How old was your Doodle when he/she was fully potty trained?

[Carina Effenberger]

I’m in potty training hell!!

We just recently added another Goldendoodle to our family.  He’s so sweet and mellow and so stinking cute but at 16 weeks, he's still not grasping the potty training thing (which we've been working on hard core for 8 weeks now).  Jasper, my 4 year old Goldendoodle was fully trained by 10 weeks.    I am doing everything by the book - Crates, play pens, poochie bells, clicker train, bla, bla, bla.  I'm doing everything as I did with Jasper but my little guy is just not getting it.  Everyone I keep asking says that he should be potty trained by now.  The vet today said he's still a puppy and sometimes it takes longer.  I'm just worried that since he's not potty trained yet, this might be a life long problem with him.  

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!

[Julie and Charlie]

truth: I always laugh when people say their dogs were house trained at 12 weeks or something ridiculous like that. My response: the owner and the dog were schedule trained! My philosophy: a dog is fully trained when he or she does not eliminate in the house, despite schedule changes. It takes months of working on it to get it right. Charlie was about 6 or 7 months before I considered him trained and not me!

[Katrine]

Stella was trained at 7 months. We used pee pads which didn't help, but she's a champ when it comes to the bells. Hang in there! And remember to click and treat when Jasper goes outside, it really helps.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

First things first... your little guy is as CUTE as a BUTTON! He sounds so much like my Oscar (10-1/2 mos.) in temperament. Like you, I did all the same things with him regarding potty training that I'd done with Lucy (3-1/2 yrs.) but he just didn't seem to 'get it'. Lucy was also trained by 10 weeks, so the expectation was high. I'd read somewhere that a puppy isn't fully potty trained until it can go accident free for at least 28 days, so we would count off the days between accidents and we'd almost make it to 28 and then there'd be an accident, and we'd have to start back at zero. Very frustrating! He wasn't fully trained until 5 mos. All I can offer is to anticipate the times he 'should' have to go, like after a meal, after coming out of his crate, after playing inside, just before bedtime, after he drinks, first thing in the morning, and anytime after 1 hr from his last potty. I got so good at anticipating when Oscar would 'need' to potty that it became 2nd nature, and to this day I take him out at basically those same times, regardless if he has to go or not (he usually does). If for some reason I get busy and forget, Oscar will stand by the back door and stare at me (or just busy himself near the backdoor), so there is that cue... if I see him. He's old enough now to hold it, and there's been times when he 'runs' to his potty spot and lets it rip! There's nothing wrong, or out of the ordinary with your little guy, and It will get better, and probably within the next month or so. Sounds to me he's just on a different time schedule than your Jasper.

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

OMD he's adorable! Squee! 

Yeah, Lachlan was easily 7 months, possibly as much as 8, before I considered him truly reliable. Even when I knew he'd "got" it he was like a kid - sometimes they don't realize they have to go until it's too late and oops! Declan was another story - brought him home at 4 1/2 months from living outside but he seemed to "get it" almost immediately. Problem with him was that what he "got" was that he was supposed to go only in the yard - I had a devil of a time getting him to understand that he could go other places, like the park.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I think it was around 8 months.  At around that time we started letting Luna have the run of the bedroom instead of her ex-pen so it makes sense.  She got the run of the house at around 1.5? I think.

[Amy Galvin]

My doodle is 20 wks and nowhere close to potty training. I just started using bells. It can take awhile but Im confident she'll pick it up soon.

[Missy]

so stinking cute!!! I feel for you and understand the frustration levels when it comes to potty training.  my doodle did NOT follow the book on when he needed to go out, except for in the morning release from crate.  The thing that seemed to make it click for him, was giving him a treat outside right after he did pee and/or poo.  plus he got another piece of treat when he came back inside with lots of praise. we do the bells and it did take a few weeks, but I watched him ALL the time to learn his clues for going outside.  and sometimes he would look at me and I would have to show him the way to the door with the bells on it. Hang on as I am sure he will catch on soon!!

[KLN]

Finley is five months now and potty trained but Inhave a doggie door and an older dog so I think that helped a lot. At about three months he was having accident after accident no matter what I did. I was as frustrated as it sounds like you are but I just continued doing what I was supposed to and by about four months I realized "its been days since we had an accident" and we haven't had one since. He will get it, it will "click", he is just going to do it on his own time. :0/

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. Hang in there. If they weren't so darn cute as puppies they'd all be dropped off at the fire station. Ha! God made them CUTE for a reason! :0)