Ultimately you will probably want your dog to the toilet outside but maybe due to your current circumstances paper training is the best way to train your pup for the time being.

First of all then what is paper training?

Paper training is a method of teaching your new puppy where he is allowed to go to the toilet in your house.

This means that you will be teaching him that he is only allowed to go on newspaper that you have put down for him. Newspaper is readily available, cheap to use and absorbent and after your pup has used it, all you need do is to gather it up, bin it and set down some fresh paper for you your pup.

Paper training your puppy is a good idea in the first instance if..

1 You live in a block of flats and don’t have easy access to a garden.

2 You are not able to take your dog outside on a regular basis.

3 You work during the day and are not able to supervise your pup as much as you would like to.

4 You are going to train your pup to go outside but just at the minute there is snow half way up the back door and you can’t get out.

Bear in mind that paper training isn’t going to work for every dog. Larger dogs will just produce too much waste and you will find that you’ve run out of newspaper in no time at all and it’s just not a practical option.For small male dogs and bitches that are small to medium in size, then yes, paper training will work.

How to paper train your dog?

First of all, choose your spot! This will be an area, where your pup is going to the toilet so maybe somewhere that is not carpeted – a corner of the utility room or kitchen is good as these rooms generally tend to have a tiled floor and so keeping the floor clean is easy.

Put the newspaper down quite thickly and at first cover a pretty big area because your pup will have no idea what this paper is for and that he is meant to use it as a loo.

To ensure that your dog only ‘goes’ on the paper, try to keep him restricted to the papered area. You could do this either by putting up a barrier or if the room is not too big, you could put paper down to cover the whole of the floor space.

In the early days, your pup will wee or poo at random on the newspaper. For the paper training process to work, he really does need to associate the feeling of newspaper under his feet while he is going to the toilet.

Gradually, perhaps after a couple of weeks, you should be able to make the papered area a bit smaller and let your dog have some access to unpapered area of the kitchen. Don't put away your barriers just yet as you don’t want him to roam the house until he is reliably paper trained.

As you shrink the size of the papered area, your pup will, go to the paper to eliminate. Don’t rush this though; your pup will need time to get used to the smaller area of paper.

If at any time your pup starts to use an unpapered area of floor, then just increase the size of the papered floor again, allowing him more time to adjust before you reduce that area of papered floor again.

Don’t worry if this happens, all that has happened is that maybe you are trying to go a bit too fast and your pup cannot keep up with you.

Getting used to paper training will take most dogs between eight to twelve weeks and until your pup is routinely going on the papers, access throughout the house should be restricted unless you are will him of the time and able to keep an eye on him the whole time.

Unless your pup is sleeping eating or you are playing together, it’s a good idea to keep your pup in the confines of the papered area.

What else can I do to help my pup with this paper training?

There are a few things that you can do to help your pup with the paper training. Regular meal times will encourage you pup to develop his own toilet timetable so try to keep mealtimes to the same time each day.

When you see your pup go on the paper, give him lots of praise. Do wait until he has finished so that you don’t distract him, and then praise him and give him a treat.

If you find your pup going to the toilet off the paper area, clap your hands together loudly to distract him. Your pup will be startled and will probably stop mid flow. Lift him onto the paper and then when he has finished, praise him for going on the paper and again give him a treat.

And finally, if you find an accident after the event, there’s not a lot you can do about it as your pup won’t have any idea what she has done wrong.

Clean it up and keep a more watchful eye on him. If this has become a frequent occurrence then consider restricting your pup’s access to area’s of papered floor only for a while longer.

Paper training will take a few weeks and you will need to be positive and patient with your pup