Potty Training

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

HELP!! We are trying to crate train our puppy and he will go in his crate now and just sleep with the door open and doesnt bark when he is in it like he did when we first brought him home BUT we take him outside directly and use the bathroom and take him every 2 hours and he still will come in and use it in the house as well. We keep the bedroom doors closed, he is not allowed anywhere but our living areas.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I posed this response to a similar discussion recently. It says "she" instead of "he", but it's my method of housebreaking and it has been foolproof:

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. 

Read more here: http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/general-house-training-que...

[Hua]

Second everything Karen said!  I used this method and both my doodles were potty trained in two weeks.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I echo everything Karen says and would add, be sure to allow time outside to go more than once.  Puppies are easily distracted and sometimes might not finish on the first pee and need to go a 2nd or even 3rd time before coming in.  

[Leslie J]

I’m not sure how old your puppy is, but every two hours doesn’t sound often enough to me. We started by taking Cocoa out every 30 minutes (I work from my home so this was possible for me). If I wasn’t able to do this (running errands, distracted with kids, cooking dinner, etc.) I put Cocoa in her crate. I kept her on the leash until she peed. I stayed outside long enough for her to pee twice when possible as often her bladder wasn’t empty the first time.  If she hadn’t pooped in a while I watched her until I saw her poop.

This sounds like a lot of work, but she got in the habit of going outside and after a couple weeks we stretched it to longer time periods between going potty. 

By the way, your puppy is adorable!

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Yup, go out with him every time instead of letting him out with the Schnauzer. He needs to hear that you are happy, happy, happy when he pees outside! :-)  

Also, just checking... while you are working 13 hours, who is taking care of him? You want to make sure that person keeps the same routine that you do while you are at home.