Potty Training Tips

[LORRIE PAULUS]

The day is here that I will pick up my 9 week doodle tomorrow!  I talked to our breeder, who has been crate training her for 2 weeks and she is able to go 5-1/2 hours!  I haven't had a puppy since we got our Springer in 1998 so I am a bit rusty on puppying!  Would love some tips and tricks on potty training--what success have you had from the crate to outside; do you use a leash for outside training? Has anyone used a 'tie out' for outside pottying, i.e., watched the puppy but put them on a tie out?  If the puppy wakes up at night, do most people have success with taking the puppy out and then immediately back to bed if it's early morning (2 am, etc.)  Thanks!  I will post a pic soon!

[DJ & Chance]

The following drill worked well for me.

Go immediately outside with puppy after letting him/her out of the crate. Go with the puppy on leash to the designated potty spot. Repeat "go potty" in an enthusiastic voice until the deed is done and then praise puppy. Do this even if it is raining, snowing or freezing cold.

It was challenging for Chance to settle back down to sleep after nighttime potty outings. More than once I found myself on the floor with a pillow next to the crate, and we would both instantly fall back to sleep. Dog trainers will probably cringe, but I needed my sleep and after the first several weeks he was able to sleep through the night without needing a potty outing.

[Whitney Addington]

When our puppy started whining in the middle of the night while in the crate, if she was hysterical, we waited until she calmed down, then let her out, that way when she got older she wouldn't do the freak out when she woke up and wake the entire house up. In the middle of the night, she would do a quite bark, wait a minute, bark again, and wait until we got up to let her out. That way she knew barking non-stop was not the way to get out of the cage. That was awesome!

However, putting her back in her cage wasn't awesome! She would almost hurt herself when I tried putting her back in the cage. I would have to sit in the floor, she would immediately crawl in my lap and go to sleep. When she was sleepy, I would put her in her cage and she was so sleepy she didn't fuss much. After a few weeks, it got MUCH better! Now, at 9 months (but since about 5 1/2 months) she no longer sleeps in a cage and sleeps all night long. She sleeps in the bedroom floor, and actually sleeps much more sound than when she was in her cage. 

Good luck with the new addition!

[Nikki and Wookie]

Good luck with your new arrival.

We found this on the internet and used it as a guide:

 

A typical day for an 8 week old puppy would go something like this;

• 6:00 AM puppy wakes.  Take him outdoors immediately.  Wait for him to eliminate and praise.

• 6:15 AM indoor, 100% supervised play time and access to water.

• 6:45 AM put puppy back in crate with his breakfast meal.

• 7:00 AM take puppy outdoors (remove food).  Wait for him to eliminate and praise.

• 7:20 AM put puppy back in crate, leave for work.

• 12:00 PM take puppy outdoors.  Wait for him to eliminate and praise.

• 12:15  indoor, 100% supervised play time and access to water.

• 12:30 PM pup puppy in crate with lunch meal.

• 12:45 PM take puppy outdoors (remove food). Wait for him to eliminate and praise.

• 1:00 PM put puppy back in crate, back to work.

• 5:30 PM take puppy outdoors.  Wait for him to eliminate and praise.

• 5:45 PM play with puppy outdoors.

• 6:00 PM indoor, 100% supervised play time and access to water.

• 6:30 PM, put puppy in crate and tend to your required evening tasks.

• 7:30 PM, take puppy outdoors.  Wait for him to eliminate and praise.

• 7:45 PM, indoor 100% supervised play time.  Access to water.

• 8:30 PM, in crate with evening meal.

• 9:00 PM, take puppy outdoors (remove food).  Wait for him to eliminate and praise.

• 9:15 PM, indoor 100% supervised play time.

• 10:00 PM, last trip outdoors.

• 10:15 PM put puppy in crate for the evening.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

We're still finishing up potty training with Oscar (15 weeks old). He's gone as long as 12 days without an accident, but as of today we're back to square 1. Totally my fault as he ran to the front door and I always take him to the back door for potty breaks. I've read you can't truly say your puppy is potty trained until its gone at least 28 days without an accident. So, patience is key. The one thing I can add to what's already been said, is leashing your puppy when its out of its crate can mean the difference between success and failure in potty training. IOW, keeping your pup near to you. Its less likely to have an accident when its in close proximity to you. Always take him/her out to potty (on a leash to the designated 'potty' area) immediately after taking it out of it's crate, regardless of how long its been since it last went out. Also, after playing, eating and drinking. Which means a LOT, and often. Always use the same door for potty breaks.You can use a potty bell, and ring the bell before you exit saying something like, "ring the bell, go potty". My Lucy figured out the potty bell within 5 days. Oscar, on the other hand, still hasn't figured it out. It all depends on the pup. I can tell you potty bells make easy work of knowing when your pup needs to go potty, as you can hear the bell just about anywhere in the house, whereas you can't always see when it runs to the door. That's all assuming it learns to ring the bell :).

As far as a night time routine, we kept both Lucy and Oscar in a smaller crate near our bed for the first 3-5 nights. Neither made much fuss that way, but did let us know when they had to go potty. Eventually, they slept downstairs and we went down to take them out every 5 hrs or so.

Its a lot of work and a lot of due diligence, so expect to be exhausted those first few weeks. Its not unlike having a new baby in the house. All the hard work will pay off in the end, and you'll have a well trained pup. Fortunately, you'll forget how much work it was after a while (and, like me, may start to think about another puppy some day!) Good luck!

[Catherine & Millie Eleanor]

We have had great success with the potty pads, however, we are trying to wean our 10 week old Millie off of them. We have a potty bell, and she uses it 80% of the time for #2. We are still working with her on ringing it without prompting for #1. We take her out after playing a lot, after a nap, after she comes out of her kennel, and about 30 minutes after she eats. We make her ring the bells before we take her out. We always use a leash outside. Millie has only woken up twice at 4am in the two weeks we have had her. Both times we let her sleep the last two hours on our bed... :). She hasn't gone in her crate- we bought a large crate with a divider, so she can grow into it. It is just roomy enough for her to turn around and lie down.