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.
Okay so I have some concerns. My husky is 4 months and she knows where to do her business in the puppy pad but I’m also trying to train her to do her business outside. She happens to do both. I don’t know if I should praise her for pooping and peeing in the pad or not even though she doing her business inside the house at the right spot I’d would highly rather her to do it outside but the thing is, I don’t know her signals when she wants to go. I cannot tell at all. Also when I walk her around the park she doesn’t do her business there, she dones’t like it for some reason but I don’t know how to make her. I even stayed for like 2-3 hours and nothing. And when I leave her in the backyeard I close the door and hoping she will just jump or scratch at the door when she’s done. And when she does do that, she didn’t even do her business outside. I’m so lost and I don’t know what to do. Please help
Hello Chris,
When my Sibe was a puppy, I would praise her for going on her pads, but when she goes outside, she would get a bonanza of rewards including attention, food rewards, and a fun game.
I take her out after she wakes up, after short play sessions, as well as when she starts to pace and goes to corners in the house. I always go out with her so that I can reward her really well for doing her potty outside.
Yeah, my dogs were the same way. In the beginning, they much prefer doing their business around the house. I think this may be because they feel somewhat vulnerable when they are crouching, so puppies prefer to do that on safe ground.
Hi i have a female labradore she is 8 months old i have tryed everything to get her to wee and poo outside she goes out in the garden and walks she does have wees and poos outside but she also does it inside :-/ she knows she has done wrong because when she has done this in the house she runs off and hides :-/ often she will come in from being out fer walk or in garden and just wee on floor i have tryed since she was 6weeks old to stop her doing this and i just dont know what to do anymore i tryed the treats when she does something outside and prasing her up !? I admitt i have rubbed her nose in her wee and put her in garden and also tapped her nose and pointed to wee and said no n then put her out and told her outside when we go to go out i say to her do u want go wee wee n she wags her tail but when she comes in its wee straight on the floor she dosent poo as much as she wees in house !!!?? Any suggestions at what else i can do 🙁 this is very fustrating now im at the end of my thever with her ..thank you
Dear Channy,
With my own dogs, I find that the best way to potty train them is to supervise them very closely. In this way, I am there when puppy makes a mistake, and can no-mark her calmly (Ack-ack) so that she knows it is an undesirable behavior. Then I calmly interrupt her and take her outside. If she continues outside, I make sure to make a very big deal of it, and reward her very well not just with treats but also with her favorite game.
In this way, she quickly learns that –
Potty outside = Lots of attention, treats, games, and rewards,
Potty inside = Get interrupted and taken outside.
Dogs repeat behaviors that get them good results, so this teaches and motivates them to potty outside.
Finally, dogs may sometimes run and hide after the fact because they can sense our anger and frustration. They do not know why we are angry, but only that we are so, and that they may get punished.
Good day! It looks as though you have had great success with your dogs! I have had this issue with my Shepherd since rescuing her 2 years ago and I’m at my wits end. She is a rescue and I love her dearly but the entire notion that you have to catch them in the act is not accurate. I have caught her peeing and she will happily wag her tail while doing it 2 inches from my foot. I have changed my tones and words thinking maybe she was over discplined prior to getting her and not trained. I have done everything. EVERY last trick and training process I’ve been told to do by trainers and advice from others and yet every night and every time I leave the house she poops in my kitchen. She is given more than enough time to go outside. She has been rewarded for her “good” behaivor. IF I let her sleep in my room she will not poop. But if I don’t let her, which I don’t want her in my room because I’m a light sleeper and she makes more noise than any animal I’ve ever seen or heard of before! She prances, moves things around, pushes me with her nose, licks me etc…etc…etc… I’m really thinking she is doing this not because she is no potty trained but because she is mad that I won’t let her in the room and I leave without her from time to time. I tried an outdoor kennel with heavey a chain linked fence and no kidding within an hour she had chewed her way out and cut up her face. NOTHING is working and I can’t stand a dog that poops and pees in the house. An accident I can understand but I’m home all day and the dog is outside the majority of the day there is no excuse for this. I’m at my wits end. So how do you catch a dog when she will only do it when your not home or asleep?
Hello Michelle,
Does she only poop in the house when she is separated from you? If so, that could be from separation anxiety. When dogs are overly anxious, they may poop and pee as a result of stress.
Based on your description of the outdoor kennel escape, it sounds like separation anxiety may be an issue. Some dogs may hurt themselves when trying to escape because they want to get to their people or family very badly.
Here are some of my experiences on dealing with dog separation anxiety.
In terms of sleeping in bedroom, crating may help. All my dogs sleep together with us in the bedroom and they each have their own crate.
Some trainers also suggest video taping our dog while we are away, so that we can see whether she is stressed and anxious. Having a professional trainer come over to the house to observe her may also be helpful.
Hello,
Our Shiba, Scout, will be 6 months this month. She has been pretty good about potty training. She has not pooped in the house or kennel in a long time. But, she will randomly pee on the couch. Tonight, she was laying next to me and peed laying down. She does not bark or whine when she has to go potty. What should we do?
Hello Jess,
I would consider taking her to the vet for a check-up. In general, dogs do not like peeing while laying down. It could be that she has no control over it, e.g. urinary tract infection. It could also be the result of spaying.
How is her stool quality, energy level, and appetite? When did this behavior start?
I just recently adopted a 1yr old dog that is a mix of heeler, springer spanial, and collie. He is already potty trained but has been having lots of accidents lately. When I am home he sneaks away and poops behind the kitchen table! This is my first dog so I’m not sure how often I should be taking him out to go potty. Right now I take him out first thing in the morning, when I get home from work, and right before bed. When I go to work he is alone for about 9hrs and is kept in the garage due to him chewing on things and potty accidents! What do I do to make sure he doesn’t have any accidents?
Hello Tiffany,
Was he potty trained in your house or in his previous home? Some dogs may not generalize potty training across different houses and may need a short refresher course.
With potty training, the key thing is supervision. We want to be there to stop our dog from pottying in the house, take him outside, and reward him for pottying outside. With my puppy Lara, when I am not around, I keep her in a long-term enclosure with nice bedding, safe chew toys, interactive food toys, and puppy pads far away from her bedding.
Hi, I have a very old dog who has been trained to do her business in the backyard. Recently we had to move to an apartment, so we taught her to pee on the balcony. The problem is that she will just not poop there. She is also deaf so verbal commands do not work. Any suggestions?
Heh, my Shiba Inu is the same way. He will not even poop in our backyard. What seems to work well for us is to set up a routine where he does his business during his daily walks outside.
I have a 2 year old mix. He is part bearded collie and part golden doodle. I am wanting to take a job that will require a couple extra hours of alone time for my baby. He does not potty in the house and waits to go outside. I would like to train him to go on a the pee pad when he is alone so that he has the option to relieve himself if he needs. I am so lost as to go about doing this. So far I have placed the pee pad under him while he went outside and got his urine on it. Then placed it in my bathroom where it will be kept while I am away. I point to it and say “potty”. He stands on it excitedly then looks at me and exits the bathroom. I am from here lost as to what to do. If you could please tell me how you trained your pups to use the pee pads along with going outside I would be so so so grateful! Thanks
Hello Amanda,
I trained my Sibe puppy on potty pads by simply putting it in her long-term enclosure, at the corner, far away from her bedding. When I was too busy to supervise, I put her in her enclosure and she knew to use the pad on her own. I think the pads may also have scent that attracts her to potty on it.
Then during normal times, she knew to go there to potty because she was already used to it.
However, I only did that during puppy-hood. Once she matured, she no longer needed to potty very often and she just stopped using the pads. She gets rewards and play when she goes outside, so that is a better deal for her. 😀
How long will you be gone?
I am gone for 9 to 10 hours. I stopped keeping Liam in his crate after he became house broken and matured past the chewing stage. The only thing he like to chew now is a kleenex left on a table. Loves to shred paper. 🙂 I gained his trust by keeping him in my room with door closed instead of in his crate. After about a week of doing that and having no issues he was then able to have free rome of the house. It made a huge difference in his behavior. I play with him every morning before work and when I get home. If I am busy he will surely let me know. hehe. Since he isn’t in his crate he isn’t as crazy hyper as when he was kept in it. He keeps himself entertained while home without me. He boxes with my male cat which is a sight to see. I will also see he has pulled all of his toys from his toy basket as well. He isn’t a crazy eater so I give him his food rations for the day every morning. He usually waits till the evening to finish it off. He knows the routine and does great with it. Especially in the summer. He knows momma has to go to work then he sees me pack my weekend bag on friday mornings and goes crazy and talks to me cause he knows where we are going. The lake!. Then he is dog heaven. He runs and runs with lots of doggies and swims all day in the lake. THen when we get home he is pretty much hung over from the weekend and happy to lay around for 2 days and do nothing. haha. So just to give a little insight to Liam’s life. While he holds it in and does great during the day I still feel I need to give him the option to go on a pee pad if he needs to. Sometimes I am asked to stay an extra 15-30 minutes at work or there is traffic and takes me an extra 30 minutes to get home. I am anxious to get home to him so I can’t imaging how he must feel. I don’t have any close neighbors who can let him out for me either. If he won’t use the pee pads then I will hire someone for sure to help but if I can get him to use them then it would be wonderful.
Hahaha, Liam sounds like a really lucky and happy dog. Thanks for sharing a bit of Liam’s life with us.
In terms of the pee-pad training, the two things that I can think of is to-
1. Place the pee-pad close to the door where he usually goes out to potty, e.g. backyard door. Since the dog already goes there when he needs to potty, he may go on the pads when he really needs to go. Many dogs will probably prefer to hold it in though. My dogs were trained on grass so that is where they most prefer to pee. Shiba Sephy likes to do his business during walks, and will only use the backyard when he really has to go.
2. My dogs usually have to pee when they wake up in the mornings. One possibility is to bring the dog to the pee-pad in the bathroom during that time and giving the “Go Potty” command. Then praise and reward when they do so. The danger here though is that they may think that we prefer them to potty inside.
I think (1) is safer, but getting someone to let him out is probably best.
Sorry I could not be of more help.
hello, you were very ! i have two puppies and at first i thought it was best to train them to go inside the house. now they i three months and im finding that if they go outside it would be better; a close friend who has 4 dogs told me also. one of them actually goes outside and does both of his business. the other only sniffs around. i take them out 30 minutes after i feed them but he refuses to go! when i get home again he runs straight to the pad and does both urinate and deficate on the pad. CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE ????
Some people retrain this by slowly moving the puppy pads closer to the backyard door. We want to do this slowly so that our dog can get used to the change in position, and can find the pads easily. Then we can try moving the pads outside the door. There may be some mistakes at this point.
When I was potty training my puppy, sometimes she would go close to the door area. I think she wasn’t sure if that was ok, or not. I just calmly no mark (ack-ack) her, interrupt her, and take her outside. Then I make sure to reward her very well with praise, affection, treats and play, if she continues to potty outside.
Another possibility is to teach our dog the “Go Potty” command.
I have a friend who has a 3 month old puppy. She works but her boyfriend is home alot of the time. After she takes the puppy out in the morning, when she is getting ready for work, he will pee in the house. What advise do you have?
I have found that to effectively potty train my puppy, constant supervision is key. I make sure to take puppy out after he wakes up, after short play sessions, before going to sleep, and anytime he shows any potty behavior (e.g. circling, etc.). Whenever I do not have the time to supervise, I put puppy in a long term enclosure.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-potty-training-facts-and-myths#enclosure
I have a 1 yo female Pit Bull Terrier, she is fully house trained. But recently she has been urinating outside but “messing” in the house. We can go for a 20 minute walk, but as soon as we get back inside if she is left alone for a minute even, she will mess in the house. This has become an everyday and several time a day occurance.We clean up messes with either bleach or a pet odor eliminator. It is getting frustrating. She has always been praised for good behavior consistently, even for her potty behaviors. I’ve never had this problem before and not sure what to do. Any advice you have will be greatly appreciated.
Hmmm … it is difficult to say for sure. Some common causes include –
1. Physical issue. How is the quality of her stool? How is her energy level? Appetite? Is she acting differently in other ways?
2. Stress. Something could have changed in her regular schedule or yours that is causing stress. What changes were there around the time that this behavior first appeared? Has anything changed in the walks?
What do you do when you catch her in the act? Did she previously poop in the backyard? Does she do it when she is alone or only when you are around? What is her usual routine?
When dogs poop, they have to crouch for the duration, which is a vulnerable position. Sometimes, if they feel vulnerable or threatened, they will not poop until they get to a safe place, e.g. on their own property.
With my own dogs I have observed that during puppy-hood, they always prefer to do their business in the backyard, where they feel safer.