General house training question

[Sookie]

Hello!

Elly is 11 weeks old and since I work from home, I have been able to give her the attention she needs regarding crate training and taking her out often etc. Sometimes though for no apparent reason she pees on the kitchen floor! Sometimes right after or shortly after we've come in from outside. My theory is that she just doesn't have the bladder control yet nor does she know yet that potty is outside--even tho we have a small celebration each time she goes outside! 

I'd love to know when your pup stopped having accidents and did they ever start letting you know when they need to go outside? like maybe sit at the door or whine at the door? --I'm also using the crate less for her naps during the day since she's always by my side and ends up falling asleep near me. I don't think that has anything to do with it as we still immediately go out when she wakes but thought I'd mention!

Thanks!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If she doesn't yet know that "potty is outside" only, then she isn't going to tell you that she needs to go outside. :)

There are three parts to housebreaking: Teaching them that potty outside is correct, teaching them that potty inside is wrong, and using a good odor neutralizer specifically made for that purpose on the spots where she's made a mistake, so that she doesn't return there. I've always used Nature's Miracle. 

Just cleaning it up isn't enough; you may not be able to smell anything, but a dog's sense of smell is 5000 times stronger than ours, and trust me, she can.

In order to teach a puppy that potty inside is wrong, you must catch them in the act. Every indoor accident that you don't see is a missed teaching opportunity, and reinforces the behavior. So you must not allow her to have an opportunity to make a mistake; that means crating her when you cannot watch her closely, or tethering her to you. When you catch her about to go, or actually going, verbally correct her. You don't want to yell, and we never use words like "bad dog". Simply make a fairly loud sound "EH EH!" to startle her, and then rush her outside. If she finishes outside, throw a party. If you are consistent, it won't take long for her to catch on to "Potty inside wrong, potty outside right." 

You also want to always be outside with her so that you can reinforce the correct behavior, i.e. going outside. It also helps you keep track of her "output" and know when there may be a health issue. 

Try to always take her outside through the same door, so that once she understands what is expected, she will go sit by that door when she needs to go out.

A lot of people seem to feel that hanging bells on the door is helpful, but I have never used them and don't see the point, unless your home is so large that it's not possible to keep track of where your pup is at, lol. Bells do not teach them that pottying indoors is wrong and pottying outside is right. It just gives them a way to let you know they need to go once they are trained. You still have to train them. :) To back up what I am saying, I can tell you that I have never had a puppy who was not reliably housebroken by 14 weeks of age, and the last pup I had was fully housebroken by 11 weeks, although I can't take full credit for that because her breeder started housebreaking training before she even came home. 

It's also important to try to regulate her bowels and bladder by feeding at consistent times and sticking to a scheduled routine, even on weekends. So no free feeding, and no sleeping in on weekends. 

I hope this helps. 

[Sookie]

Thank you! Quite helpful :))

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Desi - our boy - took forever (at least it seemed like that) to be truly reliable. We'd take him out and he'd pee, sometimes twice. Then we'd bring him in and he'd promptly pee - not every time but often enough to be frustrating. By 12 weeks or so, he seemed to be getting the idea and we'd go days without an accident, then out of the blue he'd pee (or occasionally poop). He had a doggie door and could go out on his own so there wasn't a reason for the accident. The days between accidents increased and eventually he stopped. He was probably five months old or so before we considered him reliable.

When Desi was nine months old, we brought home Cori. She was a completely different story. I think she had only four accidents in all - and at least two of those were human error.

Good luck!!

[Valery]

We used bells on the door for our previous doodle. I feel like that helped to let us know when he had to go out. It took a bit for him to train, but that way we weren't guessing. But as he got older, he would ring the bell just to go out and play or sniff around. LOL

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's one of the things I dislike about them. I've had friends who used them and had that same problem, the dogs always ringing the bells just to go out and play in the yard. 

I made a similar mistake with a previous dog in using treat rewards for "going" outside. As an adult, she would ask to go out simply to get a treat, when she really didn't need to go. She would even do a little "fake" peeing when she knew I was watching her, squatting and forcing out a few drops, just to get that treat, lol. They are smart dogs! 

[Valery]

Oh man, some dogs are smart. Or just manipulative, in a good way. LOL. 

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Our Sedona did the exact same thing. Boy, did she have US trained. With Desi and Cori - no potty treats!!!

[Lisa & Sunny]

We also used bells to train our puppy.  She caught on pretty quickly, but then she also pretty quickly figured out she could the bells just to go out and play.  She is 5 months old now, and within the past month she just suddenly quit using the bells.  Now she just sits by the door and gives us a look.  If we don't notice the look soon enough, there may be an accident, so now we are missing the bells.  It was nice to have an audible cue.

[Dolly Dykhouse]

Henry has had similar issues. We have gone as long as two weeks without incident and then boom, multiple pee accidents in one day! One was even on a dog bed we keep in the bonus room upstairs...totally surprised me! It seemed so out of character that I was mentally going through the "what's different right now list" and realized that he began serious private training that week, was teething and loosing teeth each day and was exhibiting signs of sexual maturity (he's 22 weeks) all in the same week. I don't know if his puppy brain was just having an unusal amount of stimulation on everything from hormones to teething pain and processing new commands/training? Henry has been very alpha-male since the day we brought him home at 9 weeks and I thought maybe his feeling so much lack of control in mulitple areas like formal training, teething, hormones raging might be at the bottom of it. Maybe someone who has been down this road has more info and experience than I do?

We hung the bells from the back door as we have a two story house and my thought was as he grew older and had more access to the house I would need an audible cue if I was anywhere but in the kitchen or family room. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

When you think about it, most dogs who are bonded to their owners, which I think includes most doodles, are usually wherever you are anyway, and most solidly housebroken dogs will tell you when they have to go. All of my dogs have let me know by standing in front of me and staring at me. Those who didn't hang out with me all the time, like JD, will come to wherever you are and do their best to get your attention. This may sound scary to puppy owners, because there's a certain amount of urgency involved with puppies, even those who are fairly well housebroken. But they can "hold it" longer and longer as they get older, (a solidly housebroken adult dog will "hold it" just about forever rather than soil his home) and it's really not a problem once you get past puppyhood. Til then, I think they need to be watched all the time anyway, lol.  

[Lisa & Sunny]

Yes, that is exactly what my puppy (5 months old) is now doing!  She used to ring the bells, now she just stares at me.  Sometimes she jumps up on my lap to get my attention, then goes to the door, sits down, and fixes me with that stare.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's great for a 5 mo. old!