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 am so glad to hear that Reptar is getting back into his groove. Ice cubes are a great idea! When summer comes, I was also thinking of freezing water in a Kong for Sephy and Shania.
Yeah it would only be when you catch him in the act. It is easiest to keep most areas closed off when he is alone. Sephy used to hang out in the kitchen and I put up a baby gate to create a small enclosure space for him there.
Hugs to Reptar and give him an ice cube from me. 🙂
The few times that he went on the bedding (on our bed) we were sleeping, so were not able to tell if it was intentional or unintentional. When he urinated in his bed however, it was intentional. He jumped down off our our bed to urintate on his. Very strange behavior for him. That has been the only strange behavior. No other signs of illness or stress.
When he busted out of his crate, both times, he went to the bathroom on the floor in two different rooms. Those rooms are generally closed off to him so I understand his need to mark that space. This may be a silly question but there is no way to non-mark him for going inside if we don’t catch him in the act, right?
He is on day 4 of his antibiotics and is drinking plenty of water, with the help of ice cubes to make it fun. So far it’s been two days without any serious potty mistakes in the house. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all will be well when I go home today.
The day before the first incident took place, we gave him a greenie (1/2) for the first time. We stopped giving him the greenies this past Friday night when we realized that this was the only change in his routine/diet. Perhaps his stomach cannot handle the greenies.
We thank for your feedback, tips and support! Always very helpful. Reptar says thanks for the hugs!
Hello Colleen,
I have been thinking about your question …
Does Reptar only go on bedding or only on furniture? Or is there no pattern?
When I first got Shania, Sephy started to urinate some on bedding as well. That was a marking behavior and he wanted to claim certain sleeping areas as his. I think it started because he wanted to cover up Shania’s scent as she was not potty trained and made some potty mistakes around the house.
It is really difficult to get the smell totally out of bedding, and what worked best was to just store the bedding away in the garage until things settled down.
Some things that may help –
1. When you take Reptar out, try taking him to areas that smell like other dogs. This will encourage him to mark which will hopefully also make him drink more and reduce his desire to mark while inside the house. Sephy also sometimes forgets to drink or holds things in until he really really has to go. Taking him out on more frequent, but shorter walks in ‘smelly’ areas helped with both.
2. Remove all previously marked bedding and make sure to clean any hard surfaces with enzymatic pet cleaners to get rid of all the smell. Important to also do that with his crate.
3. Go back to potty training basics and non-mark him for going inside, and quickly take him out. Reward him if he continues to urinate outside. I just leave Sephy outside when I clean up his messes. Otherwise, he may decide to clean it up himself – 😮
4. Because of the incident, he may now be stressed to be in a closed crate especially when he is alone. There are several possibilities –
a) Get a neighbor or dog walker to come over and take him out for a short walk in the middle of the day.
b) Dog day-care.
c) Set him up in a dog-safe small room or enclosure with potty pads (Shiba Sephy likes shredding up potty pads so this may not work for some dogs). Put on the radio, music, or t.v. so that he has familiar people sounds around.
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/separation-anxiety-dog-why-how-reduce-dog-stress
Hope some of this helps. Hugs to Reptar!
Hi,
You’ve been so helpful to my other questions, thank you. Reptar is almost 8 months old and was essentially potty trained when we got him at 9 weeks. He had a couple accidents in the first few weeks in his new home but after he made no mistakes in the house. He is crate trained and goes in his crate while we are at work. Last week he had a messy accident in his crate and busted out of it. He urinated in another room that is usually closed off to him. We didn’t catch him in the act so we couldn’t correct him for that but he knew he did wrong because when I came home and he greeted me at the door (when he was supposed to be in his crate) he looked very apologetic.
Anyway, that night (he sometimes sleeps on the bed with us), he urinated on his blanket on our bed and then proceeded to go sleep in his crate the rest of the night. He did not wake us up to go to take him out to the bathroom like he usually does. Same thing happened the next night. We took a urine sample to the vet, it came back highly concentrated meaning he does not drink enough water, but no infection was present. He is on antibiotics for the urine concentration. Since the second night, Reptar has not been invited up to sleep on the bed and has been slept in his crate. He’s woken us up a few times to go out in the middle of the night. Reptar has never before had a problem during the night. after a few months old, he would sleep through the night without any problems.
Yesterday, while we were at work, he managed to push in the front of his crate and escape again and went to the bathroom in two different rooms in the house. Minus the defecating, I was very proud of him for not destroying and ripping apart the house. He made a bed of his toys and bully sticks so we were able to see where he spent most of his day. However last night, he spent some time with us on the bed before sleep time, on his own he jumped down, went into his crate and urinated on his bed in his crate. No request to go out.
I’m at wits end trying to determine if this is behavioral or medical. I know this was very long winded but felt that this started occurring once he had his accident in his crate last week. That has been the only change in his routine and environment. Perhaps that was his big stressor. If it is behavioral, what can we do to correct this situation?
Again, I apologize for being so long winded.
Hello Meghann and Rocky!
Yeah my Shiba has some separation anxiety. The key for my Shiba was to slowly get him into a routine and to stick to the routine. Even now if there are any deviations from the routine, he gets stressed.
First I desensitized him to the ritual of me leaving. Then I got him used to me leaving for short periods of time. Once he got used to that, I slowly lengthened the alone time period.
Here are some separation anxiety techniques that may help.
Having a fixed routine helped the most. Getting a dog walker or daycare can also be helpful for those times when you get really busy.
Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes.
Great website! My name is Meghann, and I am the proud human of a Shiba named Rocky. He’s just over one year (we have the same birthday…it was fate!). I hate leaving my bubba alone for long periods of time, but I have to work. As my schedule gets busier, I have decided to re-introduce the crate, and have to start training him all over again. I also think he has some separation anxiety issues, because no matter what he does outside before I leave, there is always a little spot of wee and sometimes a poo or two when I get back…even if I’ve been gone for an hour! Do you have any tips? I have tried all the treats, feeding him while in the crate, lots of praise, etc, and every time we take a step forward, we end up jumping 2 steps back…HELP! I love my lil Shiba so much, and just want him to be a happy healthy and ultimately MOSTLY good dog.
Thanks for your help!
Meghann
Thanks SJ! 😛
Hi! What a great website! 😀
Thanks for the advice on Jyro, I will have to work on that. As far as the peeing on command, I will try the pads again, but for some reason they really like to chew them up and make a mess. These two little monsters feed off of each others company, and can tear a place up in no time. I agree with the stubbornness also. It is interesting, Jy and Ryssa are brother and sister, and like children, they are night and day difference. Jyro is laid back and loves praise, Ryssa is a princess and she puts off that vibe that she can make it on her own if we just let her. She is going to bow to no one! We love them both and don’t regret our decision about getting two of them, it is a challenge!!
P.S. do you have any comment about the underground fence?
We are the new parents of not one but two Shiba pups, they are currently 7 months old. We have had zero troubles potty training the female (Ryssa), the male (Jyro) is another story. He does pretty good most of the time but when ever someone comes in the door, doesn’t matter who it is, he gets excited and wets all over. I think he knows he is doing it because he will make a nice little trail to the back door (that is were we always take him out to go). It dosn’t matter if he has just been out to go or if it has been an hour or so he still makes a nice little trail! We are moving to a new house in a couple of months and I want to get this problem under controll. I don’t want to ruin the carpet, and I don’t want to get rid of him. I also have another question. As stated earlier, we are moving to a new house. This new piece of property doesn’t have a fenced in yard like we currently have. I worked with the pups for a couple of weeks to get them used to going on a leash. It didn’t work out so well. On several occasions we walked half to three fourths of a mile just to get them to go. I don’t have time for that esp. in the morings. I was sure to take treats and give lots of praise but it didn’t get any better. We are going to put up a fence but it will take time. Do you recommend an underground fence? Any advice you have for us would be greatly appreciated!