Potty Training

[npeebles]

Hi, we have a 9 week old golden doodle "Nash" . We are very consistent about taking him out and rewarding him when he goes outside. He has never had an accident in his crate since we brought him home. However, he has had a few accidents when he has been out of his crate. The thing is ... He gives us no indication at all when he has to go. We just grab him up pretty much any time he isn't either playing or sleeping and take him out. Otherwise we take him out every hour. I spend my entire day following him around watching for some indicator that he needs to go out.....there is not one! We are in the second week of him being in our home. Should he be going to the door .. Or in our case the top the steps yet? Or barking or something? He seems to have picked up other things quickly .. But this going out stuff.. I just don't know. We have never had an inside dog so I just want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly. Thank you for any insight!

[Missy]

aren't the puppies just the cutest thing?!! Love the name Nash!!

It sound like you are doing the right things. 

Things that helped me: I wrote everything down: the time he ate, the time he poo, the time he pee. 

I kept my schedule constant for 3 months.  we got up, feed time (sometimes he ate, sometimes he didn't), play time, nap time, outside time (we did train using potty bells).  Like you, I would take pup out on the hour.  If it was not play time, then it was outside on a leash for some sniffing and then back inside. If potty, then treat outside and notate on the paper the time.

I was able to learn what our pup was accustomed to doing.  I learned that he usually took two poos and a pee EVERY morning. I learned he might have a pee mid morning, and an afternoon pee.  If he was going to poo again it was usually around 6 pm, and one last pee at 10pm.  I learned our pup does not eat and have to poo 20 minutes after mealtime. It usually takes 3-4 hours for him to poo after mealtime. 

Remember, you have a 9 week old.  Sometimes they are learning their own body too.  I can remember our pup running around and then the poo time was there and he had these sad eyes like, I know I shouldn't but I didn't know.  Keep up the consistency, clean the soiled areas with a good neutralizer cleaner.  Keep the 'freedom to roam' area small until he gets this down.  (less areas for you to clean) You can do this!!

[Laura and Angus]

Congrats on the new baby puppy! I agree with everything Missy said. Keeping a consistent feeding and water schedule along with a mental awareness of when your puppy last went out. Other rules of thumb - they will have to potty after sleeping and vigorous play. We just made sure out pup went out every 45 min or so in the beginning - we got him at 10 weeks old. He actually already had some knowledge of how to go potty outside from the breeder, so he had some signals. But just remember that puppies (like babies) don't know when they have to potty all the time or even that they're not supposed to potty in the house or wherever they're not sleeping. It's your job to teach Nash the rules of the house - this just comes with time and consistency. For our puppy, we made sure to say "potty" and then would take him outside and when he would potty we'd praise "good potty!" and give him a treat. We did this for a long time and really continued the praise for MONTHS after he was fully trained. 

I promise Nash will pick up the ropes. Doodles are smart dogs, for sure. Another thing that a lot of people on here use are the "poochie bells" - the bells you hang on your door. With those, you basically teach your pup how to communicate that they need to go outside by having your puppy paw or nose the bells every single time you go out of the house. Then they learn that bells tell you they need to potty. We started doing that, but were not consistent and our puppy Angus had his own signal for us (he would either rub up against the vertical blinds at the back door or would sit down at the back door and stare at us. Once they learn that outside is for pottying they will learn to communicate the need to get out there whether you teach them or not. Good luck with puppy! 

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Great advice from Missy and Laura! Your pup is very young and much like a baby in diapers, just hasn't learned his own signals yet. He has to go...so he does. As he gets a little older he will be able to better control himself but up until he came to live with you, he just went whenever and wherever he wanted. 

Like Missy said, make sure you get something like "Natures Miracle" to clean the areas inside the house where he goes. If he can smell it, he thinks he's supposed to go there and will keep going there. The Natures Miracle takes away the smell with the enzymes. My trainer said that if you can pick up the poo and put it outside in the area you want him to go in, he will smell it there and realize thats the place he should be going. 

[Erin]

Hi there! We also have a new puppy who's about 11 weeks now! We have been really consistent also with taking out every hour! Same as you with no accidents in the crate but a few outside of the crate! It seemed between 9-11 weeks he really got the bell training down and now is a pro! your puppy I'm sure will come around! My advice would be to hang in there and not get discouraged and stay consistent! we had found a schedule with times of what to do and also what he should be doing online that we pretty much followed religiously! It helped us immensely but I can't figure out how to attach it! :-(

[Erin]

Here is the schedule I was talking about! I'm not sure if it'll work since this is my first time ever posting!

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Erin, if you are trying to attach a photo, you can use the icon that is second from the left on top of the reply box that you type in. When you hover your mouse over it, it says "image". That will allow us to see a photo right in the conversation without having to click the attachment. However that doesn't work if you are using an iPad.

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

I taught Hurley how to use the bells. Every time I took him outside to do his business I would take him to the door while using an excited tone saying 'potty, potty' followed by my tapping the bells. I took him out every hour initially and if he did not do his business within 5 mins I would bring him in and wait 15 mins before taking him out again. Each time I used that excited tone and I would ring the bells. He caught on fairly quickly. After that he thought it was really cool to ring the bells and watch me hop up and take him out. Oh yeah. We went through that stage. If he had just been outside and done his business I would ignore him. If not, I would take him out and if he did not go in 5 mins but seemed to just want to explore I would bring him back in. When he started ringing the bell I praised him and did the same when he would go potty when let outside after ringing the bell.

You will learn Nash's potty habits and eating habits which will help a lot.

Keep us up on how Nash is doing and what worked for you.

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

How much run about the house does he have or is he confined to one room when he is out? I always kept Gracie in one room with me with my eagle eyes. Lol. We are fortunate that the dining room area is very open with a bare floor so, accidents didn't bother me as much as in the carpeted area. But, you still need to use an enzymatic product to get rid of any smells.

While I don't think they "get it" for awhile, with consistency he might alert you at the door sooner than later. I think Gacie went to the door when she was about 10 or 11 weeks. But, sometimes she went at the door. Lol Some people teach their dogs to use potty bells to signal their need to go out - but again it would take them a little while to get used to the system.

I know I was really working it and taking Gracie out every 20 min or so when she wasn't crated and then hoping for longer durations in between. Just when I thought she got it - we would have an accident. Usually it occurred after a vigorous play or chewing episode, but sometimes she just squatted with no indication. They don't understand what we want them to do for quite a bit.

Ah... I'm glad Gracie is now past this stage. It will come, but in the moment it might seem like they take forever to get it.

[Laura and Angus]

So true! Very good point...it definitely takes them time to learn now matter how consistent you are..and each pup is different! I have heard you want to go 30 days accident-free before you can fully feel "comfortable" that your pup is really potty trained. I think our pup caught on pretty quick and we only had about 4 accidents total in the house - and one of those was at my parents' house and I missed his signal, so it was my fault :-/ Totally right though, you kinda just have to learn your puppy's habits...which, in my opinion, took the longest for us :)

[Deb Reed]

Hi there,  we also used the bells on the front door.  Every time we took Annie out, we lifted up her paw to hit the bells.  She caught on really quick.  Of course, she did sometimes hit the bells just because she wanted to go out and play.  We could figure out by the timing of last pee/poo if she was faking us out.  The bells are good too as you can hear them all over the house.  Good luck!  This is my first pup and we were able to get her trained just fine.

[Cammy Todd]

I agree that it just takes time and patience to learn your puppy's signs.  Izzy turned 4 months yesterday and we STILL don't have a clear sign when she needs to go out.  Sometimes, she goes and sits by the door, sometimes she gets a little restless...I have been working on the bells with her for over a month and she has only rang them on her own twice.  And, I was right there in the same room as her watching her like a hawk for any signs.  I am still waiting and trying to be patient to figure out her unique signs. 

The good news is that she is over a month without an accident so I think she gets the idea that she isn't supposed to go in the house - she just hasn't figured out a way to tell me yet when she needs to go!

[Jenny and Cooper]

Hi there, I just wanted you to know that our Cooper didn't give us any signs at all either at 9 weeks.  I also followed him around like a hawk.  The only clue/hint I can remember was he had two accidents right during fun/play time with my son in the playpen.  I knew it was coming because I read they need to go after playing, but I didn't catch it quick enough.  The next thing I knew, he was squatting and it was already too late.  I remember I would always freak out when he starts sniffing the floor.  Sometimes, he had to go and others were just false alarm.  Oh what HELPED me BIG TIME was jotting down ALL his potty times.  I learned his schedule and eventually worked his poo schedule so that he would now go on command during the time he is supposed to go.  All you need is a piece of paper, tape it on the wall where you pass by the most and jot down the time every time he goes. 

Hang in there!  I remember being sooooo frustrated and felt like a failure after his accidents at home.  Keep up with what you are doing.  Be consistent and it'll surely pay off!  Good luck!