With housetraining, how long does it take until the penny drops?

[WTFwasthat]

pup 13 weeks only been here 9 days so not expecting miracles but how long can it take and when does ot click with dogs! I am on Max like a Ninja. taking him out regularly, lots of praise and a treat for every wee/poo. No accidents at all today but he just went to pee on the lounge floor so I said "no!" and whipped him into the garden with a treat and heaped the praise on when he finished his wee. It makes me think he is not getting it at all. Is he?

[LoveDogs]

It's very difficult every dog is different, we got our girl at 8 weeks and from day one she would go straight to the back door as soon as she needed to go, but we were extremely LUCKY with her and we only ever had any 'accidents' if we didn't see her jumping around by the back door!

[WTFwasthat]

lovedogs - i am extremely of your clever dog. tbh i am not expecting an overnigt success but it seems that the only reason we are doing well is because i am 'on it', as opposed tobpup 'getting it'. he must be hetting it though as he akways performs when i take him out. That must be progress surely?

[ijustwant8hours]

I have been taking my pup out hourly and watching him like a hawk for about five weeks now and he will still just pee where he stands. He will pretty much wee on command in the garden, but seems to have the worlds smallest bladder! As with everything it just seems that it is much easier / quicker to train a positive behaviour than it is for a 'negative' one to stop. He has asked to go out when he needed to poo so I take that as a good sign!

[D0oinMeCleanin]

My "puppy" is one year old. He still does not fully 'get it'

We have now progressed from him urinating on the sofa to him not having any accidents but needing to have someone actually stood outside with him for ten minutes while he goes, or else he will come inside without going, leave it too late and urinate along the entire length of the house while he tries a too-late-made-dash to the yard.

He also needs reminding that he probably needs the loo or he leaves it too late.

I have now realised that he only wees in the house when alone with DH. This is because his "I need a wee" signals are very, very subtle and almost identical to our other dogs "I can't find a comfy bed" signals, so instead of taking him outside DH tells him to lay down, cue weeing on the sofa.

I this far away from giving up on the pair of them.

Whippy took around four days to train, Devil Dog around a fortnight, but he was older.

They key is learning your own individual dog's cues. Sniffing the floor, pacing and circling are common "I need a wee" signs.

[tabulahrasa]

Mine will be 16 weeks this week, it seems to have clicked last week...mostly anyway, we're getting the odd leak in the morning (not every morning) because he refuses to go out until he's said hello to everyone and my DP and DC seem to expect him to come and say, I'd quite like out now... because if I'm not there they don't notice him asking to get out.

I don't know how they miss it because he's not that subtle either, the door between my living room and kitchen is directly opposite the back door, if the living room door is shut he scratches at it, if it's not he sits and stares out of the back door (it's glass).

Until last week he seemed to have the idea that outside was where to go, but didn't communicate it at all, so unless the back door happened to be open he just peed inside, though when you took him out he went, it was just trying to time the next one that caused it.

[Lougle]

Patch was a good 7 months before he got daytime wees. Ironically, he was night-dry from day one, and slept through, but he was right between DH and I, so he slept pretty deeply (infact I used to have period him to make sure he was alive).

Poos, again, were a long time. He'd get that he shouldn't poo near us, so he'd go into the hallway.

All this was compounded by the fact that he can't stand inclement weather, so would much rather have done his business in the warm and dry than the wet and cold.

Now, at almost a year, we've had one wee accident in 3 months, but that was because I didn't let him out in the morning in time.

[WTFwasthat]

so i have to keep on him then? I know when he usually needs to go and praise him like mad but it does get a bit tiring!

[LoveDogs]

Do you have a command when he does go? We tell ours to 'quick quick'.

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

Mine is 14 weeks and had reliably asked to be let out without any accidents at all for about 10 - 12 days now. I am very pleased as expected it to take longer.

[GoldenOrangeWhippoorwhill]

Yup, just keep on watching him and whipping him out. They really don't have much in the way of bladder control at that age so you have to set up the association that toilet stuff happens outside so that when he gets control he'll know where to go.

Having said that, I have been a really useless puppy Mum this week. She wees really fast and sometimes wees walking along so we've had a lot of accidents. She also doesn't empty her bladder completely when she goes because she gets distracted and then wees again the second she comes indoors.

Thank goodness for crappy laminate flooring and enzyme cleaners. :)

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

I think it all depends. LittleDog is a nightmare for this. He has almost no "I need a wee" signal, he just wanders about aimlessly from the back door, to the living room, to the kitchen.
Every time I see him wandering I let him out!

With BigDog, what helped was having a strict walking routine so he knew when we would be going out so he tends not to want to go out in the garden for a wee, he just saves it til then. But he is older, we didn't have him from a puppy.

Just keep taking him out every hour, and after he has eaten, when he wakes up and after playing.
He will get it eventually.

Maybe not 100% at first but he will get there.

d0oin LittleDog only pees in the house when DH is there, I think DH doesn't "get" the signal of wandering aimlessly, however much I try and tell him. He tends to say "lay down" as well.

[CalamityKate]

Mine took 9 months I think. She was a nightmare. Despite me being as on the ball as it's possible to be, she just didn't get it. I put it down mostly to her being kept in dirty conditions as a pup; she was so used to going just anywhere and everywhere that to her, EVERY surface was a toilet.

A lady I know who's got several siblings of my girl said hers were the same.

[panicnotanymore]

Dog1 got the concept with days, dog2 took almost a year. I taught dog2 to go on demand, and was absolutely relentless with trips out to the garden every 45 mins, and getting him up twice at night.... but he'd still go when my back was turned. I still don't fully trust him tbh, and he's 3 now.

[Floralnomad]

Mine got it fairly quickly but I do think it helps to have a command word ,especially for wees. I trained our boy to go when I say 'go quickly ' and I'm sure that helped at the start because he went when I wanted rather than waiting for a sign from him . Fortunately we never had trouble overnight and only had a couple of poo accidents . The main problem we had was that he would sleep on the setee in the evening and wee in his sleep bless him!

[WTFwasthat]

When I take Max in garden he always performs. If I didn't take him out I have a feeling he would just poo and wee anywhere he fancied though

[panicnotanymore]

I'm completely convinced that dog personality has something to do with it. Dog1 is very clean, cleans his feet obsessively, spends ages finding a suitable place to poo, and shoves his backside right under the hedge or actually gets into a ditch to go. I didn't have to train him as such, he just got it from day 1. Dog 2 is filthy, rolls in fox sh*t, does his business anywhere - the middle of the road is fine, and doesn't clean himself (dog1 gets exasperated with him and occasionally pins him down and cleans him instead). I spent ages teaching him command words, and house training him by the book. Took forever and he still isn't reliable. I think if your dog is a bit slow to get it there isn't much you can do about it.

[SpicyPear]

Just came on to add a bit of sympathy. I thought we were doing really well and he is starting to take himself to the back door. Then I turned my back for 2 minutes just now and he took a big (for a pup) smelly dump in the middle of my white bathroom mat.

[WTFwasthat]

SpicyPear for you [ smile]

[SpicyPear]

Thanks WTF

[rogersmellyonthetelly]

Mine was 80% reliable by about 20 weeks. Then we moved house and she regressed completely for a couple of weeks before becoming 100% by about 6 months. She will still wee in the house if another dog visits (I'm looking at you mil, no you cannot bring your ancient snappy incontinent dog to my house to stay for 2 days then complain that my dog isn't house trained!) or the other night when the fireworks were bad she pooed in the bedroom. She also wees in the playroom if she gets stuck in there, she isn't allowed in normally, but sometimes sneaks in if the door is ajar which then shuts behind her as its a fire door thingy.

[WTFwasthat]

well no accidents in doors for two days now. not sure if this because i don't give him the opportunity or if we are better co- ordinated! i think if i wasn't on the case he would just go anywhere. .how can you tell?

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

Tbh at this age, just keep on reading the cues and taking him out.

As long as you keep doing that and praising like a mad thing when he does it, it will reinforce what you want.

[WTFwasthat]

tbh i don't look for signs as such. i just take him out at regular intervals.

[wildfig]

My younger dog (basset hound, slooooow learner) was 6 months old before he was completely reliable and watertight indoors - I remember we had to take him to stay with friends at New Year and I was panicking that he was going to relapse all over their carpet. I think it can vary a lot according to breed: hounds just aren't as quick as gundogs or collies, say, when it comes to the penny dropping. But it will!

[WTFwasthat]

so we have had no accidents indoors for three days, bar a poo thurs morning when i was busy with breakfasts and packed lunches. I take him out whenever I think he needs to go. How do I know if he has got it? He always goes when I take him out and never squats indoors. When do they take themselves to the door to go out? i'm not sure we have it sussed just yet but does this sound like we could almost be there?