Once you have your new Lab home one of the first and most important training steps is teaching it to relieve itself outside. By nature, most Labs are easily trainable and will not have any difficulties learning this important rule. The one thing that is critical to your success is that a firm time schedule and reward system is put into place early.

Where to Start
You should make up a schedule of times your new Lab puppy will need to go outside. If your puppy is around 10 weeks of age or younger, it will need to urinate about once every two hours. At this age it has not developed a large bladder so it is unable to hold water for a very long period of time.

For the best success the trips outside should be at the same time each day. Dogs in general are creatures of habit and it will only take a few days for your pup to realize, it is 10:00AM, time to go potty if you stick to a strict schedule.

Where to Go?
The first step once outside is how to convince your Labrador puppy to concentrate on using the restroom and not explore this whole new world. Labs are very curious by nature so it is important that you establish a routine early on of when it is play time and when it is time to concentrate on using the restroom.

The best method I have found is by taking the puppy to the same spot each time it is to use the restroom. I usually mark this area in my backyard with a rope so I too can remember the location. Other items that can be used are hula-hoops, tape and anything else that can be used to easily mark a location.

What to Do?
When entering the rope you should use your potty command, usually saying something like “Go Potty”. Each time your Lab starts to stray its attention, get its attention and again repeat the command. This will take some time but does work.

Once the puppy has went to restroom outside it should be immediately rewarded with lots of praise and treats. By doing this it starts to associate going to the bathroom outside with getting praised. A helpful tip is to also leave some stool in the area. This often will trigger the Lab to go to the restroom when it enters its bathroom area and smells it.

Additional Resources
Learn more about Puppies

Find several unique Dog Names for your puppy.

Find Black Lab, Chocolate Lab and Yellow Lab gifts for your home.