Part 2: Preparation

There are several things we’d like you to setup before taking your puppy home.  It is crucial for potty training success that you don’t simply take puppy home, give him run of the house, and think he’ll eventually, “Get the hang of it.”  Successful potty training requires a more disciplined approach.

1. Your puppy needs his own small area all his own, for him to spend his time while you are potty training.  As your puppy will be spending quite some time here until he’s trained – this should be his own area, and not simply a crate.  Here’s some key aspects of this puppy pen:
   – located near the door you use to go outside, as you’ll be making many quick trips outside
   -also located near where the rest of the people in the homes spend their time during the day.  Bassets are social creatures and are prone to separation anxiety – you want to make puppy feel as a part of your family!
   -start off with a small area, say 4 foot by 4 foot
   -give the puppy a bed – wether it’s a crate, bed, blanket, etc.
   -give the puppy food and water bowls on the opposite end to his bed.
   As your puppy has been raised to leave his sleeping area to go potty,  he’s naturally going to want to keep this puppy pen clean, and resist pottying here.  However, if you’ll be leaving him in his pen for more than an hour or two, it’s only fair to give him some pee pads, where it’s ok for him to go. 
2. Hang potty bells from the door you plan to use to go out to the potty area!
3. You’ll need to choose an outdoor potty location where you will train the puppy to eliminate. Ideally this is located near the door you’ll use to exit the house, and very easily accessible.  Small bladders don’t have a lot of control, so you’ll want to be able to whisk puppy outside and straight to this area with a minimum of fuss!
4. Lastly, you’ll need to plan where puppy will spend his time at night. If the puppy pen is located quite a distance from your bedroom – you may want to consider placing a crate in your bedroom for at night.  For the first week or two, the puppy may not quite be able to hold it a full night and may need to be taken out once or twice.  Ideally, you’ll be near enough to puppy so that you can hear him to take him outside.  Additionally, the closer confines of a crate will really deter the puppy from just pottying in the crate – he’ll make quite a bit of a fuss first, so well help him learn bladder control for longer periods. 

Go to Part 3: Taking Puppy Home

© Shelley Klok 2022