Help!

[Megan Kuhl]

Hi! My name is Megan and I recently adopted a 10 week old Goldendoodle. I'm fairly new at this and would love any tips that can be given! Such as what helps with potty training and house breaking.

Thank you in advance!

[Carla, Lucca and Izzy]

Welcome Megan. Join the Puppy Madness group. You'll find LOTS of information and support for newbies:) 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Hi Megan and welcome to DK.  You can also go up to the search box at the top right hand corner of the page and put in potty training and it will bring up a boatload of discussions on this topic.  There are two definite things that will help you with this though.  1) is to be very regular in taking the puppy outside.  Like every 30 mins or so. The second thing is to be sure that you clean up any accidents in the home with an odor neutralizer like Nature's Miracle so that all of the smell is removed.  Other than that there are lots of things that you will learn in the puppy madness group about potty bells and treats etc.  But these two things are key.  Best wishes.  We look forward to seeing lots of pictures of your new doodle.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Welcome and congratulations on your new Doodle baby.  Here are a couple "potty training" hints that were helpful to me.  First, remember they're babies and can't "hold it" for long.  Take him out very frequently at first.  I would leash them (or use a long line) and take him to the same spot each time....where you want him to go.  Wait and stay calm (I'd say to wait at least 10 minutes with a young puppy).  If he goes, lots of praise and a special treat that he only gets when he goes potty outside.  If he doesn't go, bring him back inside (calmly...no scolding) and crate him.  Wait 15 minutes and try again.  Hope this helps!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I should also have added that using the same word each time helps.  I used "go potty" and I would take them to their spot and say that....eventually they'll relate the word to what you're asking them to do.  My guys are 5 and 6 and I still use that word.  We go out the minute they wake up in the morning...on leash....to their spot...and I say "go potty".  The whole process takes about one minute.  Also, Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom is absolutely right about cleaning up after accidents....if you don't get totally rid of the odor they will associate where they went as their potty spot. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I would also add that don't scoop them up and bring back inside as soon as they pee.  Sometimes they might pee more than one time.  Give them a little time.  We actually set up the exercise pen in the back yard and I would take AnnaBelle out and put her in the pen and then tell her "go potty" and walk around the pen on the outside till she was finished.

[SoSa]

You will definitely need to take him/her out a lot. You do not want to give him an opportunity to potty in the house although it will happen. We would take Ace out every 20-30 minutes and always goes out after a nap. It's extremely exhausting, but it's a necessary evil if you don't want puppy thinking your floor is one huge weewee pad. Ace is mow 13 weeks old. He never pees in his crate and we have him to where now he will knock on our sliding glass doors when he needs to go out. He has an accident here and there (pee, never poop) and that's when we dilly dally instead of getting him out in time. The only issue we have is the submissive/excitement pee'ing whenever we have a guest. We are working on some techniques to deal with that. We did have an issue where he would pee on his doggy bed, over and over again. We have taken that away.

We have never used the wee wee pads because we did not want him to be confused with the housebreaking process. We do keep the enzymatic cleaners on hand for the accidents. We also never put a blanket or a crate mat in his crate and we use our divider, limiting the amount of space he has in there.

You will feel overwhelmed and overly frustrated at times, but you will begin to see improvement. We've had Ace since he was 7 weeks old. It has been exhausting, but we can definitely see how far he has come with the housebreaking process. The puppy madness group will be good for your sanity. :-)