Puppy potty training is the bane of many new dog parents. That is why there are so many tutorials on how to housetrain a dog, with promises of how it can be simple and effortless.
The fact though, is that potty training requires time, patience, and consistency. How simple or difficult it is, will depend on our dog’s temperament and our own temperament.
Some dog breeds such as the Shiba Inu, are naturally clean and are relatively easy to housebreak. My Shiba was housebroken when we first got him at 10 weeks old.
Shiba Sephy does not even like to eliminate in our backyard. Instead, he prefers to wait until we go for a walk. In contrast, my second dog (a Siberian Husky), was more difficult to housetrain because she did not mind frolicking close to her own waste products.
It took a few weeks to housetrain her.
Puppy potty training also depends a lot on us. If we are naturally calm, consistent, and patient, housebreaking will seem easier and require less work.
Whatever the case, always remember that we can successfully housetrain a physically healthy dog, at whatever age (after the weaning off process), no matter the history.
And that is a potty training fact!
1. Set Up a Schedule
Puppy potty training begins, by setting up a schedule. Initially, we want to bring our dog out often, and reduce the chances of her making mistakes inside the house.
I observe my puppy closely, and try to identify patterns in her potty behavior. For example, she usually has to go when she wakes up, and after a bit of vigorous play. Therefore, I took her out after nap-time and after every 10-15 minutes of play. Different dogs may have different patterns depending on size, temperament, routine, and more.
I stop giving her water about 2-3 hours before sleep time, and take her out right before I crate her for the night. If I need to reward her during that time, I only use moist dog treats such as boiled chicken, so that she does not get thirsty from them.
Fact – Dogs learn through a process called conditioning. They repeat behaviors that get them good results and stop behaviors that get them bad results.
The more we reward a puppy for eliminating outside, the more she will repeat that behavior. When my puppy does her business in the backyard, I mark that behavior (Yes!). Once she finishes, I treat her with something special that she only gets for potty success, and give her some good affection. Then, I reward her more with play-time and her favorite activities.
Similarly, the more a puppy practices eliminating inside, on her own, the more she will go in the house. After all, it is convenient and nobody is teaching her that it is inappropriate behavior.
Therefore, we want to not only maximize the number of successes, but also minimize the number of mistakes. In this way, our puppy will learn that doing her business outside is extremely rewarding and fun. On the other hand, when she does it inside, she consistently gets interrupted and taken outside.
Myth – My dog cannot be housetrained because she comes from a stubborn breed, she is too stupid, she is too dominant, she doesn’t listen to me, she is too old, etc.
Any physically healthy dog can be housetrained. The key to potty training is patience and consistency. Always be around to supervise our puppy when she is inside. If I do not have the time to supervise, then I crate my puppy or put her in a long-term enclosure with puppy pads.
Myth: Screaming and hitting the dog will show her that I am boss and make her stop pottying inside the house.
Screaming and hitting a dog does not work well, and usually makes things worse. How well do you learn when somebody is screaming at you, or hitting you? It is the same way for a dog, especially a puppy.
The fastest way to housebreak our puppy, is to remain calm, and consistently let her know that going inside is inappropriate (Ack, ack), and going outside is appropriate (Yes).
2. Prevent Potty Mistakes
There are three ways to prevent mistakes inside the house:
a) Be there to supervise.
When our puppy shows signs that she has to go potty, take her outside right away. If I do not catch my puppy in time and she starts to do her business, then I interrupt her with a no-mark (Ack, ack) and take her outside.
Myth – I can potty train my puppy by rubbing her nose in it after the fact. She always looks sheepish and puts her head down when I shout at her. She knows she has done something wrong.
Dogs will only learn when we catch them in the act.
If we are not around and our dog makes a mistake, then we have missed a learning opportunity. All we can do is clean up the mess and move on. It is true that a dog may look sheepish when we shout at her after the fact. This is because she knows that we are upset, so she uses submissive gestures (e.g. putting her head down) to try and appease us.
The dog does not know what particular event has caused our anger, but just that we are angry. Shouting and rubbing a dog’s nose in her own waste does not teach her anything. All it does is confuse our dog, as well as create stress and fear. This can make things worse by causing submissive urination.
b) Crate train our dog.
Dogs do not generally like to soil where they sleep. Keeping our puppy in a crate can discourage her from pottying because she does not want to soil her sleeping area.
When I got my first dog, I was a bit concerned about crating him. Here is what the Humane Society of the United States and the American Dog Trainer’s Network have to say about crate training
Myth – A crate will magically keep my dog from pottying for any period of time.
The crate is not some magical cure. A crate discourages a dog from eliminating, but if a dog absolutely has to go, she has to go.
Keeping a puppy for too long in a crate, will force her to potty in the crate, possibly traumatize her, and greatly set back our potty training program.
The maximum crate time is dependent on the age of our puppy.
| Age | Maximum time in crate |
|---|---|
| 8–10 weeks | 30–60 minutes |
| 11–14 weeks | 1–3 hours |
| 15–16 weeks | 3–4 hours |
| 17+ weeks | 4–5 hours |
Maximum crate time from ASPCA Weekend Crate Training.
Note – this is just a general guideline for the maximum crate time. I usually take my puppy outside more frequently than that. I take her out as soon as she wakes up, and right after any heavy activity.
At night, I crate my dogs in the bedroom. Keeping our dogs with us in the bedroom will help with the bonding process, and show them that they are part of the pack.
When puppies are really young, they may not be able to hold their bladder throughout the night. It may be necessary to make an extra trip outside at night, or really early in the morning. Once they get a bit older though, this will no longer be necessary.
Some puppies, e.g. pet store puppies, may already be conditioned to eliminate in their crate, because they are kept in there for overly long periods of time. In such cases, a crate will no longer be a deterrent to potty behavior.
c) Put our dog in a long-term enclosure.
If I will be away for a long period of time, I put my puppy in a long-term enclosure. This can be a secure puppy pen, or a secure and safe room (e.g. kitchen).
Make sure there is nothing dangerous in the enclosure that our puppy can destroy and swallow. Put bedding, a water bowl, some puppy pads, safe chew toys, and safe food toys, in the enclosure. Put the pads in a corner as far away from the bedding as possible.
Instead of puppy pads, we may also use an indoor grass system.
However, some dogs may not like standing on or eliminating on the indoor grass surface. Just using regular sod or grass did not work well for me because of drainage issues. The sod gets smelly very quickly because there isn’t anywhere for the pee to go.
When I tried using sod, I had to change it every other day, or my puppy refused to go onto it. This ended up being a lot more work than just using puppy pads.
Myth – We cannot train a dog to potty outside as well as on puppy pads. She will get confused and not know what to do.
Yes, it is true that if we can be around most of the time to supervise, it is better not to let a puppy do her business in the house at all.
However, if we will be away for long periods of time, if our dog has separation anxiety issues (which may cause her to need to eliminate when we leave), or if there are other medical issues (surgery) that make frequent trips outside unfeasible, then it is perfectly fine to train a dog to both potty on pads, as well as outside.
Reward a puppy for going on his pads, and reward a puppy a lot more for going outside.
3. Clean Away Mistakes Properly
During the housetraining process, there will be some mistakes. When that happens, I calmly no-mark my puppy (Ack, ack) and take her outside. Once we are outside, I praise and reward her if she continues with her business.
Then, I leave my puppy in our fully enclosed and puppy-safe backyard, come in, and clean up the mess. Cleaning up messes in front of a puppy may sometimes cause her to mimic our behavior, and engage in eating her own poop. In her mind, she is only helping to clean out the den.
Use a cleaner that is made especially for pets. A popular pet odor cleaner is Nature’s Miracle.
Do not use ammonia based cleaners as the ammonia odor, which resembles urine, may attract our dog to urinate in the area.
4. Make Sure the Mistakes Are Potty Mistakes
Not all indoor urination is the result of housetraining mistakes. Other reasons for indoor urination include:
- Submissive or excitement urination.
- Medical issues, e.g. urinary tract infection.
- Marking objects or territory.
- Stress or anxiety, which results from being alone or other psychological issues.
Hi, Hope you can help. I have a 11.5 week old Siberian Husky who i love to bits and am crate training him. He is potty trained outside during the day, he lets me know by sitting at the back door, when he goes outside i give him lots of praise and a treat for being a good boy, so i have no probs there but night time is a different matter all together. Before i put him to bed at 11pm i take him outside to go potty which he does, first couple of nights he was clean through the night but for the last 2 nights he has been pooing in his crate even though i take him out every 1.5 hrs, when i take him out he does go for wees but not poos hence he doing it in his crate. His crate is large but has been sectioned off so his space is limited(enough for him to be able to lie down and turn around which i was told by the vets). The thing is he doesn’t lay in his mess he fold his blanket over the lays on the tray so he is not near his mess, i really don’t know what else to try, will he stop doing this the more i keep taking him out during the night? or am i doing something wrong. I would be very grateful for any advice you can give me please. Thanks for your time.
From first time Husky owner.
Re dog food:
Yeah, the brands are American brands. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the brands in the U.K. But you want to look for:
1. Grain-free kibble (they will usually have potatoes instead)
2. Good source of proteins (named meat source)
3. No chemical additives
The Dog Food Project is a great site to get more information on what to look for on the dry food labels and ingredient list.
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=label
Hope this helps.
Hi Sarah,
Yikes! Sorry the pads didn’t work out. He may have gotten really stressed from being away from you. For now, it is probably best to keep him in the bedroom with you at night. Is there space in the bedroom to set up the enclosure and puppy pads? That way you can stop him from shredding the pads, and clean up quickly if he has to poop. Sibes are really strong chewers so I would leave something for him to chew on as well. With Shania, I used puppy pads that have an attractor scent on them, so that she is more likely to go on them. I also rewarded her for going on the pads, and put the pads in one of her favorite pee corners.
“When he poops on the floor/crate in the night do i tell him off when i come down or do i ignore him? I am not to sure what to do when this happens”
You definitely do not want to tell him off after the fact because he will not know what behavior was the wrong behavior. If you catch him in the act though, then you want to non-mark him (ack-ack), take him right out of the crate, and outside. Give him the “go potty” command. Remember to always praise and give him attention *if* he goes. If he does not, then just ignore him and bring him back with as little fuss as possible. No playing and no attention if he doesn’t go potty.
“How often did you take Shania out in the night when she was a pup? If i took Bear out everytime he made a noise i would be constantly outside.”
Shania wasn’t too bad. I took her out maybe 3-4 times in the beginning, but once she understood that she didn’t get play or attention on those short trips, she stopped making a fuss. You don’t want to give them play, scratches, or attention during those times or they will just keep doing it.
Bear sounds like he is extremely attached to you. This is going to be really tough, but you may want to slowly cut down on the attention you give him during the day. It is fine to let him follow you around, etc. that is actually a very good thing, but just cut down on the attention that you give him.
I would also make Bear work for all of his food – either through training or through interactive toys. Interactive toys are great because it will give Bear something to do by himself. Here are some possibilities:
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/best-dog-toys
Also, playing with puppy friends is also a good way to get a Sibe to drain some of their energy. Just make sure the puppies are up to date on shots.
Re: exercise and crating:
Hi Sarah, it really sounds like you have done a lot of research and provide an exceptional environment for Bear. He is a very lucky pup.
With the exercise in the evening, I was hoping that it would get him to poop before sleep time. However, if he is having diarrhea, then the exercise is probably not the issue.
When Shania was a pup, she would sometimes complain in her crate as well. What helped some was to leave a frozen Kong and some safe chew toys in there for her to work on.
Also, I tended to err on the safe side and took her out every time she made noise. I took her right out (on a lead), led her to her favorite spot, and gave her the go potty command. Then I would wait for a few minutes. If she didn’t want to go, I brought her right back in and put her in her crate without any special playing, attention, or cuddling time. If she actually had to go, then I would praise her, treat her, and play with her for a bit before putting her back into her crate. This way she understands that making noise will only get her a boring potty trip with no playing time and no special attention or cuddling.
I really think that the poop thing is more a dietary issue though, so I think that fixing that will hopefully fix the crate pooping.
Once you have the pooping under control, then I would ignore all the whining.
Also, sometimes Shania whines at night because it is too hot for her. To keep her cool in the summer, I give her a water bed, an ice plastic bottle in a sock, and have a fan blowing at her crate.
Hope this helps. Please let me know how it goes.
Hi Sarah and Bear,
Re food: Hmmm, I would definitely try another brand. What worked best for my pup ultimately was putting her on a grain-free kibble. The only thing you have to look out for there, is the protein content. Initially, you don’t want to give them too much protein, but once they are adult, you can switch them to a high-protein kibble. For puppies, my breeder uses Natural Balance with potatoes and duck. It is a special allergy formula. I started out with Solid Gold for puppies which has slightly higher protein, but it also has some grains. Once Shania got older I switched her to Innova EVO (high protein and grain free). Both my dogs are on chicken EVO. Some other good brands I have tried: Orijen, Nature’s Variety Instinct, and Wellness CORE.
For more on dog diets:
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/feeding-your-dog-a-healthy-diet
If Bear is having bad diarrhea, you can try switching him onto a boiled chicken and boiled rice only diet. Do this for several days until the diarrhea clears up (may take 3-4 days) then you can reintroduce a new kibble into his diet. Start with 1/4 for 3-4 days, 1/2 for 3-4 days, 3/4 for 3-4 days before going all full.
Shania also had some really bad diarrhea initially, and the boiled chicken diet worked out for us. We finally discovered that it was the oats in her kibble that she was allergic to.
Hi Sarah, Congratulations on getting a Sibe puppy. They really are very sweet and amazing dogs. Here are some things that may help:
1. What type of dog food are you using? And how many times does your puppy poop? And is the poop normal, or more like diarrhea? It could be that the puppy is having some digestive/allergy issues with his food. Sibes have very sensitive stomachs and tend to be allergic to many things, especially any kind of grains. My Sibe is allergic to wheat, oat, and any kind of fish products.
2. Try only feeding puppy at fixed times during the day and do not give him any food after about 5 pm.
3. Exercise will frequently encourage dogs to poop, so you could have a play session or walk with him in the evening. He is still rather young, and has not had all of his shots yet, so only take him to very clean areas (free of other dog’s poop).
4. At night when he has to go, does he make any noise to let you know?
5. A short term solution would be to put him in an enclosure (instead of a crate) at night, and to put his bed and some puppy pads (as far away from the bed as possible) in the enclosure. In this way, he can poop on the pads if he needs to and he is not forming a habit of pooping in his crate. Puppies have very small bowels, and so have a much harder time holding it in. Once he matures, you can try the crate again.
Let me know how it goes and if I can be of further help. Hugs and kisses to your puppy! What is his name btw?
Hi Antoinette,
Some of the things my Siberian taught me that may help:
1. She usually had to potty when she woke up and after about 10-15 minutes of heavy activity with my other dog. So take your girl out every time right after she wakes up, and soon after she has had heavy activity. This may be pretty frequent initially. I usually erred on the side of greater frequency. In the first few weeks I would take my girl out between 5-10 times per day.
2. She was happy to potty on command if she got rewarded well for it. So get some really good treats that she only gets for pottying, take her out when she is most likely to pee, take her to her favourite pee spot, and when you see her start to show signs of wanting to pee, say “go potty”. When she does, mark her “Good girl”, and treat her very well with many good treats and affection. Also play some fun games with her before bringing her in. In this way you associate treats and playing with pottying outside which will make her prefer to do it outside because she gets good stuff for it.
3. When you take her outside, give her a few minutes to do her business. If she doesn’t need to, bring her back inside.
4. If she looks like she is going to potty inside (e.g. starts circling), or if she has already started to potty, you want to non-mark her to let her know that it is an undesired behavior (No, or ack-ack). Then just take her outside. If she continues to potty outside, then mark her (Yes, or good girl) and reward her as you would usually. Play with her briefly, then leave her outside, while you come back in to clean up the stuff.
5. When you are not around to supervise, it is best to put her in a crate so that she will not make any mistakes while on her own. Puppies, however, have very small bladders and cannot physically hold it in for more than 2-3 hours so it is important to let her out every 2-3 hours (other than night-time).
With consistency, she will quickly learn that potty outside = desirable behavior with good stuff and happy play time. Nowadays, my girl will go wait by the door when she needs to go, and come running back to me to claim her reward. 🙂
Good luck. Hope this helps.
HI. I Have a new yorshire terrier. She is 16 weeks old. I have a male who is One year and one month. The girl is new. She pretty much potties wherever she wants. My boy does not. I take her outside for a stretch of time and when we come back inside she pees. i dont understand what im doing wrong. Please help
Hmmm, based on what you described, it sounds like he may be marking. My male Shiba Inu is a very clean dog, and was very easy to potty train. However, he has pee-ed inside the house 2-3 times after he was potty trained. All those times was on bedding.
Here are some things to try:
1. Try to take him out for walks frequently. It can just be 20 minute short neighborhood walks. Frequency is important so he can do his marking outside and be less likely to do it inside the house.
2. He is getting older and may be trying to assert his dominance wrt. your other dogs and to you as well. Make sure you show him that you are in charge by doing obedience exercises and following the NILIF program. I.e. he has to do something for you first before he gets anything in return, including food, walks, opening the door, etc.
3. Watch out for signs that he is about to mark, e.g. intense smelling, smelling furniture, etc. When he does that, non-mark him (No), and make him move away from the furniture by using body blocking. It is important to catch him before he marks.
4. Don’t allow him to get on beds or any other furniture. This will make him more likely to want to own that piece of furniture.
5. If he does mark, non-mark him (No), and put him on a time-out. Make sure there is nothing in the timeout room that he can mark. Make sure to clean out the mark areas with a non-ammonia based pet cleaner solution.
Good luck. Let me know how it goes.
I HAVE A 10 MONTH OLD SILKY TERRIER. HE WAS VERY HARD TO POTTY TRAIN BUT WE FINALLY GOT THERE RECENTLY. NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN HE IS WETTING ON THE CORNERS OF FURNITURE AROUND THE HOUSE. HE DID NOT DO THIS BEFORE. HE EVEN WET ON MY BED. I WONDER WHY THIS IS HAPPENING ALL OF A SUDDEN? I HAVE TWO OTHER DOGS IN THE HOUSE WHO ONLY POTTY OUTSIDE.ANY COMMENTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED. THANK YOU