUALLY POTTY OUTSIDE ONLY
When puppies are little it's often easier, and even necessary, to use potty pads some of the time. Especially if you must leave them confined while you're gone for hours at a time at work. If you intend for your dog to potty outside as his primary potty spot, but he is still a little puppy and clearly needs to use potty pads when you're gone for long periods of time or over night, there is a solution. I overcome the potential for Fido to be a dual pottier (inside and outside) by using the potty pads the way parents use a babysitter.

In my house, the potty pads were only used when I was not available to take my pup outside. If I was home and awake, I made sure to take him outside. First thing in the morning, after meals, when I got home, during play, just before bed and whenever I saw he was signaling that he was about to go, I quickly escorted him outside. I quietly encouraged him to go, waited while he did and included a very quiet "good potty" to further associate the label with the activity and praised him when he was done. He only used potty pads when I had to leave him unattended. If I left the house, he was confined with potty pads.  If I was asleep for the night, he was confined with potty pads. If I was in the shower, he was confined with potty pads. So in this way, he only ever had the potty pads when I wasn't there to take him out. He learned to head toward the door when I was home and we were able to successfully remove potty pads from his world.

Now, I must admit, my house has a dog door that leads to a fenced-in back yard. Once he learned how to get through the dog door, potty training was nearly complete because he had ready access to get outside, and instinctively he prefers to potty outside over his play area inside. We had one accident right after replacing the carpet. It smelled new and felt different and it confused him. One correction was enough to make clear that this new carpet was no more an OK potty spot than the old carpet.

POTTY PADS
This is clearly the most obvious tool to start with. What are they? How do they work? Why spend money on potty pads when I already have a newspaper at home?

Potty pads are square pieces of material. The back is made of a plastic, non-leaking liner. This liner helps to protect your floors from your pup's mess. The top layer is a cotton-feeling material that is similar in appearance and texture to human baby diapers. Almost all potty pads come with a built in attractant. Typically the attractant smells to the dog like urine as this will make the pad smell like a potty spot and draw the dog to the area for the purpose of going potty. Rest assured, it does not stink like urine to the human nose.

Some pads are scented with a grass smell - to smell more like outside where the dog may be more used to going. This is particularly good for emergencies when you may not be able to allow a dog who normally potties outside to have access to the outdoors. It could also be useful if your dog is ill or has had a surgical procedure and must be kept confined. If, however, you're just training a puppy who has never had access (or very limited access) to the outside for the purpose of potty, you will be more successful with the pads scented like urine rather than grass.

There are lots of brands of potty pads that you can use and they come at various price levels. The least expensive may not have any attractant, which means you may need to purchase a separate product (Potty Training Aid) to spray on the center of the pad. For a little more money, you can get the pads with the built-in attractant. The least expensive brands also have limited absorbency, which increases the potential for leakage if there's a large deposit or more than one before the pad is changed. One brand, Jump Start, has adhesive strips on two of the 4 sides. I found them to be quite useful as I could overlap the pads and use the sticky to help hold them all together, creating one large area that was less likely to have open spaces or gaps. Jump Start is a bit more expensive because of this added feature. Several brands also use the same technology as human baby diapers with the lock-away moisture core. These products have a chemical on their 2nd or 3rd layer that turns the moisture from urine into a gel, which helps to contain larger or multiple messes and keeps it dry to the touch should puppy decide to also lay in this area.

I highly recommend against using newspaper for three main reasons. First, the ink will smear on the floor when it gets wet and could stain your floor. Second, newspapers fall apart when wet which further makes cleanup difficult and a little bit gross.. Third, and potentially most important, Fido will not differentiate between paper you put down for him and paper (possibly important papers) that you still need. If you have the Sunday paper on the floor next to the couch as you read through it, Fido may see this stack and think, "Finally! I don't have to leave the room to go!" If you have bills or other important papers that happen to end up on the floor for some reason, you run the same risk.

POTTY PAD TRAYS AND FRAMES
There is a potty pad frame that literally creates a hard plastic frame around the pad that helps to keep it in place. It is just a frame and does nothing to ensure Fido's potty stays on the pad and not the floor.

There is a potty pad tray that I quite like. It is a hard plastic tray on which you lay the potty pad. There is a second piece that goes on top of the potty pad (just along the outside edges -framing). The potty pad is effectively sandwiched between the frame and the tray. The edges are round so that if Fido is right near the edge, the liquid will be encouraged onto the pad/tray. Because the tray is solid, even if there is an exceptionally large deposit, any leakage is contained on the frame and not on the floor.

Both of these products are useful also for the dog that likes to dig at or tear up the potty pad. it will not eliminate that behavior, but it will help to hold the pad still and usable. The tray also creates a solid place for the potty should Puppy tear up the pad a bit.

POTTY TRAINING AIDS
There is a product called Potty Training Aid. This is the artificial urine attractant found in most potty pads. If you find that you are having trouble getting Fido to potty on the pad, or if you are outside and want to encourage his using the bathroom in a particular area, you can spray this to help create the smell of potty spot for him.

There is a product by Simple Solution called Pee Post. This is a plastic post that you can stick into the ground where you want Fido to potty outside. It has the same attractant as Potty Training Aid spray, but will last at the site for quite a bit longer. Very useful if you are trying to designate one specific area as the potty spot outside.

There are other products such as No Go! and No Stay! which are designed to repel your dog. How effective these products are depends on the dog. Not all dogs are repelled by the smell. You will need to let your dog sniff the open bottle while you watch him. If he seems curious or un-phased, it will not work for you. If he moves away and won't allow you to bring it to his nose a second time, then you may have luck with it.

CLEANING PRODUCTS
There are countless products out there that declare they will eliminate pet elimination odor. I have found a couple that work well and a few that routinely get returned. Here I will discuss the ones that work well. At the bottom of this entry I will have an "avoid" section.
My two favorite products are PetZyme and Simple Solution. These two products both have a nonpathogenic (friendly) bacteria that eats the enzymes in urine and feces that cause them to smell like urine and feces. This bacteria literally eats the odor. Others suggest they use oxidization or "natural enzymes" to eliminate odor, but I have not had much success with them.

Both PetZyme and Simple Solution contain mild surfactants (stain removers) as well. For that reason, you will want to test the material in question in a discreet area to be sure there is no color change or damage. Assuming it is safe to use on your floor, it can be used on hard floors, wood, laminate and carpet. If the soiled area is carpet, blot up the mess as much as possible. Then spray the area to the with the cleaning product. Saturate the carpet in this area so that the product gets all the way to the backing. This ensures that all the urine will be contacted by the cleaning agent. Let the product sit for 20 minutes and then blot up the excess moisture. Let the area air dry for a couple days. If it is hard floor, wipe up the mess and spray the area thoroughly with the product. Leave it to air dry. This allows the bacteria a chance to break down the enzymes that cause the smell.

This is important. Using typical household cleaning products or others that do not contain the bacteria, you will not thoroughly eliminate the odor. It is not enough that our poor-sniffing human noses no longer smell potty. A dot's sense of smell is something like 100,000 times better than ours. We need to be certain that it doesn't smell like a potty spot to him.

BLACK LIGHTS
If you do not own a black light, you can get one for a reasonable price. You can conduct your own CSI investigation. If, after dark, you turn off all the lights and run the black light over the area of concern (between 4-6 inches above the floor) you will be able to see just where to spray because urine will glow fluorescent yellow. Feces will look like a black smudge. After you know where to spray and have sprayed, let the area air dry for 2 days. Then run the black light over the area again. You should see a significant shrinkage of area. You may need to treat an area more than once to get it all. The black light can be very helpful in ensuring that your cleanup was complete.

DOG DOORS
If you have a fenced-in yard and can install a dog door, that is an ideal situation. You can open the door during the day and allow your dog free access to get out to potty. You can close it and secure it at night. I have used a dog door large enough for a 60-lb dog to get through (large enough for a full grown woman of average weight to get through) in 3 separate houses (including one in Los Angeles) and have never seen anything go through the door other than the resident dog/s and invited canine friends. I have always made sure to purchase ones that had a door I could slip in from the inside and lock in place with a pin-lock. This way when I close it at night, I feel secure that cannot be opened from the outside.

DOG DOOR BELLS
There are several options here from bells that hang from the door knob by ribbon to products that live on the floor for your dog to step on. These can be placed right at the door and you can train your dog to alert you by sounding the bell so you can let him out.

this link will take you to a page with a few alternatives.   http://tinyurl.com/p5kvcb

To train Fido to use these bells is fairly easy. When you take him to the door to go out, take his paw and move it to step on the pad (or brush the bells hanging from the door). As you do this, tell him "Potty time." Then open the door and take him out. Be sure to label the behavior while he is going to further associate for him that this is what "potty" means. Every time you take him to the door, have him make the noise. You will have to mold the behavior several times (possibly as little as a half dozen or as many as several dozen) before he begins to learn how to do it himself.

Your dog may find it easier to nose the bell rather than step on it. That's OK too. Don't use too much force to get him to nose the pad on the floor. You may need to do it several times and then try to get him to do it.

After you feel that he is anticipating the touch, you can stop molding the behavior and simply ask him to do it. Give him a moment to think it through and figure it out. If he does, big praise and open the door. If he doesn't after a few seconds, then help him. Eventually he will do it at your command without you having to physically help him. Once he can do it when you are standing there with him and tell him "go potty?" he is likely to have made the connection that this is how to get out. Then, lead him over to the door but do not give the command. Wait for him to do it himself. If he doesn't after several seconds and you know he has to go, then give the command. If he does do it without the command, big praise and open the door. He will likely surprise you at some point by going and ringing the bell when you're not even in the room. This is a great accomplishment.

CAVEAT: Only have him ring the bell when it's time to go outside specifically for potty time. If you're taking him for a walk, or just letting him out to run around or you're going for a car ride, DO NOT USE THE BELL. The point of the bell is for him to tell you he needs to potty. If you use the bell every time Fido is going to go through the door, you will teach him that he can ask to go out whenever he wants and he will ask a lot.

Some of these bells have a pad that can be placed outside as well, so he can ask to come back in when he's ready.

PLAYPENS, CRATES AND BABY GATES
Crates can be useful for potty training so long as they are sized correctly for the dog. If you are using a crate that is too large for the dog, you will undermind your efforts to potty train. My favorite crates to use are I-Crate and Select. These are wire crates and they come with a moveable divider. The divider panel can be placed anywhere in the crate to limit the space availabl to the dog. This is great because you can buy a crate that will be the right size for an adult dog who is fully potty trained, but limit the space to what is approrpiate to your dog at his particular stage of training. This is much more cost effective in the long run, especially if you have a young puppy who will grow into a large dog. If you buy a crate sized for a 10-week old lab, you will need to buy a new crate every month until he's full grown. If you buy the wire crate with the divider panel, you can buy one crate that will be comfortable for him when he's 80 lbs, but can be sized to fit him at his young age now.

Playpens are a favorite of mine. There are many brands and designs avaialable. Kennel-Aire is one I like quite a lot. it's made of metal and has 8 panels. Each hinge can be turned 360 degrees, allowing you to fold panels on themselves to make a smaller space if necessary. This much movement also allows you to configure it in many different shapes to best suit your needs and space available. Each panel is 24" wide creating 16 sq. feet of floor space when expanded fully. One panel has a door in it, which allows you to give Fido freedom to go in and out of th playpen when you are there to supervise him. This way he can take himself to his potty spot during play because he'll have access to it. It is held closed by leash snaps. The whole unit folds flat (roughly 6" thick) to store under a bed or in a closet. This playpen comes in 3 height sizes: 24", 36" and 48" high.

Baby gates can be very useful when you are enlarging the space Fido has access to, while keeping parts of the house off limits. You can get anything from simple pressure-mount gates to hard-installs that hang from the wall. They have them these days to fit traditional doorways as well as more modern open floor plans. My favorites are pressure-mounted for ease of moving, and have a gate built into the gate. This allows you to put it in place and leave it there. You can open and close the gate for your passage without having to completely move the gate every time you want to pass through that area.

AVOID

• Doggie Diapers for the purpose of potty training. Ignore the packaging that suggests they are useful for this. They are not. Dog diapers are meant for females in heat or either males or females with incontinence issues (not the same thing as 'not potty trained'). Putting diapers on a puppy will NOT teach puppy to "hold it." It WILL teach puppy to live in her mess. It WILL teach puppy that potty stays with her no matter where she goes and so no matter where she is, it must be an OK potty spot.
  
• Products to avoid include crates that are too large for your puppy, as explained above.
• Cleaning products that do not contain the nonpathogenic bacteria. I have had little success and heard many complaints about Nature's Miracle other products that suggest they use oxidization and "natural enzymes" to eliminate odors.
• Ammonia-based cleaning products. Urine contains ammonia. If you use a household cleaner that contains ammonia, you will be effectively making the entire area smell like an acceptable potty spot to Fido.

STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
If after reading all of three sections, you still have questions about potty training, please feel free to write to me and I will do my best to answer your questions. Trust that if you still have a question, someone else has the same question.

You can send questions to
training@gooddog-dogtraining.com

Thanks for reading.