potty training in a 2 story home?

[Laura, Tux and Riley]

Hello all!  Tuxedo is 17 weeks now, growing up and doing great with potty training.  That is, doing great with potty training when he's on our main floor (where he goes outside).  When Tux comes upstairs with us (where laundry, offices, and bedrooms are), he doesn't know how to tell us he needs to go out, and has pooped upstairs twice and peed once.  Any advice when we need to be upstairs (i.e. doing laundry, getting ready in the morning) and he doesn't know how to tell us?

Oh, and of course we never catch him in the act, so no point in scolding him after the fact!

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Is there someplace near the stairs you could hang poochie bells.  It is recommended you hang them at the door they are to go out, but I do not know why you could not train him to ring them when he has to go downstairs.  Our doodle learned how to use them very quickly.  After he ate his lunch I would  call him over to the door and say lets go potty and I would bend down and ring the bells right in from of his nose and then open the slider and go outside with him.  I only had to do this about 3 times and he had it.  At 14 months, he still uses his nose to ring the bells.  You can purchase them on Amazon.  I bought them from my breeder.

Good luck

[Laura, Tux and Riley]

Hi Linda! thanks for the response.  We have been using Poochie bells on our slider as well - I never thought to hang another set upstairs - great idea!

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

We love the poochie bells. Your Tuxedo is a cutie patootie!  I love his white markings.

[Dos Doodles--Sam & Luke]

I subscribe to the take them outside every 50 minutes to go potty method---unless they are in a crate.  Seems to be the only foolproof way for me to make sure we don't have accidents.  Eventually, they figure it out....plus the length of time between potty breaks eventually gets longer, so it's a lot more predictable.

By the time my dogs were about 6months old, they were on the regular schedule: potty breaks morning, lunchtime, late afternoon, after dinner and before bed.  If they had to go more than that, they'd find a way to let me know...often they will come and just look at me...you know the look.  :-)

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

The Poochie Bells are a good idea. I used to have them in our bedroom with Lucca when he was a pup but until he got a little older he still had accidents. Taking him out BEFORE you bring him upstairs at least could give you a little more time but he's still too young. They seem to do better in smaller contained spaces until they can hold it longer. They get confused. Lucca and Izzy both were contained via baby gate in the kitchen until they got the potty training down pat. I tried bring them into a larger part of the house but it seemed that every time I did it they would pee or poo. It will get easier very very soon:)

BTW....Tuxedo is adorable:)

[Amy Lounsbury]

We had to ban Sammy from our second floor for the same reason, when we went upstairs he went in his crate until he was old enough to "get it".  He's 7 months old now, and hasn't had an accident since he was 14 weeks.  Now we only use the crate at night or if we will be gone for more than a half hour or so.