Puppies develop substrate preferences for urination and defecation. This means, for example, if an animal is taught to urinate on newspaper, it will learn to seek out that substrate. Although it's tougher to teach a puppy to go outside to eliminate after it has learned to use newspaper, it's not impossible. Of course, it's preferable to teach the dog to go outside at the outset, but this may not meet the client's schedule.

Specific instructions like those that follow are helpful in encouraging clients to humanely housetrain their dogs.* Housetraining a dog is not complex, but people don't have an intuitive sense of puppy metabolisms and bladder size. This is one example where the technical and biological information veterinary professionals have to share can be priceless.

12 tips to train a puppy to urinate and defecate outside

2. When the puppy is out, let it sniff a bit. Don't just pull it away from what it's sniffing and keep walking. Sniffing is an important part of the elimination sequence in dogs.

3. If the puppy is just rampantly plowing ahead sniffing, consider stopping and walking quickly back and forth. This movement simulates normal dog elimination precursor behavior. The dog eventually will squat. Pay attention and praise it.

4. Use a fixed-length short lead so you can quickly encourage your puppy and respond to its cues. You can give the dog a small treat as it squats on a substrate you both like (e.g., grass). A reward may help encourage the association between squatting on that substrate and good experiences. Urinating or defecating is physiologically self-rewarding; you're rewarding the behavior exhibited in the location chosen.

5. Regardless of the frequency of your other walks, take the dog out 15 to 45 minutes after each time it eats. This is the time range for eating to stimulate intestines to move feces. Do this after all meals, as well as biscuits and rawhides, both of which will stimulate elimination.

6. Watch for behaviors (e.g., pacing, whining, circling, sudden stopping of another behavior) that tell you the dog may be ready to eliminate, and intercept the dog. If you pick up the puppy and it starts to leak, or the act of picking up the dog starts the leak, get a cloth and clamp it to the puppy's genitals. This will help to stimulate the dog to associate inhibition of elimination with those muscle groups. Again, praise the dog as it's squatting and immediately after it's finished. Don't punish leaks.

7. Take the puppy out immediately after any play and naps or if it awakens at night.

8. Prepare for the first walk of the day by having your street clothes on before you approach a crated puppy. Puppies that have waited through the night cannot wait long once you're awake.

9. Watch the puppy in between walks—puppies often get caught short, especially if they encounter and play with a water dish, or they become super focused or distracted. Any puppy that's moving around and suddenly stops needs to eliminate. You can make monitoring easier by putting a bell on the dog's collar. Any time the puppy's bell stops, take the dog outside immediately. Be sure to use a break-away/quick-release collar that comes undone if the dog hangs it on anything.

10. If you have an older dog that's housetrained, take it with you when you take the puppy out. Dogs learn extremely well by observing, and this may speed the process.

11. Dogs are generally faster to housetrain for defecation than urination. This may be due, in part, to the fact that puppies urinate more frequently than they defecate. For some clueless dogs, it can help to either take a urine-soaked sponge or a piece of feces to the area you'd prefer the puppy use. This may help it learn to associate the scent pattern with the area but cannot be used in the absence of the other steps noted above.

12. Don't forget to clean up feces. This allows dogs to be recognized as socially acceptable members of the community and may reduce transmission of parasites.