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.
I have a 14 week old puppy (husky) he is in full puppy mood..i have two other dogs that I successfully crate trained.. This pup how ever goes out side then even more as soon as I get in hse..
Hi there. I have a 5 month old shiba inu. He’s done well with the crate training so I’ve given him more freedom. Occasionally he will have an accident. Tonight he drank some water and fell asleep. I take him out an hour after eating or drinking. I woke him up to take him outside and he watched me grabbed the leash and peed at the back door. I don’t know why he did that when he knew I was taking him out. The other thing is he never lets me know he has to go out. I just have him on a schedule. Does your shiba let you know he needs to go outside?
Yeah, Sephy is good about that. He prefers to go outside, especially during walks.
In terms of potty training, a puppy does not have as good bladder control as an adult dog, so sometimes he may just go if he can’t hold it in any longer. During potty training, I usually have a drag lead on my puppy (only under supervision and only with a regular collar, *not* a training collar). In this way, when my puppy needs to go, we go right away. I make sure to reward my puppy extremely well with his favorite games, food, and more when he goes outside.
When I cannot supervise, even for just 1 minute, I put my puppy in a safe enclosure with puppy pads.
I talk more about potty training my puppy in the article above.
I just got a toy poodle a week ago and she is not 9 weeks old. The first few days she was doing her business anywhere because she was not toilet trained. As she sleeps in my room on a couch she can not get off at night to do her business anywhere she wants, she whines to wake me up and I take her to pee on the pee pad. It was doing great until two days ago. She began doing her business on both the pee pad and the floor and then returning to the pee pad and sleeping on her own mess. Last night she pee’d in her own bed! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong here.
Did anything unusual happen two days ago? Are there any other changes in behavior? Is she pee-ing more often? Does her pee look clear and normal? Has she been to the vet for a check-up? When she peed on her own bed, was she standing up or lying down?
What is her potty routine like when things were going well? In particular, what happens when she makes a mistake and what happens when she goes on the pad? What is her daily routine like?
I am getting extremely frustrated. I have a 16 week old shepard mix. I got her when she was 11 weeks old. Here is the problem….Since we’ve gotten her, she has a “designated spot” in the yard that we have her peeing and pooping in. She has been doing it consistently until this week. This week, she refuses to go pee or poop there and will fight to leave that area. It seems like she is afraid. She pulls on the leash, and jumps around to leave. This is something new and I can’t quite figure out what has changed for her. I don’t want to keep forcing her but this is the spot for her to go so that she doesn’t just go anywhere in the yard where people sit. She’s been doing it there since 11 weeks old now all of a sudden…….she won’t go. Any suggestions as to why and maybe how I can fix it?
With my dogs, I have noticed that they don’t particularly like being around their own poop. I think it is a smell thing.
For example, there was one time that I was experimenting with using sod for potty, after Shania’s surgery. She would go on it the first couple of times, but after that she really did not want to use it anymore. When I tried to get her on it, she got really stressed. After I aired the sod out for a few days (took it outside and no potty on it for a few days), then she was ok with it again for a short while. I think if the area smells too much like her own pee or poop, then she really doesn’t want to go near it.
The same thing with potty pads.
They don’t seem to have an aversion to poop from other dogs, cats, or other animals, just their own stuff.
This article from the ASPCA on designated spot training does not deal with this specific issue, but it does have some good information on how to reward and maintain the behavior.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/teaching-your-dog-eliminate-specific-place
Hi! I recently got a new husky puppy and he’s 9 weeks. I did my research and it seems like crate training works really well. Last night was the first time I put my husky in his crate and he absolutely hated it. He cried and howled for a very long time. I have the crate in my room next to my bed and I tried to calm him down, but the howling and crying didn’t stop. I took him out and let him sleep with me. I know it’s bad to do that because they think if they cry they can come out. But my family was asleep and I had school the next morning so I couldn’t just let him keep crying. Can I train my puppy without the crate? I do take him outside in the middle of the night and he has been going outside. Oh and he eats a lot! Like every second of the day. Is this normal?
Congratulations on your Husky puppy!
I find the crate or enclosure to be useful for my puppy during the potty training period because it allows me to prevent potty mistakes in the house, when I am unable to closely supervise my puppy. It also helps me to keep my puppy safe and out of trouble, e.g. chewing on wires, jumping off couches, etc.
However, each dog and each situation is different, so it depends. Dog behavior is very context dependent, so I modify things as appropriate to suit my dog and my own situation. How is potty training going?
Here is an account of the first 10 days with my Husky puppy Lara. It is a very good reminder for me, on how very important constant supervision is for a young puppy.
With crate training, I always start small and slowly build up my puppy’s tolerance for her crate. In this way, she becomes more confident and learns to associate her crate with positive events. More on how I crate train my puppy.
I also slept with my puppy the first few nights, until she was more comfortable with her crate. However, the problem with this was that my puppy did make several mistakes in the bedroom during the night. I fell asleep and was not there to properly supervise her. Next time around, I may try tethering my puppy to me (in a safe way) so that if she moves away, I will wake up and can take her out.
Haha, yeah my Husky puppy loved to eat as well. In fact, she is older now but she still loves to eat. 😀 I try not to overfeed her though, because when I feed her too much, she may get an upset tummy. I tweak things as I go along.
Has your puppy been to the vet for a check-up? I usually take a new puppy to my vet for a general examination, just to make sure everything is ok, and to set up a vaccination schedule if necessary.
I have a now 15 week old female french bulldog. She came home at 9 weeks. I’ve been doing my best to watch her ‘like a hawk’, have been keeping her on a schedule, and praise/give treats when she goes outside! She continues to have random accidents in the house and does not tell me (at least in a way that I have picked up on) that she has to go, which makes me feel frustrated and disappointed. I feel like I’m doing things right, but maybe she just isn’t getting it yet? She does well in her crate at night and when I’m at work. I have been taking her out every 30-45 minutes when I’m home and would like to start extending the time between trips, but I just feel like I can’t trust her. She is so tiny she slips away and 2 seconds later there is a puddle on the floor!!
I have been continuing with the schedule, praise, and have now started doing special treats that she will only get when she goes outside. Is there ANYTHING else I can do differently? Trying to stay positive!!
For my puppy, the key was full time supervision. If I need to be away or cannot supervise for even one second, I put her in her enclosure so that there is no slipping away. Any time she is roaming about, I am right there to supervise.
Some people tether the puppy on their belt to stop puppy from going off on her own. I have not tried that though, as the enclosure method has worked well for me.
More on the first 10 days with puppy Lara. In the beginning, we had lots of mistakes, but things improved a lot after I started doing full-time supervision (i.e. no free roaming without my full attention).
Hello,
My question is regarding house-training. My boyfriend and I recently adopted a about 13mo old golden retriever from a local humane society two weeks ago this Sunday (April 13th, 2014). We have another Shepard mix, male who is 1.5years old. He is well house-trained, also a rescue dog and they get along well except a bit of jealously issues… but they are manageable.
The new pup, Tucker is very sweet, well-tempered, working on his manners/basic commands… but the MAJOR obstacle is house training. He does not seem to have any accidents (the first day he had several accidents indoors since though he has had maybe 3…) while we are home. He seems to have difficulty when we leave. We are very regimented with our daily routine; wake up around 5:30 let him out to pee, feed him once he done his business, we play outdoors for 20-25min before we leave in the morning around 8a.m. I have been coming home almost daily at noon to let him out/play a bit and then head back to work until about 4p.m. when we come home we play outside either go for long walk in woods, play ball, etc… for about an hour eat at 5:30p.m. and play again before bedtime.
He has been messing in the house whether it be pee, poop or both nearly everyday since we got him…. I’m becoming so discouraged. We trained crate training and he was so anxious in there that he bent the metal bars and pooped/peed. Then we tried putting him in an empty spare room with his bed, crate, toys, and little water with a metal extra tall gate blocking the door… you don’t even want to know what happened to the gate =( So now we let him roam the house with as many doors closed as possible and all potentially dangerous items away but he is pooping and peeing; and it needs to STOP. I have been using Nature’s Miracle brand to clean the areas throughly (most often happening on carpet), bringing him outside or out of sight when I clean the areas, I do not reprimand him when there is a mess, and glorify him we he does his business outside. But I am at a loss as to what to do. These actions cannot continue and I do not want my emotions/frustrations to start being reflected on him.
Any suggestions/advice/resources you have would be GREATLY appreciated. =)))
From what you describe, it sounds more like a separation anxiety issue.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/separation-anxiety
http://shibashake.com/dog/separation-anxiety-dog-why-how-reduce-dog-stress
For anxiety issues with my dog, I focus on reducing the source of the stress. I find desensitization exercises to be useful in helping him to build confidence and getting him to slowly tolerate the problem situation without becoming overly stressed. It will take time though, and during retraining, I had to make sure that there were no panic attacks.
Tucker sounds like a sweet boy. Big hugs to your furry duo.
Hello there. I recently got a new siberian husky puppy. He is 2months old and a male one. Every morning, he eats his dog food but during lunch time, he doesn’t eat. Then he eats again at night. Is this normal? What should I do? Also, when I first got him home, he urinated around the house. The first night was ok. He didn’t cried a lot. Actually he cried but when I got him out of his crate, he bark and urinated. I think that is his way of saying, “hey, i’m gonna pee!”. I’m also having a hard time training him since he is moody. Sometimes he is so energetic that when his enery was drained already, he sleeps alot then when he wakes up, he becomes playful again. He also likes to go around the corners of our house. When I gave him tasty biscuits (dog food treats), he goes to the corner to eat it. What might be the reason? Please help me as I am a first time owner. By the way, I’m from the Philippines. Can you also give me tips on caring a husky in tropical areas. Hope to hear from you. Thank you in advance!
Congratulations on your new puppy!
1. When I get a new dog, I take him to the vet as soon as possible for a general exam. With puppies, I also set up a vaccination schedule. In this way, I can be sure that my puppy is healthy.
2. I usually feed my puppy smaller meals but more frequently throughout the day. Once they are adult, I only feed them twice a day. Here is more on how I pick my dog’s food.
3. I break treats up into very small pieces, so that my puppy can finish it in a single chomp. In this way, my puppy doesn’t get distracted with eating and I can motivate him more effectively. More on how I trained my Husky puppy.
4. When a dog has something valuable to chew on, he may take it to a safe place to eat. In this way, he can enjoy it in peace and he can be sure that nobody is going to take it from him. When I give my dogs a high priority chew, I make sure to separate them. They usually like eating their chews in the crate. More on how I prevent food guarding with my dog.
5. More on how I keep my dog cool during the summer. I am not sure if this will be enough for a tropical climate, but perhaps it is a start. 😀
Hi
Maximus the 8mth old Labradoodle has recently come to live with us. He is completely untrained. My partner and I are both patient and both willing to take the time to train him to go potty outside. As per your advice we take him out after meals and after playing, he just explores and then within 10 minutes of coming back in side he has an accident. To date we have only been able to catch him in the act twice and both times we interrupted, took him outside but he refused to continue.
Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks
Camilla
For potty training my pups, I think that supervision is the most important thing. During the training period, I watch my puppy like a hawk so that I can always take her out as soon as I notice any potty signals. I err on the side of safety, so I take her out even if I slightly suspect that she needs to go. If I need to be away for even just one minute, I put my puppy in her safe enclosure, with puppy pads.
Here is the first 10 days with my puppy Lara. At first, there were a bunch of mistakes, but after I increased supervision, things went a lot more smoothly.
My Husky puppy usually needs to go potty when she wakes up and also after very rigorous play. I set up a fixed schedule and always take her out during those times, in addition to all the other times I notice her showing any potty signals. It may be different for different puppies though, so I observe my puppy closely and see when her favorite potty times are.
It is important to not only maximize successes outside, but also to minimize mistakes inside – which is why the supervision is key. I also try and make things relaxed and positive, so if she doesn’t want/need to go, then it is no big deal.
The other important part to potty training, I think, is to very strongly reinforce successes. I take my puppy out when she needs to go, so that as soon as she is done, I can mark the behavior, and reward her *very very very* well. I give her special treats that she only gets after potty, I play her favorite games with her, and I make it into a really big deal.
Hay there..I have read most of all your advice on the potty training for dogs.I have recently took in a two mnth. Old yorkie poo.her name is Dolce`.though she is a total sweetheart,and very good company she keeps me on my feet alot.when I first brought her home she was just being trained by previous owners to potty outside ,and so she would go to the door.Dolce,now feels that she can potty anywhere inside the house.I let her out to play throughout everyday and I even take her out on a leash to potty if iam busy and have short time to keep an eye on her.(another opinion please?)I give her a bath lastnight..left her collar off .this morning I went to put it on cos she wanted out to potty
Meanwhile during me putting her leash on she peed on my pillow she was setting on..then about an hr. Later she peed again when I went to put her leash on..while we were just getting rdy to go out to potty..this made me frustrated.I lightly spanked her and went to get stuff ta clean the mess only to come back not even two minutes later to witness her doing number two ina different place..
Neither accidents hapend in front of door…any advice? Please help..
Puppies still have developing bodies, and often cannot hold their pee for long. This is probably even more true for small dogs.
As soon as I notice my puppy needing to go, I rush her out right away. Since I am always there to supervise, I also leave a drag lead on, so I can get her out right away. I only use a drag lead under close supervision and only with a harness or properly fitted flat collar that is safe for a puppy (no aversive collars).
If I missed my puppy’s cues and she has already started to go, I still take her out right away so that she can continue outside and I can reward her really well for doing the right thing. This helps to reinforce the behavior. Then I leave her outside and come back in to clean up the earlier mistake.
Also, puppies may go for other reasons including stress and to show submission (submissive urination). For these reasons, I make sure to keep potty training positive, and I do not use any physical punishment. Physical issues such as urinary tract infection can also cause a dog to lose bladder control.
I have a baby so watching my new husky puppy to potty train her is not always possible any suggestions.