Litter Training Puppies

Are you litter training puppies for the first time? Training a puppy to use a litter box makes a lot of sense if you are raising a litter (no pun intended) of newborn pups who can't make it outside. Although their mom will frequently take care of cleaning up after them while they are still nursing, introducing a litter box early can be a good way of getting them to head in the right direction from the start.

Puppies will naturally wander off a bit from the warm nest to relieve themselves. If you introduce litter nearby them, it will help them associate going to the bathroom in the litter as a natural activity later when you start houstraining them more actively. For a litter of young pups, the most important thing is that they can access the litter easily. The won't know to crawl into a tall box in order to relieve themselves, so spreading the litter flat on the ground (over some newspaper) or cutting out the side of the litter box so they have easy access will help them know what to do.

Litter Training Puppies Formally Begins at 8 Weeks

Once the pups reach 8 weeks of age, they are ready to go home to new families and simultaneously begin the litter training process. Some dogs will start out on litter before they have all the shots that will let them go outside where other dogs travel. Some dogs are on a permanent litter training plan. This can be especially convenient for small apartment dogs, or for dogs whose owners are not home during the day.

I've written several informative articles about how to begin the formal process of potty training puppies or litter box training dogs. Reading each article will give you the key pointers to help make your puppy's litter training a success!

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