HELP - 9 week lab will only poo inside!!

[Packingfrazzled]

Just got our Labrador last week and he is 9 weeks today.
We are struggling to get him to go to toilet in the garden. We try to take him out at least once an hour as well as after food, play, naps etc. He will wee in the garden but will not poo. We could be outside for half an hour and he wait until we get inside and poo on the floor. (He also sometimes does a wee on the floor).
Does anyone have an advice?

He is 9 weeks old and just in his new home. Give him time and make going outside plus weeing/pooing enjoyable for him which means lots and lots of praise when he does what he needs to do. I would also vary the every hour outside, mix it up a bit, longer, shorter.

Also when he is outside, play with him for a short while, you may find that encourages him to poo.

Very early days with a puppy, he will not understand yet.

I agree. In this weather, I would stay out until he does. He'll get the hang of it.

You’ll get there, when he goes in the house take him right back outside to show him to go there. Clean his mess with an enzyme cleaner they will go to same area it it smells.

Keep taking him out very regularly, does he have any cues before going? My dog would go in circles some dogs whine or scratch watch her closely so you can catch any cues that she needs.sometimes it’s cold or raining and they don’t like that. I took mine on lead into a specific area cue word then praise and treat - kibble from her meal . praise her massively when she goes outside. We had a cue word for toileting - used to train guide dogs. We got our last golden retriever pup in October worst time to toilet train as it was soooo cold but he learned fast you just need to be consistent. Good luck

Give him time. You’ve only just got him and he’s settling down into his new home. I can guarantee there’ll be alot more accidents inside to come.

when he does go outside, make a real
fuss of him. If he has accidents inside, just clear them quietly without saying anything. If you react more inside, then he’s learning that’s where he’ll get attention.

After a while, you’ll
recognise when he’s about to go. My lab will sniff and go backwards and forward, or in a circular motion. When he displays these signals, pick
him up and take him outside.

ps. Where’s the photo?

Id say my dog was 4+ months until he got it about going outside and even then there was occassional accidents up to 6months

I spent the whole day in the garden and only came in when I needed a wee. She was then trained. Before that she had only done one poo inside that I didn't see her do. Lots of opportunities to do the right thing, huge praise when he does. He will get there.

He needs a little bit of time, but what worked wonders for our labradoodle was the following method:

• If you catch your dog mid-poo inside, clap to get his attention, pick him up and plop him outside to finish. When he does finish reward him by saying "yes, go poo!" or something to that effect. Make a big fuss over him, do a quick play sesh with him, whatever his favourite thing is let him know pooing outside = good.

• If you find the poo inside the house after the fact, clean it up and don't say anything. Don't shout at him, yell etc. He won't know why you're yelling at him and it will only encourage him to do sneaky poos indoors when you're not looking, or he'll keep doing it because he'll learn that's a good way to get your attention.

• take him out at regular intervals. You have to be patient but when he does do his business outside, make a big fuss over him and reward him for going outside.

Puppies are hard, but consistency is key!

In this weather, I would just keep him outside until he goes to the toilet, even if that takes an hour.

Another thing you could try is taking one of his poos, putting it in the garden and letting him sniff it. He should make the link between the poo being outside and him needing to do them outside.

I would also put a command with the action - we use "go toilet" or "go wee wee" and he knows that he's expected to go out and do a wee or a poo.

He's so young though so you do need to be patient - lots of dogs have accidents indoors on and off for a year or so.

Normal behaviour for such a young pup, I would say. Pup will get there, but it takes time and patience, our pup was like this, we would take him out and the minute we got back home he would poo on the newspaper! I remember it well, we started taking newspaper out with us, as he was so used to going on the newspaper. He was a lot older than 9 weeks at this stage.

Thank you so much for all the advice. And it’s reassuring to know that it’s normal! I’ll definitely try the sniffing poo where he should be going.
Should we go down the route of puppy pads or newspaper to save our floors just in case? We would still take him out as much as possible. The other problem is that he constantly tries to eat everything in the garden!

No puppy pads beyond a few days and it's your job to teach him not to eat stuff. Everywhere not just garden.

pictures as requested. My old slippers have been claimed by pup!!!

Agree with putting a poo outside to let him know where it goes.
You may need to puppy proof the garden a bit if he eats everything, but don't leave him unsupervised out there.

We puppy proofed and it was such a relief. Just a bit of fencing to block off behind the shed.

Awwww, he's lovely 🥰

He's gorgeous!

Definitely no puppy pads as they just encourage them to go indoors.

9 weeks is still so young! I wouldn't expect great things til he's a few months old, mine was fully toilet trained at 8 months. Sort of got it around the 5/6 month mark but still had the odd accident.

Thank you everyone! He is gorgeous! That’s what is keeping me going! 😂

Ah he's lovely OP. He's a lanky one for 9 weeks isn't he! I think he will be tall. No, puppy pads are a mistake. They end up thinking the pad is where you go, forever and ever amen, and anything they mistake for a pad is also a toilet. At his age he's only just learning when he needs to go. Just make a huge fuss of him and love on him when he goes outside, and when he goes inside, clean it up immediately with zero reaction from you. Don't even acknowledge it.