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!
We are getting a cute little pomaranian soon but will be gone 9 hours what can we do for potty training we looked into getting help for lunchtime watering but can’t find anyone. I was thinking keeping her in our room with an open kennel and a kitty litter box with puppy pads do you think it will work? If so how long if ever will our little puppy be able to go without the pads?
Hello Jaime,
It will likely depend on the dog. When Shania (Siberian Husky) was a puppy, she did not like going on puppy pads that were too dirty. She would go on it a couple of times, but not after that. She also made a mess if we didn’t clean up the poop right away.
How long a puppy can hold her pee will depend on age, size of the dog, how much she drinks, etc. Small dogs are generally harder to potty train.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=136
Hi
I came across your website full of great tips and advice and I am hoping you will be able to help me. I am considering a puppy and being a. ‘would be’ conscientious owner, I have literally carried out hours of research in different, suitable breeds, crate training, puppy pad training etc!
I work 8 hours a day and live alone, but when I first get puppy, I will have 2 weeks off to start some intensive crate/house training. Whilst I am at home, I don’t intend to use puppy pads, but rely on regular trips outside with lots of praise and treats, as well as crate training. Whilst at work, I am thinking of using a puppy play pen with food, water, toys, and puppy pads. Do you think this would set back the house training to introduce puppy pads two weeks later?
Also, do puppies just instinctively stop using the pads because they can hold their bladder/bowels or could it turn into a case of the pads are there, so I will just use them?! When do you take the risk and stop using pads?
My friend had a Shih Tzu cross who was not house trained by 8 months and so she gave her up for adoption. Needless to say, I have heard some horror stories regarding house training!
Any help would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Hello Carrie-Anne,
I used both puppy pads and outside potty training with my Sibes.
One thing that I did encounter with the puppy pads though is that my Sibe Shania would not go onto it once it was too dirty. She also made a mess of things one time when she had to poop on the pads. The key I found is not to leave puppy for too long in the enclosure. Maybe consider coming back during lunch break? Or get a neighbor to look in on puppy?
Yeah, it is as you say. As puppies get older, they no longer need to go as often. I stopped using the pads with my Sibe puppy Lara after it went unused for about 2 months. I figured she was good by then. 😀
It is awesome that you are doing so much research so early. Congratulations on your soon to be new family member! 😀
Hello,
I just adopted a one year old nova scotia duck toller mix. She was a stray in Mexico and then lived at the los cabos humane society for two months before coming here to alberta canada. She never poops inside. She is however peeing on the carpeted parts of my floor. I live on the sixth floor
In an apartment building. I have looked and looked but can’t find much help regarding house breaking in apartments. I alway supervise her and constantly catch her in the act and calmly say no! But getting her right outside quick enough is not an option. We have a balcony but I don’t think she views this as outside.
She even goes after her nightly walk while we are in bed. I have never crate trained and dog and I suppose maybe it is going to be something I have to do with her, I guess I just feel bad since she is a very fearful dog and probably spent a lot of time crated in the past little while. Do you think puppy pads would be the best thing? Or would a potty patch on the balcony serve us better? Thanks for your help chelsea
Hello Chelsea,
One thing that may help is to establish a fixed area to go potty, and use the “Go Potty” command. I do that with my dogs during the initial stages of potty training.
When I suspect that puppy needs to potty, I take her to the potty spot and say “Go Potty”. If she does her business on command, I make a really big deal out of it and give her a lot of rewards including food, affection, and a fun game. I do the same when I catch her inside. I will interrupt, take her out to the spot, and say “Go Potty”. The key to success is to anticipate when she needs to go, and only give the command then. In this way, we can reinforce the command by rewarding her very well.
The advantage of using the Go Potty command is that then we can use it outside during walks. This allows me to get my dog to potty in certain potty friendly areas outside, or to potty outside before returning home. I always make sure to reward very well when puppy does her business on command.
In terms of crate training, I think it all depends on how the crate is introduced to the dog, and in what context the crate is used. If the dog is forced to stay in the crate for long periods of time, likely, she will grow to dislike it. I try to establish the crate as a safe place that my dogs go to for food and sleep. Here is a bit more on crate training-
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-calm-a-fearful-reactive-dog#crate
Hi,
My husband I just got a 7 week old Italian Mastiff. We both work so Kobalt will be alone for 8 hours a day during the week. I know its not the best situation but he gets lots of play, attention, and exercise before we leave for work and after we get home! He has a large crate and we just bought him the “potty Patch” which is the fake grass which has a place for a potty pad underneath. I was wondering if it was a bad idea to leave the potty patch in his crate. I know that he can’t hold it for the eight hours we will be gone but I didn’t know if this would lead to bad behavior when he gets older or will it teach him that he doesn’t need to hold it? Thanks.
Hello Lindsey,
When I need to leave my puppy for longer periods of time, I find that it is most effective to use a long-term enclosure.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-potty-training-facts-and-myths#enclosure
As you say, we do not want to encourage our puppy to potty in his crate. However, depending on age, puppies can only hold it for so long. Therefore, providing puppy pads in a long-term enclosure works best for my pups.
You are awesome. You answers are thoughtful, and rely on positive reinforcement (BOO to punitives!)
Thank you Leonard.
LOL! 😀
Hello,
May I just say, I am so glad to have found your site, I was getting so many ambiguous weird conflicting answers on the web about Siberian Husky puppies, I thought Loki and I were doomed.
I have a question about the pee pads… he wants to chew on them well, I mean… he wants to taste and chew everything (I did puppy proof my room, though so I might rest easier…) and he especially runs to them and starts to chew, when I’m not paying every bit of attention to him (maybe because he knows I’ll pay attention to him by saying “ack”? I say that, then either give him a toy that he should be biting on, or move him to a different place and give him a toy. I hope that doesn’t read as a treat for him chewing on it?)
So I was thinking about getting a pee pad holder (also because they just seem more hygienic.) and was wondering if you could recommend any particular kind? I noticed some have grates, and others are just a plastic pad. I also want something I feel safe about him potentially chewing one. Any suggestions would be awesome, I’ve been pretty stumped.
Thanks a million-trillion.
Hello Mike,
Congratulations on your new Siberian Husky puppy! How old is Loki?
That is a good question. I usually no-mark puppy for the chewing. If she moves away on her own, then I reward her well for stopping and moving away. Otherwise, I body block her away. Then, I get her to do some obedience commands for me. This allows me to treat her and give her a toy for doing something positive.
In terms of pee pad holders, I have one of the plastic ones. Essentially, I place a puppy pad on top, and there are two locks on either end that holds the pad in place. It is nice to have, and essential for my three legged dog (during puppyhood) because the holder keeps the pad from slipping.
I haven’t tried the grate indoor potty system. My understanding is that they are cheaper in the long run because we don’t have to use puppy pads, and the dog just pees over the grate. Then, the pee collects in a container at the bottom. This requires a lot more clean-up work though. Also, grates are not a very comfortable surface for dogs to walk on. However, dogs do not generally like chewing on metal or hard-plastic, so it likely reduces the probability of the dog playing around with his potty system, and making a mess.
There are also artificial grass indoor potty systems. As I understand it, it is similar to the grate system but it has a layer of more comfortable artificial grass on top. I haven’t tried this either.
I only used puppy pads+holder in the short term, during the potty training period, and after my Sibe puppy came back from surgery.
Hugs to Loki! Sibes are awesome dogs.
Loki’s 6 weeks and 3 days old, (I got him right when he was six weeks old… too young I found out when I perused about the web a bit more… Unfortunately I don’t believe there are any laws in WV about selling puppies before 8 weeks old…)
I’ve only had him a few days and wow… what a hand full! I’d read about how intelligent huskies are, but sometimes I wonder who’s training who!
(his name was very very fitting)
I honestly believe chewing on the piddle pad is a way of having me pay attention to him. As I’ve said he’s done it while I’m here with him… but never when I leave him alone. In fact, he’s pretty great at using them correctly, only a couple of incidents where he’s missed. When I leave him for an hour or two he may have used the pad, but they appear to be okay otherwise.
If I’m at the computer and he wants attention and is yelping and barking…. I tried ignoring him until he stops (with full intentions of playing with him after he’s stopped barking and yelping… in hopes that he learns that howling and carrying on won’t get results…) but sometimes before he’s even done he’ll snatch up the piddle pad and run around over to his bed and start to chew and make noise (when I usually step in to correct him) What should I do in a situation like that… where I’m trying to ignore him to teach a lesson, but he then does something that needs correcting? Correct him and ignore him again for a length of time? Once again… I can’t thank you enough for your help!
LOL!
Loki sounds like my Shiba Inu Sephy.
Sephy loves playing chase games. When he was a puppy, his favorite game was to snatch our t.v. remote controller and run around with it. I finally put a stop to that by putting a drag lead (only with a flat collar), on him. When he starts his chasing game, I would just step on the lead, and take him straight to time-out. In this way, he doesn’t get to play, and he loses his freedom temporarily.
Sephy also tried to steal and chew-up puppy pads from the other dogs. I usually have the pads in a puppy pen that has its door open. When Sephy is up to no-good, I just no-mark him, get him away, and then close the door to the puppy pen. Then I go outside to play with puppy, and Sephy has to stay inside the house by himself. He really did not like being excluded from the fun play session, so he stopped his pad chewing behavior pretty quickly. 😀
The key I found, is to figure out what Sephy wants most, and to use that as a reward/punishment. If I want to motivate Sephy, I use a fun chase game as his reward. If I want to stop him from doing something, I take away something he values, e.g. playing with puppy, or freedom in the house.
Yeah, the first few days are the most difficult. It gets a lot better after they are potty trained. Here are the first 10 days with my Sibe puppy Lara.
http://shibashake.com/dog/a-new-puppy-first-10-days-of-hell
Hi,
I have two puppies one 8 months and the other 6. We have only had the youngest for about 6 weeks and he is very good apart from he has recently taken to chewing up puppy pads during the day. We leave them both in our kitchen during the day with everything that they need but now we are unable to leave the puppy pads down and he hasn’t stopped urinating unfortunately 🙁 I am not sure what to do now to try and discourage this behaviour. We do have a crate but he has not been in it whilst he has been with us and I don’t know whether it would be best to put both dogs in the crate together? Really not sure what to do so any advice would be appreciated!
Thank you!
Several possibilities that I can think of-
.
1. I use a plastic potty pad holder to properly hold the puppy pads down. In this way, the pads don’t move around and are always in place.
2. There are also various artificial grass systems
I have not tried any of these, but I have tried real grass (i.e. sod). I would not recommend sod because drainage is bad, and it is difficult to clean and transport. I ended up having to change it several times a day and it was more work than anything else.
To be safe, make sure to monitor how puppy ‘uses’ the artificial grass system. Some puppies may attack it or try to chew at it.
3. Install a doggy door and train puppies to use it when they need to potty.
I have 3 Maltese 1 male 2 female both females potty trained to use the doggy door 3-4 weeks the male wow hes just lazy to the point I have to crate him he is now 4 months I do take him out after he eats and drinks after he wakes up I let him loose 30 mins for play time now if the girls go out he follows and goes outside never poops in house mind you. BUT if they dont go out he just pees where he wants. I feel hes potty trained just lazy. More time than I can count Ive put him out he comes in and pees right beside me and literlly so fast I cant stop it. How do you fix that. I do put him right away back in pen when he does. Further more he is a major whiner. I mean he can wine for hours no matter hes really frustrating me.
Hello Cindi,
Yeah, I have also observed that some dogs can be more of a challenge to potty train than others. For example, I have 2 Sibes and one of them took a shorter time to house train than the other.
Some things that helped with my Sibe puppy-
1. I gave her special treats for doing her business outside. She only gets these for going potty and nothing else.
2. She really likes to play outside. Therefore, once she is done with her potty I play a fun chase game with her.
3. If she does her business inside the house, I no-mark her (Ack-ack) and I interrupt her. I have a drag-lead on her so I just use the lead to get her moving. She stops peeing as soon as I get her moving, then I take her outside to finish her potty. I praise her very well for doing it outside and give her a special treat.
In this way she learns that when she goes potty outside, it is very very rewarding. However, when she does her business inside, she just gets interrupted and taken outside.
Hi, You have a really helpful website. I also have a Shiba and I guess I didn’t realize how lucky I was with the breed being so easy to housetrain, he had accidents in the house for maybe 2 days after I brought him home, that was it, then we never had another issue with him. Unfortunately, my new dog is a whole other story. I just got a 4 month old female doberman 2 weeks ago. She is well crate trained (quite content in there overnight and for short stretches when necessary during the day) and never has an accident in the crate, even overnight. I take her out for potty breaks after getting out of the crate, after eating and drinking, after naps, and after playing. She is very good about going outside almost every time I take her out, and I praise her each time. The problem is, she also still goes in the house! I started taking her outside at least every hour in addition to all the other times we go out, but sometimes she will go inside less than 20 mins after having gone outside! I was given the (good) advice of keeping her leashed to me at all times inside to try and prevent this, and have tried this technique the last few days. Unfortunately, she is still having accidents even while on the leash, when I just take my eyes off her for a few minutes, I look back over and see that she’s just peed right where she was standing. I don’t understand how she can have to go so often, especially when she holds it fine overnight. It is getting very frustrating because even as frequently as we go outside, her accidents have not decreased at all in the two weeks she has been here. I am not sure what I am missing, or what else I should be doing differently. Any advice would be great!
Hello Bethany,
It sounds like you are doing all the right things.
One thing to try is to give the vet a call and see if they have anything to say about it. With my dogs, I try to rule out physical reasons first.
Another thing I have noticed with my Sibe puppy is that she will go out, do her business, and then play about some outside. She likes running around bushes and digging. Usually, she forgets to go potty again when she comes in, or asks to come in. Before she comes in, I take her to her potty spot and ask her to do her business.
When you leave her outside, does she pee really frequently as well? When she pees inside the house, what is she doing before that? Does she show signs that she is about to pee (circling, going to corners)? Does she squat when she pees or is she just standing? What do you do when you see her peeing?
Another possibility is that she is marking, but that seems less likely given that she still does it when tethered to you.
My puppy is 13 weeks old, she has been going outside to go to the bathroom very well. Our problem is we will take her out when we return home usually only 3 or 4 hrs after placing her in the crate, she will pee first come in eat lunch then go back out to poop. Then once back inside she will wine like she has to go outside we take her out and all she does is play. Now it seems more like a game and not going out to do her business. We walk her in the mornings before work and at night when I get home from work. Most of the time my husband will run her at lunch time around the outside of the house as well just to give her some exercise. How can we get her to wine/bark/ring potty bell (which she does very well), when she really has to go outside and not just when she wants to go out and play. I don’t want to not take her then she has an accident but taking her just for her to dig a few holes is not good either. I am assuming she is bored and that is her fun time just didn’t know if you had suggestions. Maybe not put her on a ground leash but walk her out when she has to go potty and only put her on the ground leash when we allow her to play? Usually we put her on the ground leash and let her go on her own to potty while we wait at back door. Especially when raining or when very cold outside.
Yeah, my Shiba Inu Sephy used to do the same thing. Therefore, whenever he goes to the door I would take him out on-leash directly to his potty spot. Then I say “Go Potty”. I wait there for a few minutes, but do not allow him to roam around. If he does his potty, I praise him, treat him, and play with him outside. The outside time becomes a reward for his potty.
If he does not potty then we come back into the house. Once we come back, I have a short black-out period where he is ignored if he goes to the door again.
In this way, he learns that potty trips are only for potty and not for playing. However, if he does potty, he gets rewarded with play-time outside. This encourages him to let me know when he needs to potty (because he gets rewarded with play) but discourages him from ‘crying wolf’ (because he doesn’t get to play when he doesn’t potty, and gets ignored when we come back in).
Congratulations on your new puppy! Big hugs to Bella.