So we’ve had our puppy for about two weeks now, and we’ve been doing pretty good about taking him outside regularly for potty time. He’s figured out that going outside means that it’s time to pee and poo - he manages to squeeze at least a little something out every time we go out, and he gets praise and a treat.
The problem is that he has yet to figure out that he cannot release inside. If he gets the urge, and he happens to be inside, he’ll just let loose. I’m not talking about times where he’s been inside way too long to hold it, like overnight. Just during regular daylight times.
So he’s sort of halfway there. How do we go about training the flip side of the coin? Is there something else we can be doing to help him figure it out, or is it just one of those things that he’ll get eventually?
It’s sort of both. Puppies get better at it with time, but you do have to work at it also. You have to make sure that every time he eliminates inside, he gets the message that this is unacceptable, and you have to respond promptly, or else he’ll forget about it. You also want to make sure that your response is appropriate in magnitude: this isn’t exactly a tiny thing, so you have to be firm, but it also isn’t horrible, so you can’t yell. A firm “No! Bad dog!” and rubbing his nose in/near it (obviously you don’t want a dog with poop on his nose sniffing stuff) is pretty much enough, in my experience.
Does his outdoor time schedule include immediately after he eats? Training on a time-based schedule is good but training on an activity-based schedule is crucial too. Seems to me that puppies need to eliminate right away once they’re done eating.
I do think you have to put up with it for a while, too. They just do that sort of thing. You’ve taught him how to eliminate outside now he needs to learn how NOT to eliminate inside.
I wouldn’t recommend the old ‘rub his nose in it’ method of training. Often it scares the dog and they turn to urinating/defecating inside when you’re not looking.
The best thing to do is to keep doing what you are doing. If you notice a pattern to when they’re having accidents, try to nip it in the bud by taking them outside before they go inside. With puppies, they tend to need to go right in the morning and right after eating or drinking. You didn’t mention what kind of dog it is. Sometimes the smaller toy breeds have difficulties with housetraining.
Thirded for crate training. Also, remember that depending on the age of the pup, he may not be ready to be fully trained yet. Eventually the switch gets flicked and they “get it”. Our new rescue pup just got the idea last week, and she is nearly 10 months old.
I’ll dissent on the crate training. Sure, you can do it with crate training, but it’s really not that hard to house train a dog without a crate, either.
Just get 'em on a schedule. About an hour or so after they eat/drink, bring them outside. Figure out a word or phrase, and keep repeating it so they start associating that word/phrase with doing their business. Stay outside with them until they do something.
Before their trained, you can buy puppy pads at any pet store. I keep one of those on the floor so that if I see the puppy about to do its business I can just pick him/her up and put her on the pad.
At night, put the puppy in a crate or other enclosure, so if there’s mistakes it’s where you can find them.
Personally, I found it harder to crate train than it was to just keep an eye on the puppy and bring it out after it ate.
When you do catch him peeing or pooping in the house, along with the correction (“No, Bad Poopsie,” or whatever) immediately take him outside – like in mid-pee if need be.
He’ll make the connection that outside is for that stuff a lot quicker.
We’ve been doing pretty much everything mentioned in the thread so far, including taking him out after eating. Sounds like we’ll just have to keep plugging away at it. Thanks for the advice, everyone.
Make sure you clean up with something that really gets the scent out. Nature’s Miracle and similar products have enzymes that counteract the urine somehow. Before I started using that, the same spots would get hit over and over again. Our second dog had some puppy accidents, but when we cleaned with that the accidents were in different places, and stopped quickly. Training needs to happen at the same time, but this way the place doesn’t smell like somewhere they should be going to the bathroom, working against your training. Even if you can’t smell it, they can.
And right after playing. So, pretty much whenever they’re awake.
I’m no doggy expert, but I have a feeling that has more to do with your puppy’s history and less to do with her age: if she’s a rescue who has moslty been in kennels and the like, she hasn’t had much of a chance to “get it” before now. My rescue puppy was 3 months old when I adopted her, and she was sitting by the back door to go out within a week. Of course there were still occasional accidents, but now she’s 6 months old and hasn’t eliminated inside the house in a long time.
FWIW, crate training did not work for my puppy (a Beagle mix). She always peed in her crate, even if she was in it for just an hour, and while she never resisted going into it my SO and I could tell that she didn’t like being in it. She has been sleeping in the bed with us and our other dog for a couple of months now, with 0 overnight accidents, and about a week ago we started gating her in the kitchen when we go out instead of crating her. (My SO works from home, so we haven’t had to worry about leaving her alone during the day.) We had to get creative and stack a regular baby gate on top of one that’s designed to be climb-resistant (she managed to get over that one), but the double gate system is working and she seems much happier in the kitchen. She only peed on her dog bed the first time we left her in there, and she never barks. It is so nice to go out for the night and not have to do doggy laundry/cleanup later!
