Setting up an indoor dog toilet

The more you can be around for your puppy, to take her in and out for bathroom breaks, the more quickly housetraining will proceed.

But what if you can't be there during the day? Or you've got a young puppy still vulnerable to catching diseases in public places and you don't have a private yard to use as a potty area?

In these situations, you'll need to set up a small living area for your pup with a temporary indoor toilet. You can teach your puppy to use her indoor toilet in the same way you'll teach her to go outside--keep her in her crate when you're not with her, take her to her doggy toilet every two hours, and praise and reward her for using it. Once she's got the hang of using the indoor toilet, you can leave her in her living area with the crate door open when you leave the house.

Setting up an indoor toilet

1. Set up your pup's living area. Gate off part of the kitchen, or any room with easy-to-clean floors, and furnish it with your puppy's crate and a water bowl.

2. Make an indoor dog toilet. Line a tray with whatever your pup's eventual toilet substrate will be--a piece of sod (available at pet and gardening stores), gravel, bark chips, or thin concrete tiles for urban pups. Dogs prefer to eliminate on the same type of material they've used before, so choosing the right material will make the transition to going outside easier. Place the toilet in your puppy's living area, in the corner furthest from your puppy's crate.

Newspaper is not recommended --you don't want a dog with an ingrained habit of using the Times as a toilet, especially if you haven't had a chance to read it yet.

3. Follow the regular, outdoor training routine during the mornings, evenings, and weekends. Housetraining takes longer if you're teaching your pup to use both an indoor and an outdoor toilet, but you'll get there.