Puppy toilet training not going well

[Puppypuddle]

Eleven week old cockapoo - nearly twelve weeks - just simply not getting toilet training. I take him to the garden immediately after he wakes, after playing, shortly after eating and drinking - we are out there all the time and so most poos and wees happen there and he immediately gets a treat and copious praise.

However, if he's inside and the urge takes him he will just go on the kitchen floor. He won't ask to go out, he won't go to the door (which he can always access), he will just do his business. We ignore, clean up with enzyme cleaner, keep going. And there is still no progress.

It's coming up to four weeks of me spending pup's every waking minute either standing out in the garden or else watching him intently indoors and the second his nose goes to ground, whisking him out.

I stand him at the door and say 'toilet' then I open it and if he toilets out there - treats, praise, playtime. If he doesn't, he comes back in and I stare intently at him until I think he will go. I've just picked him up mid kitchen poo and plonked him outside to finish and bestowed treat and praise.

The thing is, I have a job. I'm sure I used to have a life that didn't involve staring at a puppy's bum nonstop. I expected toilet training to be an intense couple of weeks where I wouldn't be able to get much done. We're now approaching a month and the dog is getting nowhere. Yes, he sleeps a lot and I can try to cram all my work into his naptimes but honestly it is sapping my will to live spending so much time every day waiting for him to poo or wee and cleaning up multiple accidents a day whatever I do. It's 3 or 4 wees a day indoors and a poo inside maybe twice a week. Every outdoor poo or wee is because I have led him outside. I am doing everything I'm supposed to do, and he just isn't learning. Everyone I speak to says toilet training takes about two weeks, but I don't think we'll ever get there and I am absolutely losing the will to live. Is it normal to see absolutely zero progress after nearly four weeks? Of course I expect some accidents in the house until he's older, but so many feels absolutely soul destroying especially given how relentlessly I'm taking him outside. Then the second I look away to put the kettle on for a cup of tea to keep my hands warm in the garden, he's gone on the kitchen floor. Will this ever get better?

Keep at it, OP! I admit that it's soul-destroying, but they do get there in the end, and that some take much longer than others. I've gone through it three times with puppies so far. The first took no time at all. The second took a few weeks. The third took MONTHS of coming home to clean up, several times a day... and that included her own mess and whatever she had shredded/damaged that day. I didn't use the puppy pads that we were given, because she would shred them. I gave up with enzyme cleaner and just used white vinegar, which smelt a lot better!

I had to use a very cross voice, which they realised was Not Good when they made a mess indoors. Mine go outside on their own, mainly so that they will do their business, instead of getting distracted by bringing me balls and things.

Puppies are like children - some get things quickly and some don't. And it massively depends on breed. Some breeds learn bladder control incredibly early - my breed can easily be fully toilet trained by 10 weeks, and mostly clean by 8 weeks, but in some breeds it can take 6+ months, if not longer. Breeder also plays a huge part as some start toilet training before the dog even leaves their home. No dog enters their new family home equal - they're all different.

There's not really any real quick wins' for toilet training. (There are some 'quick wins' for puppies, but they need to start when the puppy is 5-6 weeks old so wouldn't work with your boy I am afraid). It's just perseverance and determination at this age. Cockerpoos are smart though, so with consistency he should pick it up quickly.

Just please make sure you're getting enough sleep as toilet training is so much harder with lack of sleep (particularly if you're routinely waking up in the night to try and take the dog out). It will get better (promise!!!!) but it takes time and is much easier with a good night sleep.

Thank you! He is great overnight - sleeps right through from 9.30pm til 6am so he definitely has good bladder capacity and we are getting a full night's sleep every night. It also gives us a guaranteed win every morning as we carry him downstairs (he sleeps up with us) and put him straight out where he goes immediately and so can be lavishly praised. Throughout the day he seems to like to wee little and often, and he does five poos a day too so there is just a lot of them to catch! Between that and the biting, it gets very wearing. I keep reading that cockapoos are smart but I have yet to see evidence in him haha. He's so lovely but he won't be troubling doggy mensa any time soon!

Only one thought have you introduced a word so he goes on cue , we used ‘go quick ‘ with our boy and throughout his life he would always attempt a wee if you said that to him , very useful if you need them to have a wee before you get in the car etc .

My youngest sounds very similar to your pup.

She slept through the night from day two. But she wasn't toilet trained during the day time until about 4 months old.

I would plate up my dinner and take her outside for a wee. Then I would come back in to eat and she invariably weed on the carpet.

I found it incredibly frustrating. Especially since it was winter and we were stood outside in a blizzard. I also had it in my head that it only took two weeks. But a Google search told me it could take up to 4 months, so I realised I was probably being unrealistic with my expectations.

By comparison, my other dog was trained during the day in two weeks, but didn't sleep through the night for months. I know which way round I preferred.

My 4 month old Lab puppy still has accidents inside sometimes. He’s getting better recently but still… if I forget to take him out when he wakes up after a nap there can be consequences. So forget people telling you it should take 2 weeks…

Mine seemed to make some progress after he went down from 4 meals a day to 3 meals a day. He started doing fewer poos and started wanting to do them outside. He took longer to not have wee accidents indoors though.

I think you are making good progress and your puppy is doing really well overnight in particular. It just seems a long slog, I know.

We use the words “busy busy” every time he wees or poos outside and now we can say those words and he will try. It’s because he gets a treat every time and he’s a Lab so very greedy 😀

One thing I did when mine was having accidents indoors was when she went out to put her lead on her. This was to stop her messing around and trying to play and the second she did went she was praised. This did really seem to help her understand that she needed to "do wees" (our cue words) and when was playtime. For some reason, though, it took her longer to be dry at night in her crate than in the daytime.

@Puppypuddle so he does have some control then if he's able to hold it for so long (admittedly it's different types of control, but control is control)! You must be loving getting so much sleep - it's such a game changer for puppy raising.

Once he's more settled and everything is a bit less 'exciting' I'm sure he'll get it - he could well just be so excited and loving life so much that he can't help it. As you say, you have a guaranteed win every morning so it's just a case of keeping going with the positive reinforcement and catching him quickly. It's hard though.

With the biting, if you are yelping don't do that (it can be awful for encouraging them I've found). You can also try a wet and frozen flannel or tea-towel which work wonders.

Puppies are truly awful. I often think the only reason anyone ever has a puppy when they've gone through the pain of raising one before is that they've forgotten how awful the little blighters are.

There's a puppy survival thread which I think @Twiglets1 is on that might be checking out - lots of puppy owners in the same boat as you. It's a good place to vent and whinge and also find support.

Oh now that is a good point! Sleeping through the night is better.

Yes join us on that thread if you want to @Puppypuddle

There’s no judgement there as all puppies seem difficult in one way or another. Or several different ways sometimes!

I’ve never known toilet training to take 2 weeks. Current puppy is nearly five months old and still having accidents in the house most days. Never asks to go outside but will wee and poo outside if put out. Best advice is limit how many rooms they can get in, ie make sure he’s in the same room as you and be alert for signs he’s about to go, sniffing, generally looking suspicious….and pounce on them and put them out.

Interesting about the yelping, that has been recommended to me so many times! He loves a frozen carrot, that keeps him busy for a while. Puppies are absolute dickheads, I honestly had no idea how testing it would be - and I read and researched and I can't say I wasn't warned. Will check out the thread for some commiseration; I have found some insufferable smug content online and honestly I think I just want to hear that other people's puppies are dickheads too and that with perseverance you end up with a nice dog!

Yes that's where were at, and I will just have to resign myself to being on the alert. My job is very flexible but requires concentration and I have a terrible case of puppy brain. Even when he's fast asleep, I am on the alert for the next installment of chaos I think.

That absolutely is the case!

I’ve had 3 puppies now and they have all been dickheads for the first few months. The other 2 turned out to be lovely adults so I feel hopeful this one will too 😀

Tbh he is already a lot nicer at 4 months than he was at 3 months. No biting, far fewer accidents in the house.

The yelping thing is interesting. It worked on my first puppy and this one - they both looked worried when I yelped and stopped biting. The one in the middle though - it just excited him more. They’re all different! He had to get the silent treatment instead to help him understand that biting humans was not a fun thing to do.

Just keep going! Our Cavapoo was about 10 months before she fully nailed toilet training! I couldn’t believe it took so long!

You've gone through this three times!!!

I must be mad, right😉

The second puppy I had forgotten how bad they are so agreed to raise a guide dog puppy for a year.

The current one is mine to keep and I have no excuse 😂

Sympathy, OP! Stick with it - it feels like it's lasting forever now but he will get it. The thing that made all the difference with our springer pup, who was an absolute nightmare to toilet train, was giving her a way to ask to go out. I clicker-trained her to ring a little budgie bell with her nose, initially just randomly around the house for treats, and then by the back door for really good treats (tuna out of the cats' bowl). Once she was ringing it reliably, I started opening the door before I gave her the treat, and it was like a lightbulb going off. The garden was much more exciting than the tuna for her at that point, so she started ringing the bell to go out without looking for a treat first, but if she rang, went out and happened to do a wee/poo out there, she got a jackpot treat. She was clean in the house within days. She was older, though - 16 weeks when we adopted her (and we were her third home).