How long does it take?

BarbV said:
First off, you need a crate.

Second, you need a routine. In the morning take pup outside. If pees or poops, then big hurray and treat.

Feed dog - preferably inside the crate. Wait 5 to 10 minutes, bring pup outside. If pees/pooss, big hurray! If nothing, then after about 5 minutes, back in the crate. Wait another 10 minutes and try again.

What you definitely do NOT want to do is let the pup out on its own after in the morning and after any meals without ensuring that some business has been done.

Pup might do one but not the other. If so, keep an eagle on eye....if necessary, attach a leash to you. At any signal they pup is starting to squat, pick him up, even in mid strean and try to get him to finish outside. If he does, treats! If he doesn't, just ignore till next time.

It's not much different from toilet training kids actually.
Click to expand...

oh dont worry, this is pretty much what we have been doing now for about 3-3.5 weeks. we take him out of his crate first thing in the morning, and outside we go. then in for food/water, and back outside. and repeat through out the day every couple hours. after he is gone he gets to play for 30-45 minutes then back into the crate if i cant watch him. when we take him outside for potty, we give him about 5 minutes, if he doesnt go, he goes back in the crate for a few minutes, then back out. after doing this part for only a day or so, he goes potty right after we take him out. we just give him a few more minutes out just in case.
i was just wondering if its normal for him to still have accidents (though not very often) after a month and is it normal for him to not "tell" us he needs to go, not even barking. :confused2: and how long it takes "on average" to potty train a dog.
 
Barb's advice is very, very good.

We crated Maggie as a pup and she would do everything in her power not to make a mess in her little house. She was 99% trained by 6 months.

With that said, I am home with Maggie and work from a home office, which isn't always possible for everyone. I think that's part of the reason why she was pretty easy to train.

Hang in there and be consistent, they are smart little pups, they will get the hang of it. :yes:
 
You brought home Gizmo when he was already a little older, so it seems to me that you might have to unlearn some bad habits.

At 8 weeks when I brought home Bacca, it took 3 to 4 weeks to get him pretty reliable. I brought home Indy at 10 months and he was totally trained.

Under the circumstances, I don't think 4 weeks is crazy, even for a 7 month old dog, given the change in his environment.

I think you are doing the right things, so just be patient and continue on.

One other thing I will comment on....I'm not a big believer in bells to ask to be let outside. I prefer to keep to a schedule instead. That doesn't mean the dogs can't go outside to play whenever they want, but I definitely try to encourage them to do their business at certain times of the day. The only way to accomplish this is with the type of structure that I outlined above.

Because of this structure, my dogs can go hours without needing to go. They only whine to go outside because they want to play. The rarely whine to go outside to do business, because it's already done.
 
I remember when we potty trained Zoey that we crate trained, but when we were around, we'd bring her outside every hour, regardless if she looked like she had to do something or not, and if she did something outside, then we'd be all like "OMG GOOD GIRL ZOEY!!"

For the longest time though, we couldn't recognize her giving us cues that she had to go, but eventually she started to be whiny when she wanted us to bring her outside.

As far as accidents goes, it went from "a couple of accident a week", to "a few accidents a month", then an accident every few months.

To give a bit more perspective, we tackled the poopy accidents within 2 days, but we started considering she was "potty" trained when she hit the 4 month mark... so about 2 months for us.
 
Last edited:
I got Daeka at 9 weeks and it took me until she was 6 months to be potty trained, that did involve a huge move though and definitely played a role in delaying getting her completely potty trained. She has always learned things quickly but it did take a while to get her completely potty trained.
 
Don't feel bad...I've had my pups since they were 10 weeks and 8 weeks. Claussen wasn't fully housebroke until he was about 6 months! And even now, when he was sick with a fever he emptied his bladder in my living room. Little Bear, my 5.5 month old will "drizzle" on occassion-he won't completely empty his bladder, but some pee will come out while he's walking-just a little bit. It's frustrating, and I don't know why it's taken me so long to train them with this considering how many "tricks" I've taught them.

As far as the bells go, they will both nose at them. If I'm not around to hear it, Claussen (now 8 months) gives out a sharp bark. He will also come to where I am and stare at me. Little Bear will nose at the bells, but I'm not sure what he would do if I wasn't around to hear it. His last genuine accident was about 3 weeks ago...he went poo in the house. I don't watch him 100% so I am guilty of that. All I have to say is...thank GOD for my Hoover steamvac carpet cleaner...paper towels and scrub brushes just don't get the stains out.
 
Last edited:
DanteBella85 said:
Don't feel bad...I've had my pups since they were 10 weeks and 8 weeks. Claussen wasn't fully housebroke until he was about 6 months! And even now, when he was sick with a fever he emptied his bladder in my living room. Little Bear, my 5.5 month old will "drizzle" on occassion-he won't completely empty his bladder, but some pee will come out while he's walking-just a little bit. It's frustrating, and I don't know why it's taken me so long to train them with this considering how many "tricks" I've taught them.

As far as the bells go, they will both nose at them. If I'm not around to hear it, Claussen (now 8 months) gives out a sharp bark. He will also come to where I am and stare at me. Little Bear will nose at the bells, but I'm not sure what he would do if I wasn't around to hear it. His last genuine accident was about 3 weeks ago...he went poo in the house. I don't watch him 100% so I am guilty of that. All I have to say is...thank GOD for my Hoover steamvac carpet cleaner...paper towels and scrub brushes just don't get the stains out.
Click to expand...


lol
I think you did what I did, and it WAS my fault, lol for not watching 100%, so it took me about 6 to 7 months to really house train Mr Toffee. It was more complicated as well because I had to leave him way longer than I wanted, being a single, working Sheltie Mom and all :lol:
But that's all it took, so now only accident once or twice when he was sick... and he was SO disgusted with himself you should have seen it! He wouldn't comeback IN the house until his mess was cleaned out, he was mortified he soiled his house!
 
So i just wanted to let every one know that i think the potty training is finally clicking for Gizmo. last week, he didnt have one accident inside and towards the end of the week he actually started pawing at the bell when we take him to the door. then on friday and today he whined a couple times like he is telling me he has to go outside. he did start to poop a little inside on sunday though stopped when we tried to get him outside. other then that once, he hasnt had an accident for about a week and a half!!! :biggrin2:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top