How old was your puppy when he/she was reliably house-trained?

2346 Views 13 Replies 13 Participants Last post by TankNintendo, Aug 21, 2016

MHDDOG2016

Discussion Starter · Jun 9, 2016

Just curious! Jasper is 15 weeks old and 10 pounds (about 1/2 his projected adult size). We crate him or have him in his expen or if he is free roaming we are right there following him. From the start I would take him out every 20-20 minutes and that interval has gradually increased to about 90 minutes. He has been accident free since we got him, until this last week, now that we are letting him have more freedom in the house. The first accident was 100% on me, as I had taken him out and when we came back in he drank a TON of water. I totally lost track of time and about 90 minutes later he peed on the brick fireplace hearth

I scooped him up and put him outside where he finished and praised him for peeing outside. Last night we were all in my husband's office hanging out and he had been out about an hour and 10 minutes prior, out of nowhere he just squatted and peed on his new rug :eyeroll: He didn't show any signs that I noticed. My husband was frustrated b/c he assumed he was "smarter than that" because he hadn't had any accidents, but I think we just take him out so much that he hasn't had the chance.

I want to figure out how to make sure he is learning inside vs. outside and not just going out so frequently we have been lucky. Does that make sense? I am trying to stretch the time between outside but as soon as he sniffs I get paranoid and rush him outside.

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Dawnben

· #2 · Jun 9, 2016

A good way to mark out side is with a clicker. Click and treat every time he goes out side he will soon learn that out side is the place.
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...ining&fr=yfp-t&fp=1&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8

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traciek88

· #3 · Jun 9, 2016

I think it's difficult to say "when" a dog should be housetrained. Like human toddlers, it can vary both because of personality and early life experiences. Stella was almost completely housetrained at 3 months old. I would say she was completely housetrained at 4 months old. I would say this is pretty early though. Some dogs can take up to 6 months or even more.

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Thisisme19

· #4 · Jun 13, 2016

Tucker was about 10 months old before I trusted him 100%. He was pretty reliable for general pees and all poops around 7-8 months but had a tendency to mark until he got neutered @ 10 months old.

Probably about 5-6 months old when I could trust him with minimal supervision, he was still always with in eye sight and had a fairly obvious (to me anyway) signal when needing to go out.

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annageckos

· #5 · Jun 13, 2016

I really can't remember how old the boys were. But I would say I didn't start to trust Freyja more until she was 8 or 10 months old. But at that point the only accidents were my fault for not taking her out sooner. Mostly it was around dinner time when I was cooking and got preoccupied and didn't keep an eye on her. But I wouldn't trust a 15 week old puppy, even if they didn't have any accidents. I took Freyja out often, starting at every half hour and then extending the time. She got praised and treated for going outside. Don't give them the chance to go inside, they will learn. Freyja learned very quickly, but her sign that she has to go is subtle. Sometimes I'd miss them.

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FinnAlva

· #6 · Jun 13, 2016 (Edited)

Alva was 5 months when I declared her housetrained. By that I meant that if I had had a job at the time I could have left her home for the day without accidents.

Her housetraining came in phases. At first she seemed to get the idea. I just did not always get out with her in time. Quite soon she did all poops outside. Then she started to be dry at nights. She asked to get out by standing on the papers and staring at me. I had like 5 s time to slip on my shoes and dash her through the door. I increased time between walks hour by hour. In the beginning I walked her about every second hour.

If I could have walked her as often as she needed my floors would have been dry at 3 or 4 months but her bladder was not physically capable to hold as long periods as I had to be away from home. She knew where to do her business and wanted to go outside but I wasn't always there to take her out.

Alva's last two accidents were huge puddles at the door. I put a box there so she would not learn she could toilet there. She had no more accidents and few weeks later I removed the box. Still no accidents. I said, you're housetrained.

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FinnAlva

· #7 · Jun 13, 2016

If a puppy's housetraining does not seem to advance or it deteriorates suddenly, you should check it at the vet's. It could be an infection.

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My GSD

· #8 · Jun 14, 2016

My girl was rock solid at 5 months. But, I think I just lucked out with her. Never soiled her crate. She was pretty easy to train. She will hit me in the leg with her paw when she needs to go if I haven't already taken her out.

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Shandula

· #9 · Jun 14, 2016

Levi was easy. Probably 5 or 6 months, I was pretty confident taking him anywhere without worrying about him peeing.

Heidi is 11 months, and I'm still not 100% confident with her.

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Aspen726

· #10 · Jun 14, 2016

Aspen was about 5 or 6 months before I trusted her completely. I consider her to be an easy one though. She only had 4-5 accidents in the house, maybe even less.

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Chas

· #11 · Jun 15, 2016

No accidents since 5 1/2 months, not holing our breath though because she had a long time thinking it was okay to go in the house.

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Naira

· #12 · Jun 17, 2016

My wonder standard poodle puppy Naira was fully trained with free roam of the house at 20 weeks.

My other 2 smaller dogs took much, much longer. My mini was reliable after 9 months, but still, if given the opportunity he would have an accident.

My toy was similar.

Naira is 1 year an 8 months old now and I truly believe she would rather die than potty in the house. She has always been that way

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HensonChi

· #13 · Aug 20, 2016

My little Sydney is 4 months and she has been consistent for the last few weeks. Hoping she stays consistent! =D

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TankNintendo

· #14 · Aug 21, 2016

Tank was about 6 and 1/2 to 7 months old when we knew he was 100%. He stayed with my boyfriend's mom while we moved from our apartment to our house and she helped with the house training. We got him back at 4 months old and by then he was fully crate trained and was in the middle of transitioning out of the crate. We started out by localizing him in the kitchen with food, water, and his bed and some toys. He did well, but maybe had 1 or 2 accidents. Mostly when we got home later then usual. Not his fault of course. Then we started letting him have free-reign of the house when we left for a few hours at a time. Mostly to go grocery shopping or out to dinner or run a few errands. He did well. One day, my boyfriend got injured at work and I had to take him to the doctor. What we thought would take just a few hours, took 8 and when we got home... No accidents! He was about 7 months old and we knew Tank was good to go! I think Nintendo is gonna take longer. We started his potty training at 9 weeks old as opposed to 4 weeks when we got Tank (He weened early). Nintendo's mother's owners didn't do one lick of training with him before we got him, so it's been a bit of a battle undoing his bad habits and teaching him good ones. :/

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