How To Potty Train A Corgi [Step By Step Training Guide]

If you have or are soon to adopt a Corgi, then you are going to want to know how to potty train them. The sooner the better; nobody wants their house to become a public bathroom!

In this guide today, I’ll be sharing with you the most efficient way along with some top tips, suggestions, and best practices so that your corgi is a lot more disciplined in the bathroom department!

So, how do you potty train a corgi? To potty train a corgi you need to firmly establish where they can and cannot go to the bathroom. You need to be consistent, control the environment and supervise them to ensure you are establishing a new recognized and learned behavior.

It will likely take anywhere between 14-28 days to fully potty train your corgi, however, this can vary depending on a number of factors including your corgi’s age, consistency of application, and individual corgi temperament.

Let us now take a look at the exact process steps involved, so that you can get your corgi up and running with this disciplined approach.

Corgi Potty Training Guide

Potty training is a little bit more involved than most people imagine but as long as you follow the steps outlined below, the process will be as smooth as possible.

It will also cut the time it takes down, so you need to ensure that you commit to the steps over a prolonged period of time to ensure your corgi adopts them.

Step #1: Consistent Feeding Schedule

One of the easiest things you can do to set up your corgi for house training success is to feed them properly and on a consistent schedule.

You should be feeding your corgi high-quality food, that provides them with optimal nutrition (both vitamins and minerals) and does not include any problematic ingredients.

This will ensure that their bowel movements are regular and well-formed.

The WholeHearted Grain Free All Life Stages Dry Dog Food is a firm favorite with dog owners, and its particularly beneficial for corgis.

It has been specially formulated with canine probiotics to improve and support digestive health and you can get it at a great price over at Amazon.

Step #2: Show Your Corgi Where To Go

As the owner, it is our responsibility to show our corgis where they can and cannot go.

While potty training typically takes from anywhere between 14-28 days to firmly establish, consistency is paramount for this to become a long-term behavior.

Dogs are not born knowing where they should and shouldn’t relieve themselves.

Potty training success is fastest achieved when you get really good at controlling your dog’s environment and supervising them really well.

Your overall goal is to teach your corgi that your house is their house.

See instinctively dogs don’t like to do their business where they live and sleep but it can take a while for them to recognize an entire house as their primary residence.

You need to start small and scale once you start to make progress.

You first want your corgi to learn about a very particular space in your house.

So for example, you need to first teach that an area of your living room is your corgis living space before you focus on the entire living room, the bathroom, bedrooms, etc.

You do this by slowly giving your corgi access to the rest of the house under heavy supervision – stopping them from going if they try to do so.

This means you need to be with them at all times they are allowed into these areas of your home.

You’ll need to do this over time along with taking them outside very often.

Step #3: Control Your Corgis Environment

Controlling your corgi’s environment can be done in a variety of ways; using a leash, making use of a pen, and also utilizing a crate.

Let us explore some of the options and how you would use them.

When it is time to explore the home, one of the best ways to control your dog’s environment is by attaching a leash.

This way, your corgi cannot wander off into another room on its own accord and you will better understand if your dog needs to go outside.

When you are not with them, setting up a fordable metal pen is an ideal way to control where your corgi can and cannot go.

The Midwest Pen is very affordable, spacious and can easily be constructed to keep your corgi within a particular area of the house. I actually bought mine on discount from Amazon.

This will give your dog a fair amount of room and is great when you want to break from heavy supervision from time to time.

Baby Gates are also another option but can become expensive and inconvenient if you needed to add them across the home. This is why I would thoroughly recommend a pen when you are not around.

No matter how you decide to control your corgi’s environment make sure you go out of your way to ensure that they’re having a great time in whatever environment you choose.

A Crate is another nice way to give your corgi a cozy place to hang out when you can’t really supervise them. Just make sure you get one big and spacious enough to make them feel comfortable and not too contained. This one is an excellent choice.

Now since a crate is pretty small, relative to a big room, your corgi is less likely to do its business inside of the crate.

They’ll be more likely to accept it as their primary living space. Remember dogs don’t like to do their business where they live and sleep.

Understand though that the crate is not a dog sitter, it’s just a way to keep your dog safe and out of trouble for short periods of time when you absolutely can’t supervise them.

If you decide to use a crate, you want to introduce it delicately in order to make sure that your corgi enjoys being inside.

Let your corgi explore the crate, open it up, let them smell it, check it out, and not be forced inside.

Giving treats is a good way to reinforce good behaviors and create a positive association while being in the presence of a crate so be sure to use them religiously in the early stages.

You also want to get your corgi to go inside of the crate voluntarily because you do not want them to feel forced into it.

Placing treats inside the cage is a good incentive for your corgi to go ahead and climb inside all by themselves.

Keep the door open and let them know they can come out when they want to.

You can even treat them from outside the crate and this tends to work well for building their confidence when inside.

Once it is time to close the door and lock it, continue to feed treats to distract your corgi and let them know everything is okay.

Do not leave straight away and spend some time to ensure they are comfortable and feel safe. You should also be sure to do this for several of the training sessions that follow.

The crate is a good initial and temporary step, after your corgi is starting to make the connection that this is where they hang out a lot and they have gone several days without having an accident in the crate, you will know that you are making good progress.

In the beginning, place the crate near your bed so that your corgi is less likely to have anxiety when you go to bed at night.

It’s normal that your corgi might keep you awake sometimes in the middle of the night and you will need to get in the habit of getting up and taking them outside.

Unfortunately, this is just part of having a new dog!

In the time it will get better, to the point where you can place the crate into another room if you wanted.

Now a good rule of thumb for how long your corgi should be in the crate is roughly one hour per month of age.

However, you really want to avoid having your corgi stay in a crate for more than four or five hours at a time (at any age with the exception of overnight).

Step #4: Set Up Dog Proof Areas

You will want to set up areas in your home where your corgi can be placed when they are not in the crate, or within the pen.

A laundry room or room where you can tolerate potty accidents is a good idea. Preferably with flooring that is not carpet as it will make the job of cleaning up considerably easier!

If you’re looking to leave your corgi alone during the day these dog-proof areas are useful.

Again, you could make use of the pen here in this context.

Step #5: Regular Exercise

It’s important that you give your corgi age-appropriate exercise.

Now, since many of us have jobs that require us to be away from the house for more than eight hours at a time, you should make arrangements to come home at lunch and let them out and play for about thirty or forty-five minutes.

If this is not possible, you might need to enlist the help of a friend, family member, dog walker, or attend doggie daycare.

You should be letting your corgi outside to go on a potty break about once per hour, especially in the beginning during the training process.

Be sure to take them outside immediately upon arriving home or waking up; you need to make this a routine.

Be prepared to stay outside for five to ten minutes and give your corgi enough time to go.

It’s okay if they don’t go each time but it’s important that you continually give them the opportunity to go.

While you are you waiting for your corgi to relieve themselves, be boring and standstill.

Let them check out the environment because you don’t want to distract them.

Now when they finish going, that’s when you reward them. Be sure to pet them, speak in a positive tone, and give them treats.

Really emphasize and reward your dog here, you want them to know clearly that they have behaved in the right manner and that this is a favorable behavior.

In the beginning, it’s a good idea to reward them with a short play session to create positive associations.

This way you will make your dog actually want to go outside to do their business.

Step #7 Never Punish

Now if your corgi does have an accident inside, do not punish them. This is about as effective as punishing an infant for going in their diaper.

Your corgi isn’t to blame for this accident either you weren’t consistent enough or you didn’t control the environment well enough. Instead, do a better job next time.

So what do you do if you actually catch your dog in the act of going inside?

Well if possible pick them up and rush them outside.

Otherwise, clean up the mess do your best to eliminate any odors using a reputable stain and odor removal product like this and do a better job of following the steps I’ve outlined above to prevent it from happening again.

If your corgi pees when they get nervous or excited (submissive or excitement urination) there are also some things you can do.

Most dogs will overcome this at around 12 to 18 months of age but if you prioritize socializing your dog they’ll likely get there sooner rather than later.

Step #8: Refrain From Using Pads

In general, it is recommended to refrain from using pads unless you have a unique situation like maybe you live in a high-rise apartment where it’s impractical to get your dog outside very often.

This is because dogs generally develop a preference for whatever texture
they experience most often while relieving themselves.

So if you want your corgi to go on grass full-time well just introduce them to lots of grass and give lots of praise when they do their business in the right place.

Final Words

Most people celebrate potty training success a little bit too prematurely.

You will know when your corgi is completely house trained once they go one to two months with absolutely no accidents and can go several hours between potty breaks.

Regression is likely especially in the first year if you move, or your dog experiences another major change to their environment.

If this happens just take a step back and go back to basics.

Whether you have a puppy or an adult corgi remain vigilant for six straight months without letting your guard down.

Dogs are relinquished all of the time because of issues with potty training and other problem behaviors. Be consistent and you’ll soon find your corgi doing their business outside without any issues!

Tips To Help You Succeed

• Dogs generally need to go to the toilet straight away in the morning, after every meal, as soon as they wake up from naps and just before bedtime.
• Remove access to water a few hours leading up to bedtime.
• Monitor your corgis behavior. If you see them loitering in a specific spot in the house, you will need to get them outside.
• Keep a regular feeding schedule
• The crate takes time for a dog to get used to. They are likely to cry and bark at first. Do not cave in and remove them from the crate. This will incorrectly teach them that barking gets what they want and will encourage this behavior more widely.