The idea with potty training is to start out with a small area and gradually increase the space that puppies can roam without having accidents. Whenever the puppies are in other areas of the house, we are directly supervising them and watching for signs of needing to go potty. If you haven't already watched the Puppy Culture course "How to Bring a Puppy Into Your Life" please sign up and watch it. Along with a lot of other information they will go over Potty Training in detail. In addition to watching the course classes, make sure to look at the course materials and look at the REFERENCE: Crate and Housetraining Notes in class four's course materials.
Once the puppies are able to move around, we give the puppies a crate with an attached play pen. The crates are lined with crate mats that function as a nesting spot. At first the crate are left open all the time.
Once the puppies are about 7 weeks old we will start to put them in for naps or to chew on a bone in peace. This helps condition the puppies to being in a crate. We don't believe in leaving puppies or dogs of any age in a crate for long periods of time on a regular basis but all dogs should be conditioned to a crate for those times when it is needed such as potty training, travel, grooming or vet visits.
We clean up any accidents immediately because the cleaner the puppy area is, the easier it is to potty train. The last thing we want is for the puppies to get used to a dirty area and then lose their natural instinct to keep their nest area clean. We will give puppies plenty of opportunity to go potty outside and positively reinforce their successes and never punish their failures. It doesn't take long for the puppies understand what "Go Potty" means. While they are going Pee or Poo outside, we will praise them and say "Good PeePee" or "Good PooPoo." Shaming or punishing inside accidents will only teach your puppy to find a hiding place in the house to potty and will make it less likely that they will "go potty" in front of you when you take them outside.
When to take a puppy out for a potty break:
Immediately upon waking up
10 minutes after starting a play session
15 minutes after eating
Right before bedtime
Whenever they stop doing an activity and start walking around sniffing
Whenever they go near the door
At least once an hour when not sleeping