House Training

[Tracy A]

Mousse is 13 weeks, and doing pretty good with house training, even though I do take him out at every hour or so give or take...but I was just curious at what age, or for how long after you had your pup they were trained to the point that you could let them roam around out of your sight.  I am really looking forward to that day...I feel like I had another baby, only it doesn't wear a diaper!

[BG and Gavin]

I would say our guy was pretty reliable by 16 weeks. He had only two accidents that I can recall after that point. One was after a heavy play session indoors and another was when we had company and had him in the basement with us (which was an unfamiliar place). I still however felt the need to watch him closely when at other's homes. As Adina always says they are situation specific learners. I also followed him to ensure he did not get into anything or chew anything. Sooo, after all of that following, I now have a dog that follows me and never really goes into other rooms on his own. If he does, I know he is snatching a sock or some under garments to parade out.

[Melissa]

I feel your pain! Buddy just turned 20 weeks on Sunday and I am not there yet. We let him roam very little. Just the other day I must have turned around for a second and he peed on the tile floor. I didn't even see him, unfortunately I stepped in it. Anyway, I am anxious to see responses and I was just wondering that myself the other day. Right now, Buddy can last about 4 hours on a good day, we have him in an enclosed area by the back door surrounded by a baby pen. He has plenty of room and that way if we have to be gone we don't have to put him in his crate. And he also rings the bell when he needs to go. He does make it all night...from about 10:30pm to 6-6:30am. I am so glad to not have to get up in the middle of the night anymore!

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

Hey, Melissa! I could have written the same thing!! My Knox was 21 weeks on Sunday and just when I think he's trained, he proves to me that he's not! He (and me too!) basically hangs out on tile floors -- from the kitchen to the breakfast room to our sunroon -- and is rarely on carpet. I watch him like I hawk and it IS exhausting! He stays in a crate when I'm not home and can go 5 or more hours (I hate to admit that I leave him that long, but sometimes it just happens!) At night he's in his crate and goes from 11 to 7. Does Buddy sleep in a crate at night or does he get to sleep where he wants?? Knox wants to know!! ha!

[Melissa]

Tell Knox that Buddy sleeps in his crate. :) We just recently moved it out of our bedroom and to the level down ( we have a split level). The first couple of nights he wimpered a bit after we put him in, but the last couple of nights he has done great. We say crate and he goes right in. We also put a cover on it to keep it a bit dark, trying to get him to sleep in a bit longer. My husband is a singer and sometimes doesn't get home until after midnight. So even when we go to sleep then, he still gets up at the same time. :(

Anyway, we sometimes let him with us in carpeted areas, but only right after we take him out to pee. That seems to work ok. 5 hours is great! 4 hours is about the max for Buddy. We were gone to a birthday party the other afternoon and got back after having been gone for 5 and he had a small accident on the floor. Hopefully that will get better, not that we have plans to be gone that long a lot, but it does happen when you don't expect it. :)

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

Knox is SO relieved! He was starting to think that he was the only one without any freedom! What is so ironic is that Knox was moved from our bedroom last Thursday, probably about the same Buddy was being moved. He has adjusted, but I have thrown my 12-year old Jack Russell in for good measure! She's not crazy about the close quarters, but I told her that I need her to 'babysit!' Knox has a built-in alarm clock and it goes off around 7 without fail! I can handle it during the week, but I'm not a fan of early mornings on the weekends! I think I might try covering his crate like you do and see if that helps me get a few more zzz's! Oh...another thing...last week I told my husband that we should have named Knox "Buddy" because that is what we call him 90% of the time! You were obviously smarter than me from the get-go!

[Melissa]

That is great that you have a "babysitter" for Knox. :) Actually it was Wednesday night that we moved him! And he slept until 8:30am on Thursday. My husband and I were shocked that we BOTH actually got to sleep in a bit. Usually we take turns getting up with him so the other can sleep another hour or so. We were so excited and thought we had it made. That was the only day he slept late. We figured the thunderstorm we had that night must have kept him up a bit so he was just extra tired. Thankfully he didn't get scared or anything with the thunder, I wasn't sure how he would be. I can't take credit for the name Buddy, that was on my husband's list and well, it just seemed right for him. I like Knox! Sounds like a good strong name!

[Carol and Banjo]

Tracy - I totally understand you're feeling like you've got another baby in the house. The amount of time spent on a puppy can seem overwhelming....but believe me it gets better with each day! All of the time you are putting in now will pay off in the long run! We watched Banjo like a hawk in those first few weeks. In that time we "caught" him just as he was about to pee and whisked him outside. That happened 2 or 3 times. Gradually we started increasing the time between bringing him outside to do his business and as that time increased he started going to the door when he did have to go. He is almost 5 months now and is fully trained and can be left out of sight......although that rarely happens because he wants to be where we are. He usually plants himself within a few feet of one of us. Hang in there......it really does get better!!!!!

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

I have been responding to Melissa's comment and forgot to respond to your discussion! Believe me, you are not the only one on DoodleKisses that finds taking care of a puppy HARD WORK! It exhausts me!! Knox is getting a little bit better as he has gotten older, but I still feel like I have to watch him 24/7!! That goes for any puppy, I think, but I don't seem to remember it being so time consuming with my first doodle. Thank goodness for his crate or a few minutes of outside time in our fenced yard! Back to house training...Knox does really well with ringing the bell to go outside, etc, but just as soon as I think he's 'trained' he proves to me that he is not. We're 8 weeks ahead of you and still have occasional accidents. I don't want to depress you so hopefully you'll get a better response from someone else!! Maybe Knox is just a slow learner...

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

For POTTY training, Peri was trained completely by about 16 weeks. Maybe one accident since.
For being TRUSTED to roam the house, we are just getting there at 13 months. We used a baby gate to keep her in an area where we watched her like a hawk until she was about 6 months. We still sometimes close off areas if she is acting naughty - messing in the trash, etc...
It takes a while. But I would say things were better at 6 months overall. Then they are crazy adolescents. And now Peri is finally becoming a perfect little companion. That literally started happening after her 1st birthday in April.

[Sandra Griffith]

I usually reccommend supervision of pups to some degree until about 1 year. This is not entirely for purposes of housetraining. Puppies are very good at finding things to get into and limiting their access without supervision is so much easier than undoing bad habits that they are so good at acquiring ( I should say things that we view as bad habits as the pup may not see it that way). Puppies go through adolescence starting at around 5-6 months of age, and much like their human counterparts, they become more adventerous. Sometimes they seem to have forgotten previously learned behaviours. It is not unusual for an adolescent to suddenly go through a bout of "accidents". Controlling access keeps these situations from getting out of hand. Having said this, every puppy is an individual and some have a harder time with this (again in our eyes) than others.

[Cindy]

Willow was fine at 4 months and then backtracked due to a UTI. Now it seems hopeless. She still pees anytime she's excited or if she hears the word "no" in any way shape or form. She is "crate trained" but I really want her to have home freedom like our 3 yr old doodle does. Willow is 9 months old and still is not trained.

[BG and Gavin]

How frustrating Cindy! Maybe someone here has recommendations for building her confidence.