How soon should you start potty training?

Right away? A few months? 6 months? After your new floors are baptized? When is the right time to start potty training? You've come to the right place to learn more. Our mission is to help you succeed with potty training while creating a great relationship with your dog in the process.

Struggling with Potty Training? Answer a few questions below.

Step 1 of 3

THE RIGHT TIMING

With potty training, timing is key. As we learned in our last video about potty schedules, taking your dog out early and often is a good rule of thumb for training parents. But when should you start the process in general? Watch as our all-star trainer, Claire, explains more about how to think about beginning the potty training journey.

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Our Clients Say

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Sam R.

Claire was absolutely fantastic: friendly, patient, but mostly knowledgeable -- we could not BELIEVE how skilled she was at training our pup. Highly recommended!

Sam R. Los Angeles, CA
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Kate H.

I found Tully's Training on Yelp. and I'm extremely grateful I did! Beau, my problem pup, was a pee-er. A rescue from the mean streets of LA, he just couldn't get out of survival mode even though he had been with me nearly a year. So enter Mary! Just four sessions in, Beau is peeing 98% less (I've accepted that as a Beta dog who gets excited, he's never going to be 100%). Not only that but he knows all the basics, too. Sit,Stay,Come, Leave it. What I really like about Tully's training is that you never try to be "pack leader" with your dog. That approach didn't work for me before--and it has very little basis in dog psychology and behavior anyway. Instead, you work with your dog, set boundaries, and understand their body language to work through their issues, and build trust. I've done both the private sessions, and the 5-week group training, and I am so happy with the results. I have a dog that is more comfortable and secure in his surroundings, and now knows the house rules, which provides structure for both of us. Turns out, I have a pretty smart dog, and part of our graduation from Tully's Training will be to teach him some fun party tricks. It's completely worth the investment, and before you commit, you get a free in-home consultation to personally assess your dog's issues.

Kate H. Los Angeles, CA
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Shannon F.

Tully's Training is a wonderful choice for dog training and behavior help! As far as I'm convinced, Brianna works miracles, both with dogs and their humans. We learned so much, and our dog made progress I would never have believed possible. All their methods are positive reinforcement only, which was important to us. If I could rate Tully's with six stars, I would!

Shannon F. La Mesa, San Diego, CA
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Erica G.

Meg is amazing!! I worked with her when my pup was 4 months old, and then again at a year and a half went back because she's so good and I wanted more. It's all positive reinforcement, she is obviously passionate about her work, and will help you be an amazing dog mom. Everyone always talks about how well-behaved my pup is and how many tricks he knows.

Erica G. Los Angeles, CA
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Melissa G.

We really enjoyed our experience with Sara. She was really hands on with our two pups and made sure we followed through with our training. Any questions we had for behavior issues and training, she was always reachable through email. I would definitely recommend using Tully's Training!

Melissa G. Los Angeles, CA
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Dayna N.

Sara is fantastic. She's attentive, patient, and gives fantastic tools to dog-parents. It's definitely an investment, but it's worth it, especially to create a good foundation to build on.

Dayna N. Los Angeles, CA
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Josh S.

We had an amazing experience working with Sam at Tully's Training. She helped us communicate with our puppy more effectively and live together much more happily. She was patient, thoughtful, and full of helpful tips and insights. Our experience working with Tully's Training will have positive effects on our relationship with our puppy for years to come!

Josh S. Glendale, CA
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Brad K.

The best part about what Sam does is that she teaches you how to correct any behavior so you're empowered to succeed going forward. Sam was great and I'm so glad we signed up. My dog Maggie loved her too. This was a totally worthwhile experience and I can see a difference in her (and me). Thank you!!!

Brad K. North Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA
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Avery M.

We were 100% happy with Claire and Tully's. Training a dog is at least partially about training the dog owners; Claire was great with our pup, but she was just as good at working with us. We enthusiastically recommend working with her.

Avery M. Los Angeles, CA
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Emily S.

No matter what kind of training your dog needs, Tully's is the best! They match their clients with the trainer who is best equipped to address your dog's specific needs. Learning from our trainer, Claire, was such a wonderful and educational experience! We have a rescue pup who was very timid from the start and struggles with some separation anxiety. Claire made each session fun and educational for both us and our dog, and equipped us with valuable strategies to continue throughout our pup's life. Just in the weeks we have worked with Claire, we have seen a huge improvement in our dog's confidence and behavior and we can't wait to watch her continue to blossom over time! Thank you Tully's Training!

Emily S. Altadena, CA
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Jackie S.

We had a great experience with Meghan and Tully's. Manny was really receptive to the training and exercises. Meghan made it easy for him to learn but most importantly easy for us new dog parents to understand how to reinforce everything he was learning in our sessions. Training is just as much (if not more) training for the dog parents than the dog. We were able to work with him every day and then just make adjustments and learn new behaviors during our sessions.

Jackie S. Hartford, CT
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Jerry R.

Sara is a fabulous trainer and addressed all of our issues. Mostly that Isabel needs a lot of activity to keep from getting bored. They also recommended a fabulous dog walking service, Viva Pets LA. I would highly recommend Tully's Training! Thank you Sara for your help.

Jerry R. Arcadia, CA
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Stephanie H.

Used Claire from Tully's training to train our 1 year old puppy Winston who had not been listening to us and occasionally using the bathroom inside the house. We had a total of 5 skype sessions with Claire and we couldn't be more pleased. It was very convenient to be able to do the training at home and not have to deal with LA traffic. He's now like a whole new dog. It's been 3 months since Winston finished his sessions and he no longer uses the bathroom in the house and still follows commands. I highly recommend Claire! It was a pleasure working with her and you can tell she's passionate about what she does!

Stephanie H. Lomita, CA
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Melissa P.

I found tullys on yelp.. searching for someone to help me with my rescue dog. this company is STELLAR! not only did they pair me with the right trainer, but everything communicated was clear - plus the pups aren't the only client!! us humans need our own positive kudos from the trainers and they certainly deliver on that. my confidence was boosted for taking on my rescue making our training experience that much better. they have easy to work with schedules and send follow up emails after each session reminding you of all the things worked on. its totally great!! claire is the bestest!!

Melissa P. Los Angeles, CA
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Sandra D.

Mary was wonderful. We worked with her for 2 months and she got our wild rescue terrier civilized as can be. She's patient, professional and organized.

Sandra D. Los Angeles, CA
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Seth H.

We used Tully's Training to train our puppy, Ferdinand. We couldn't have been happier with the results. We used them for both individual and group training. Our individual training was so specified to us and moved at a pace that best suited us and Ferdinand and worked tremendously well! Claire was so generous with her knowledge and time, she was patient with us, not to mention our pup absolutely adored her. She taught us so many tools that we have been able to utilize to help further and maintain Ferdinand's training. She really helped us evolve as pet owners. Tully's focuses on positive reinforcement and that was the best approach for our dog. In between sessions Claire would provide us with videos and articles for reference and that was beneficial as well. She also gave us a lot of useful tips that we could work on, on our own that have proved to be great; such as socializing our dog and how to read a dog park. The group sessions really helped us to reinforce what we learned in our individual sessions and try them out in an environment that was outside of our home and was more distracting, which was a great learning process for us and our pup. Sara was great as well and very patient and made the classes a lot of fun! Again, we couldn't have been happier with Tully's and highly recommend them to anyone and everyone!

Seth H. Manhattan, NY
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Emily-Rose W.

Excellent experience with Claire and Mary at Tully's Training! Our 4-month pup Oliver was extremely shy and started warming up immediately after our first session. We were given excellent tools to work with Oliver to make him more confident with strangers and comfortable in new surroundings. In addition to being a ball of joy, Oliver has become an extremely well-behaved and obedient 6-month old dog. Though we're originally planning on only doing group classes, we splurged for the private sessions and are extremely happy we did. This allowed us to work one-on-one with Oliver to overcome specific behaviors not covered in group sessions. A+!

Emily-Rose W. Los Angeles, CA
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Heather w.

Claire at Tully's training was a huge help with my energetic pup Georgie. The results from the positive reinforcement one-on-one training were very apparent over the few months we worked together. Not only was the training useful on my end but Georgie loved it! Not the cheapest option for training but well worth it. I'd recommend Tully's to anyone looking to communicate better with their dog, those whom need help with certain behavioral issues and especially to those with pups whom are looking for a wonderful base training into adulthood.

Heather w. Los Angeles, CA
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Loren R.

My partner and I turned to Tully's Training for help with our 5 year old Terrier mix and our experience has been fantastic! Our dog is so sweet and intelligent, but is extremely anxious and tends to respond to fear with aggression when approached with kids, strangers, you name it. We wanted to know what we could do to help keep our pup and others safe. After a couple sessions with Mary we saw a dramatic change in Fisher's behavior towards us and others. He was more attentive, calm, and listened better than he had in awhile. We now have the tools to make sure our little guy feels confident and safe out in the world. His quality of life has greatly improved, and we're so thankful for Mary's help. Mary assisted us via email through the whole process, and always makes herself available when we reach out for help. She not only trains your dog, she teaches you the best way to interact with your best friend. I highly recommend Tully's Training!

Loren R. Los Angeles, CA
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Kimberly B.

Sam was absolutely fantastic with our Labrador puppy, Ranger (and with us)! I really feel like we all got a thorough education and the gift of a great start with our very intelligent and very food oriented pup. I feel like going forward we really understand what behaviors we are reinforcing and how to kindly and positively engage our dog's cooperation, and our relationship with Ranger is and will be better for it. I really loved the follow up emails that were sent after each session, they continue to be a very valuable resource to us. We are very thankful!!!

Kimberly B. Los Angeles, CA
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Kim E.

We had Samantha as our trainer and when I say we- I mean our whole family got trained in this process. She was incredibly insightful about our dogs specific behavior needs and what we needed to do to help him gain confidence and be a happy dog. She was always on time, completely professional and made several adjustment on schedules for us that showed her willingness to be flexible. We had tried two trainers before her and never got to the progress that she made with our German Shepherd Dakota.

Kim E. Los Angeles, CA
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Pam J.

Our experience with Sam was great. We loved how she made a list of things we wanted for our 7month old rottweiler and constantly referred to that list throughout the course but also adjusted certain things to cater our needs. Our dog has hip dysplasia so she was very considerate when training him, making sure he is not getting overworked which we appreciated so much. Since day one there were noticeable changes with his behavior. Overall a great experience with the company, especially Sam!

Pam J. Glendale, CA
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clarity m.

About 10 months ago we adopted an adorable Frenchton puppy who we found out at the 3month mark was deaf. We knew we wanted to train her but unlike our other 2 dogs we had no idea how to train a rambunctious, hearing impaired puppy. We reached out to Tully's and they gave us Sarah the Miracle Worker. Over the course of 10 in home sessions we taught our little Stella through hand signals how to walk on a leash, sit, stay, leave it, lay down and make consistent eye contact (something really important for deaf dogs). It's been 6 months and it is going great! Thanks Team for all the help with our baby!

clarity m. Los Angeles, CA
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Grace R.

Claire was wonderful. She was so patient with our dog and taught us soooo much. My boyfriend and I would joke that Claire was the only one who understood what our dog Luna was trying to say. Luna is a quick learner so it was really us who needed the training and we appreciated it so much.

Grace R. Central LA, Los Angeles, CA
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Janie H.

Sam is an amazingly insightful and gifted trainer. Great listener and positive communication with the puppies, they love her! Sarah oversees and is a hands-on human being with integrity, great knowledge of both doggie and human communication skills. For basic dog training and manners, I highly recommend the good, honest folks at Tully's Training.

Janie H. Pasadena, CA
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Rachael B.

Here's what you need to know in this review: Tully's Training is wonderful. Your pet will learn. You will learn. Your pet will love it. You will love it. Your pet wants to make you happy and you want to make your pet happy so you should probably get started right now. So, go! Here's our story: Mary Tully can't talk to animals, but as a seasoned trainer, she's close. What she can do for sure is talk to people and teach people what they need to know to have a happy relationship with their pet. That was our experience. My husband and I love our puppy, Duff, too much (it's possible). But puppies sometimes need help becoming good dogs. Duff did. She was a nervous girl when we got her. She would hide and would be too anxious to eat. She was afraid to go on walks, of guests, of stairs, of birds.. Mary came over to give Duff her in-home assessment. Mary is very nice and funny. Her people work is almost as impressive as her animal work. But Duff cowered and growled. That's not how puppies usually act. So, we got to work. Tully's Training is all positive reinforcement and Mary will cater to what your pet needs. Duff needed a lot of love, patience, and help with her confidence and she got it. Each session, my husband and I learned more about how to communicate with Duff. Duff would master more commands and we'd understand better the tools needed to teach her. The results were fast and lasting. And Duff can shake hands now. We always wanted a dog who could shake hands. We don't know if any trainer or course can guarantee progress with an animal. But we do know that today, Duff, the once terrified puppy, boarded an RV full of strangers and two grown dogs to drive across the West. Her little tail was wagging. And that is progress all thanks to Tully's Training.

Rachael B. Los Angeles, CA
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Stacy S.

Believe it or not, but I'm also a dog training business owner. I own a dog training business in Orange County and get phone calls from clients in Los Angeles, and there is no one more qualified than Tully's Training in Los Angeles that I refer clients to that are out of my area of service. It is a pleasure to have a great relationship with another positive based dog trainer who upholds the best training methods possible. So if you are in the Los Angeles area looking for great training for your pup, Tully's Training is it! And of course if you are in Orange County, look up OC Paws Dog Training LLC. 🙂

Stacy S. Huntington Beach, CA
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Ken-Mar R.

The training consists of 5 group training classes held over 5 consecutive Sundays. The groups are small and specific. The handlers and the canines get so much individual attention that I don't know who learned more at the first session, the human students or the canine students! Mary is an expert in her field across various species: dolphin, exotic animals and canines. It is literally a breath of fresh air to experience first-hand this positive, reward-based learning experience. Try it for yourself, you'll be glad you did and so will your K9 companions.

Ken-Mar R. Los Angeles, CA
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Angela G.

Claire has given our rescue dog, Lucy, a new lease on life. A few weeks after my boyfriend and I adopted our 8(ish)-year-old chihuahua, we knew we needed help. It was obvious she'd had a rough life. Lucy didn't know any basic commands. She would cower when we stood near her or spoke loudly, go potty inside, and was aggressive toward other people and dogs. After completing a program with Claire, it's hard to believe Lucy is the same dog. She's potty trained, enjoys puzzles and play, asks for things she wants, and knows the right way to say 'no' to things she doesn't want. We learned that we don't have a 'bad dog'-we just didn't have the right tools to communicate and work with our smart and sensitive little lady. We're excited to continue using positive reinforcement, desensitization, and other training techniques to keep building up Lucy's confidence and self-control. We can't thank Tully's enough for bringing so much joy into our lives with Lucy!

Angela G. Brooklyn, NY
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Jonathan G.

Sam is a fantastic trainer and human. We were grateful to hire such a great company. We thought we were just gonna end up with 2 dogs being trained by a trainer but we actually learned a lot more. We started training at our 2 rescues at 10 weeks old and they are now 5 months old and so amazing. We were basically being trained by Sam to learn the tools needed to train our pups in a positive way and to use the same basic skills on tiered exercises to teach them new tricks down the road. Thank you all. We will be continuing with ongoing classes with our pups because it's just darn fun.

Jonathan G. Los Angeles, CA
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Meline T.

Sam was our instructor and I can honestly say she was amazing! I was pretty hopeless when we started but things have changed 100% for the better. She broke down that we weren't communicating what we wanted from him correctly and taught us how to do that in a productive and positive way. My relationship with my dog is a million times better and I'm forever thankful! I also feel confident teaching him new habits and tricks purely off of everything Sam taught us. Thank you thank you thank you.

Meline T. Glendale, CA
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Rollergirl V.

Experienced thoughtful trainers that work well with your pet/s and especially grateful, that they are also skillful communicators at working with humans!

Rollergirl V. Marina del Rey, CA
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Nikki L.

Claire is a miracle worker! Most of our training was learning to understand why our dog, Cairo, acts the way she does, and what we can do to help her. We couldn't understand why she was aggressive toward people, but Claire helped us understand it's because she's scared and reactive. We've become better pet owners and are now able to communicate properly with our pup. We're able to tell when she's anxious and have the proper tools to calm her down and redirect stressful situations. She is visibly more happy and content and we could not have done it without Claire! Thank you, Tully's Training!

Nikki L. Glendale, CA