Why Schedules Work

Dogs are creatures of routine. Feed at regular times and bathroom needs become predictable too; controlling the input lets you plan the output instead of chasing accidents.

Free feeding — leaving a bowl out all day — quietly wrecks this. If you do not know when your puppy ate, you cannot know when they need to go, so you are always guessing. Switching to scheduled meals is the single biggest change you can make for housetraining. It turns a guessing game into a timetable you can actually plan around.