Adventures in Potty Training

If you have a smart puppy like I have, potty training starts on day one.  Here's what we do...every time she comes out of the crate, has a meal, stops playing, wanders off in the middle of play, or if it's been a little while since the last "event", we take Lolli outside to go potty.  Then we become the most boring people in the world...we don't really talk, pet, play or do anything...we just hang out and wait.  Usually within a few minutes, she will go to the bathroom.  If she pees, we stand there chanting "potty potty potty, good potty potty"...it looks every bit as silly as it sounds, I'm sure!  And if she poops?  You got it - "poopy, poopy, poopy, goooood poopy"!  And then a treat.  Who cares what the neighbors think when they hear us?  The idea is for Lolli to associate the words with the action...we don't say anything until she is actually doing the deed.  If you start saying "potty" while she is sniffing around, at best she will think that sniffing around is "potty".  So as she does her business, we chant the words, knowing that eventually she will associate the words with the act.  At that point, we can communicate!  We will be able to take her outside, say "potty" or "poopy", and she will know what we want.  And until then, we entertain the neighbors!

By the way, I think I noted in my last post that Lolli is now using the doggie door independantly to go outside to potty.  Certainly not all the time, but enough both yesterday and today that it's apparent she is starting to catch on as to where we like it done!  

On a last note...funny potty story.   The other day, Lolli woke up at six a.m., so I got up to take her out to the bathroom.  She peed but didn't poop right away, so I let her walk back into the house for a minute.  Shortly afterward she started circling and I ran to her just as she started to squat...I scooped her up and ran for the back door.  As I did, the poop dropped out of her butt onto the kitchen floor, and I squashed it with my bare heel with my next step.  She must think I'm out of my mind.  That was Miguel's morning entertainment :) .