The English Bulldog Puppy Blog

Or “how to save the rug”

Ok, you’ve got your new puppy home – now what do you do with him? The first thing you’ll want to do is get him to stop peeing all over you rug. Well, bad news – this is gonna take a little time and most importantly – lots of PATIENCE!

When to Start

You should start working on housebreaking immediately after you bring your new puppy home.

An English Bulldog Puppy is going to need to pee and poop something like 6 to 8 times a day. Starting out, you should plan on giving your pup an opportunity to potty train every 2 hours or so. This means you should plan on having someone around for your new puppy all the time for at least the first couple of weeks – no leaving your new bullie alone while you go off to the office!

The first steps

First, choose a designated area in your house (away from food and water) that will be reserved for puppy-business. Your going to need to put some sort of floor protection here for your puppy to get used to doing his duty on. We really like the ClearQuest Puppy Wee Wee Training Pad Holder, but you can use whatever your preferred brand of puppy pad is will work. Or, if you prefer, you can go super-low-tech and use good, old-fashioned newspaper.

After every meal and every time you notice your puppy drinking, take him to this spot. If he hasn’t eaten or drank for an hour or two, take him to the spot anyway (assuming he hasn’t done his business lately). If he makes good, be sure to shower him with praise!

Handling Accidents

It’s important to understand that your young pup is going to have accidents. He doesn’t know how to hold it yet, and it’s going to take him a little while to learn.

Remember, as a youngster, your puppy is still learning to trust you. It’s important to always approach him with loving kindness and be very positive so that he learns to trust and respect you. Fear is not what you want from your loving bulldog puppy.

So, how do we react to the accident? Well, don’t say anything. Make some noise to distract the puppy – maybe clap your hands or stomp your feet, or call your puppy’s name. Then, immediately grab your pup and move it to the designated area.

Then, when he finishes his stuff there, be sure to praise him again.

Moving Outside

Once your puppy is used to using the pads or paper, you can start moving him outside. Just move the papers close to the door, and eventually put another set outside. Once he gets the idea, you can remove the indoor set and get him to focus on the outdoor version.

Just remember, always praise him when he does good.

Conclusion

This is just one method of potty training your pooch. This method is good for bulldog puppies because you may need to leave them alone in your house for a while, and if so you can put a pad inside and they’ll know what to do.

In the future, we’ll talk about crate-training for those that are interested in that method.

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