Puppy Potty Training Tips?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
I have an 11week old puppy. When she starts to pace around and sniff, I take her outside to go potty (I also take her outside a while after she eats.) but she never does. She just sits there or walks around. When she was inside the house, she went on the floor. It seems like she’s only comfortable with going potty inside the house, but not outside. Help please!
She is a havanese and coton de tulear mix, by the way
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crate train research the process its fairly easy and in my expirence has been by far the most lasting and effective meothed
When you catch her walking around and sniffing for a place to go inside, tell her no, and take her outside. Once you get her outside, keep her moving. She young and small but you can put a harness on her. Leash her up and move her around. Stay with it until she goes.
Moving her around more gets the bladder and bowels moving. Once she does it, praise her and give her a small treat.
You have to be consistent. And when you catch her actually going inside, tell her no, grab her up and put her outside.
The smaller breeds are much harder to potty train but it can be done with consistency and treat reward.
Please do not invest in pee pads. It makes it much harder to teach them to go outside when you start allowing them to go inside on a pad.
Good luck, stay consistent and calm. Don’t shout or yell. Just a firm no will get her attention and remember to use the treats. She’ll get it.
This can be easy with the right tricks..Always take her out first thing when you wake up and throughout the day every 1/2 hr..she is a puppy and must go out a lot to let her know this is where she is to go..Starts with lots of praise everytime she goes and also bring a treat out with you and give this to her everytime she goes..Use the words that you are referring to each act and soon she will know what she is to do outside..Then before bed take her out and again tell her why she’s going out and again a small piece of a treat..I give mine baby carrots,no calories and very good for them..Good Luck,,and remember never yell at her
If she does toilet in your house remove her from the room and don’t let her see you cleaning it up.
If you happen to catch her mid act scoop her up and take her outside to finish off followed by treats and lots of praise!
Maybe try taking her out on the hour every hour for 5-10 minutes.
I have a 7mth old border collie and we used the phrase ‘Do your business’ if he wee’d in the right spot (being the newspaper and before he had his jabs) so now when we go outside and use the same phrase he knows he is supposed to do the toilet
I know it’s tedious work but you will get there eventually!
Hope this helps!
We have two beagle pups aged 17 weeks and 14 weeks. We have trained them to use a doggy litter tray in our bathroom. So anytime anyone in the family goes to the bathroom they take the pups with them and now the pups go on their own too…They are 90% reliable now..We decided to use this method as we are in Alaska and at minus 40 its too cold for us and the dogs to go outside for potty… This is a great method if you live in an apartment or have to leave you dog alone for periods of time….We supplement the doggy litter with shredded newspapers which keeps the cost down and makes it easy to lift and dispose of the poop..Hope this helps…
Be patient, you are doing the right things, praise her when she pees outside. It helps to use a word when she pees, we say “busy busy” I know it sounds stupid but soon the dog learns the word and understands what to do. Really useful when you are in a hurry and want the dog to do their business quickly.
Our “puppy” is 6 months old now and we are down to maybe one pee in the house every day or 2. It helps when they understand you are cross, if she pees in the house I look sternly at her and she knows it was wrong. It takes some dogs longer than others to learn thats all.
If you know she’s got to go, but doesn’t go outside, put her in her crate. After ten-twenty minutes, bring her out again. If she still doesn’t go, do it over again.
She can’t get back in the house if you don’t let her in, so use your commands and wait for her to get her potty done. I use a crate* to potty train with, but only for potty training and then I break it down and store it. I put blankets and a small food and water dish in the crate. Dogs don’t potty where they eat and sleep. When they are first little, I only expect them to hold their potty for 4 hours, and then 6 hours, then 8 hours and so on. So when they are first little, I set a timer or alarm clock to wake myself up at night to take them *out. I only allow my puppy in the bedroom* or the living room, only one room at a time. They have to graduate to more space. If I allow them to have full run of the house, it will overwhelm them. I take them out the same door each time. I tie a dinner bell to the door handle. Do not use a jingle bell as they could get their toe caught in it. So when they are little, I ring the bell for them, and then open the door to go *outside to potty. When they get bigger, I take their paw and whack the bell and open the door to go potty. Eventually getting to the place where the puppy will ring the bell and let me know when they need to go potty. Dogs want to please you, so it is your job to let them know what behaviors please you and what doesn’t. So when my puppy goes potty, I give her a treat*, and clap, and make a fuss and praise her. So she learns that going potty outside makes me happy. If she has an accident, make a disgust sound like “tsst” and take her out right away. I never yell* or spank* my puppies. Take them out when they first wake up, after they eat or drink, before nap, finish romping, when their activities change, or when they are sniffing around. Some puppies go pee right away, but may not go poop until 10 minutes later, so wait for the poop. I have a little play time here, because sometimes I think they are done, and they are not. Puppies train at their own pace. While I may have a puppy that hasn’t had an accident in several weeks, I don’t let my guard down. I don’t expect my puppies to be “fully potty trained” until one-year-old. If they have a setback, shake it off, and start over. I only have my puppies in the crate when I am not watching them. When I am sleeping, cooking, ironing, doing chores, basically when I am not watching her. All other times, she is out of the crate practicing being a “big girl.” This is the time I train her how to behave in the house. So we are practicing “no barking”, ‘no biting”, “no jumping”, and “don’t eat the furniture.” I also have to practice “playing inside” so she doesn’t knock over things. You must keep the puppy in sight when they are little because they don’t know the difference between newspaper and carpet, and you don’t want them sneaking off and getting into trouble. Some puppies can sleep through the night around 3-months-old, but their bladder is grown around 6-months-old.
REVISIONS:
*I use a CRATE to train with. It is the method I prefer, compared to other methods I have tried. I noticed that if they are in the crate, while I am doing chores, they are o.k., because the crate allows them to see me and be re-assured. The crate can also be a comfort when stored in the basement for dogs who live in areas where thunderstorms and tornados are an issue. . However, use the method that works best for you…..a laundry basket, a cardboard box, a woof-woof house, x-pen, child gates, whatever works for you.
*OUTSIDE, pee pad, litter box, whichever method you are using. When the puppy is first little, keep the pee pad, litter box near the food and water dish, so the puppy can eat and drink, and then go potty. You can move it away as they get older. The pee pad has a scent that smells and initiates potty. Sometimes a pee pad makes a sound that scares some puppies, so you might want to use a litter box if that happens. The pee pad allows a puppy to walk around, but a litter box keeps the puppy in one place.
*BEDROOMS, I use the bedroom and living room for training, because it works for me. Choose rooms that work for you, but watch for rooms that are damp, or drafty. While my puppies sleep in the bedroom during training, once they are trained, I let them sleep where they want to. They don’t have to sleep in the bedroom forever.
*TREATS. While I use treats for training, you don’t have to. I like Charlee Bears for training (a little cracker for a little mouth,) I use them for training, but once they are trained, I cut back on them.
*SOME PUPPIES will go potty in the same spot each time. Some puppies have to be told to go potty. A command like “go out” for pee, or “go finish” for poop, might work for you, keep saying “go finish” until the puppy poops. This is a good thing to train if you travel with your dogs. By using commands, the puppy won’t get confused when you are visiting someone, on vacation with you, or when you get to a new home. The command will tell them what you want them to do in an unfamiliar place. You might also want to use a leash method, so the puppy doesn’t sneak off, or for strange places.
*YELLING. It is not a good idea to “yell” or “spank” your puppy and then take them outside when they have an accident. They may get confused and think that going outside is punishment. While you want to correct them, if you are extreme, they may not want to go outside again. Shake it off, and resume your schedule. You have to keep it real. Puppies train at their own pace, but a puppy can only hold their potty for a few hours. A guide would be 1 hour for each month of age, plus 1 hour, so a three-month-old puppy should only be expected to hold their potty for 4 hours at most.
SOURCE: These tips, tricks, and ideas were contributed from many brilliant minds. Thanks for your help!
You should try staying outside until she goes. That’s how i trained my dog.