Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Adriana, Henry, & Catherine on July 26, 2009 at 4:43pm

I brought Henry home at 8 wks..

Permalink Reply by Jenna, Jasper and Cersei on July 26, 2009 at 7:20pm

Jasper was 6 weeks when we brought him home and he wasn't 100% reliable until about 4 months. He's 6 months now and has had no accidents even though a couple weeks ago I started leaving him out of his crate when we left. He only ever pooped in the house twice, but it took him a little while to learn to pee outside.

Permalink Reply by Fran & Ranger on July 27, 2009 at 11:51am

Great poll! Probably my number one question as a first time dog owner. We got Ranger at 13 weeks. He used a dog door at his breeder's home so was trained. Our yard was not puppy proof so we couldn't do that. It was like starting from scratch. He's 4 months now and we put in a dog door which leads to a safe area. If he's kept in our kitchen area he's pretty much 100%. But a couple times when we've walked him through the house he's had accidents. Probably from smelling our cat or simply being too far from dog door when the need strikes. Can't wait till we can give him more freedom without the worries!

Permalink Reply by Joey and Karlyn on July 28, 2009 at 5:40pm

We brought sammy home just before 7 weeks. I'd say she was doing pretty good at 10 weeks. She sleeps in our bed and has only had maybe 2 accidents (on the bed). She will occasionally pee at the front door (usually our fault) but has only pooped maybe 3 times. She is 18 weeks. She paws at the door and whines now.

Permalink Reply by Mandy on July 29, 2009 at 3:31am

Tank is 11 weeks old now.. we brought him home at 6 weeks, and he is just about completely potty trained. He obviously has a accident everynow and again cuz his little bladder cant hold it sumtimes. But he was making great progress in just a week or two!

Permalink Reply by Doug & Sarah Haag on August 1, 2009 at 11:59am

I may be repeating some things, but we had good success, so I'll share what we did:
- crate training: a dog NEEDS a "room" to call his own - he may cry a little at first, but it's a familiar place that will help with many things, not just potty training: they don't like to go where they sleep....also, never put the dog in a crate as a punishment (we always reward Tank with a treat)
- consistent feeding: until Tank was about 3-4 months old, he got three square meals a day, morning/noon/night - at the same time when possible; He's down to 2 meals now, but still consistent timing
- Daily walks: the walks help shake things loose - he ALWAYS goes poo when we go for a walk longer than 10m at a decent pace
- monitoring his habits: we watched to see when he went and what his "signals" were. In the early stages, he would jump on things right before he pooed - that was our signal. We tried training him to ring a bell, but he just sits by the door, so that's fine with us.
- wee-wee pads: we taught him that there was a specific place to go, then as he got older, when he went to the pad, we took him outside ASAP. This seemed to work. However, we quickly got away from the pads.
- Frequent trips outside: When Tank was less than 3 months, we took him outside every 2-3 hours - we even got up once or twice every night for awhile, then gradually spaced things out.
- Tip from my vet: dogs learn to go based on location and texture. Originally, we wanted to litter train our dog since we have an apartment. The vet told us that if the dog doesn't learn how to go on grass, then he won't want to when he gets older!. That changed our minds right away and we started going outside with him.

Our success rate: Tank was fully house trained at 4 months with only a few accidents.

Permalink Reply by Mandy on August 9, 2009 at 1:47pm

I know I already posted.. but thought I would update! Tank just turned 13 weeks yesturday, and he is completely house broken! No accidents in over a week! We are so excited! =]

Permalink Reply by Ruby on August 10, 2009 at 11:27am

Our puppy was 9.5 weeks when we brought her home. She was 90% housebroken when she came home from the breeder (thank you Rita!!!). It's been a week, and the only accidents (3 or so) she's had have been completely our fault. She knows exactly what the trips outside are for and goes as soon as she gets to her spot. I'd say she's almost completely housebroken, but still has to go out apx every 2 hours and after eating, sleeping, playing, etc. We've been using the "they can hold it for as many hours as they are old" formula. 2 months = 2 hrs, 3 months = 3 hrs, etc.

Permalink Reply by Porter on August 11, 2009 at 10:09am

We brought Porter home at 10 weeks. He was already accustomed to sleeping in his crate. I was able to stay home with him, (I work from home) and made sure to walk him just after he woke up, just after he played, and about every two hours. He has never had an accident in the house (he's 6 1/2 mos old now). He did, however, pee on the carpet in a hotel room at 12 weeks old, but only once! We don't have carpet so I think it was a surface thing, plus, some other dogs probably peed there before him...

Permalink Reply by Marion and Vern on August 11, 2009 at 10:22am

Sami was just a day shy of 9 weeks old when she arrived. We immediately took her to the back yard when we got home with her for her to do her business which she did. We have had about 2 maybe 3 "accidents" with pee none with poo. Now there have been 2 special occasions where she has peed in the house because she was mad or upset with us. First time she was left alone for about 6 hours--she was outside and the second time was when I ran in real quick and did not pet her only spoke to her. She is our strong willed little darling! So most if not all the credit goes to our breeder who had the hard part done for us. Although consistency and trips out side often on our part continued the training. At 6 months she is such a good girl about this.
On the poo issue knowing how much they eat and when keeps them regular. We measure Sami's food every morning and she can eat it through out the day. She mainly eats in the morning and snacks on it in the evening. She goes once in the am and once in the pm always with lots of praise for doing such a good job. Good luck on the potty training.
I know a lot of people crate train but we puppy proofed the utility room as her bedroom, she had a little cloth house, her blanky & water bowl in there. First night we put her to bed, I did stay with her for a little while just cooing and petting her, told her night-night see you in the morning. Next morning took her right out she has never had an accident in there. Now when we say it is night-night time she runs to her room....okay she also gets a milk bone or 2 just before bed time that is probably why she runs in but hey what ever works!

Permalink Reply by Lilo Bandit & Koda's mom Shannon on August 11, 2009 at 12:36pm

We have had Rowdy since he was 5 weeks old. He was young, but completely weaned off milk, and healthy!
He is 8 1/2 weeks now. As soon as he is big enough to maneuver through the doggie door... I think he will be home free! Yay! Being consistant is definitely the key.
He definitely undertstands where he is supposed to go, and has never had a #2 accident in the house.
We skipped the puppy pad training as I did not want him to think that going potty was acceptable anywhere in the house, however, we do use them on the floor of the crate to protect 'just in case'.
There have been very few accidents, they usually happen if we are not home for an extended amount of time and he just cant hold it. We bought a package of 30 puppy pads for the crate 3.5 weeks ago, and I still have almost half of the package and most of them were only replaced because puppy would ruin them playing, or whatever.
He typically will whine or cry to get our attention no matter the time while he is in the crate, but he is not allowed to roam the house unless we are actively playing with him or watching him like a hawk.
He knows the routine and also has a large baby playpen that he is allowed to play in unsupervised, and he has never had an accident in there.
He has the idea, and I feel that once he can physically get throught the doggie door, we will be in good shape.
(Crossing fingers!)

Permalink Reply by David on August 11, 2009 at 10:38pm

It only took a week to housebreak Yoda. I live in an apartment, Yoda is required to do his business in a specific spot, a cage. When he came home at 8 weeks, he has a crate and a cage, two are connected like 2 rooms. His bed and toys are in his crate, and he is also fed there, so he would not do his business there. So that only leaves him with only one place to go do his business, the cage. We also left a tissue paper with his urine on it underneath the cage to lure him to pee in there. Yoda learn the system within a week! He has not made a mistake since.

Now that he is older and we expanded the crate "area" and he only urinate in the cage. He defecate when he is on his daily walk. He thinks that is the reason we take him on the daily walk and he loves to go for walks!

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next ›
• Page