How long did it take you to toilet train your pups? We have a nine and seven week old, and getting very frustrated with everything...Have we taken on too much, starting to regret getting them which we really don't want to do

Char has been accident free since about 16 weeks old, but I know some are still having accidents up to 6 months. I know with Char it was only pee, he never had poop accidents. But he would pee seemingly without any warning. I couldn't figure out when he had to go so I decided to try bell training. He did really well with it and that was our turn around. Try to be patient, it will get better.

Thunder will be 6 months old on Oct 14th and we are down to two pee accidents every other day(This is a big accomplishment being when we got him at four months he was having about 6-8 pee accidents).

Also Husky's(not sure about mal's) are known to be a bit more difficult then other breeds to house train. Give it time and be persistent, also know what to look for, do they do the pee pee dance or run around like crazy before they have to go, Thunders gets restless and mouthy(Starts biting arms) when he needs to go out, its up to you to pick up on this though.

It really will vary from individual to individual plus there are a whole host of other variables that affect how fast they learn that are dependent on you, the owner, such as frequency of trips outside, reward, crating, setting them up for success, etc. Some people have a housebroken sibe at 10 weeks and others don't learn until a good 20 weeks.

7 and 9 weeks old is way too young to expect a puppy to be potty trained. For starters, a puppy should leave it's mother between 8-12 weeks of age, ideally as close to 12 weeks as possible. So given that, one would assume you've barely had yours long enough to be getting frustrated already. How long have you been working on potty training?

Freya is 5 months and she is about 90% trained. She has about 2 accidents a week. Mostly wees.

I got Cally at 6 1/2 weeks and she only ever had one poop accident in the house, and I would say maybe a dozen (if that), pee accidents. I didn't have her crate trained, she had free roam of the house and I just kept consistent with taking her out all the time. Also, every time they do their business outside give lots of praise!! Even treats if you really want, make the hugest deal ever! Keep consistent with them, take them out after they sleep, after they drink lots, after they play, after they eat, after lots of running around. And besides that every 1-2 hours is a good place to start. Remember, potty training is a part of the commitment that you took on when getting not only one, but two pups! I hope that you with patience and consistency you can overcome this!

Luna is at 85%, I'm happy with that for her age. I think we will be at 100% in about a few weeks. When she want to pee or poop she do to the front door and lay there.

Thane got at 100% at 4 months. It was a struggle because most days felt like I was making little to no progress but he made it, Hang in there! They will get the hang of it and you just need to stick to the routine you have set. Later on you will look back at this stage and laugh.

Callie is 5 months old and we're still working on it. I know it can be stressful but stick with it. Now Cal has at least started telling us when she needs to go out by going to the door. If we miss the warning, she goes by the door as if to say "oh well, I tried." I have noticed that for the past few days, it's no longer been the deliberate squat wherever I want attempt but when I first brought her home, I was lucky if she even sniffed before peeing! With no signs it's very hard to keep on top of her.

I suggest giving it a lot more time. Both pups are hardly old enough to hold it for even 2 hours' time. Take them out to potty after eating, playing, or napping. If an hour's passed since the last time they went, you might want to try again. Obviously both pups aren't going to be in sync so it's going to be twice the work and you might feel like you're spending more time outside than in but they'll get the hang of it.

other than walking in the door yesterday and ziva getting BEYOND excited, I don't remember the last one we had...and she's only 4.5 months...It's been at least a month since she's had one.

Thanks all for your comments...

We're not expecting them to be toilet trained right away we understand it will take patience. At the moment we're taking them out every half an hour when we're home as well as soon as they have eaten, played and napped! They give no warning when they go, often as soon as we get back inside (after just going) one of them will go again - which is the frustrating part! I was asking to try and guage how long we can expect to need to continue up with this routine before it starts to improve at all. It feels like we go 1 step forward and 2 steps backwards.

I think part of the problem lies in that the pups have free roam of the lino areas of the house while we are at work, and this is causing problems when we are at home at night and in the morning. We're building their dog run this weekend, so they will be outside in the run during the day while we are at work and we're hoping this will make a difference.

Yes I recognise that Milla is too young at 7weeks, I was told she was older than she was so it is what it is. Here you would be hard pressed to find any breeder/owner leave their pups to 12weeks so please don't judge us on their ages - we are aware that she was too young, but she was the last to be picked up from her breeder and the pups had been kenneled bythemselves.

Hunter come from a less than desirable home, had never been outside before we got him - and is consequently very uneasy about the big outside. He was also handled roughly by their children.

Well keep doing what your doing Every puppy is different and matures differently! You may have one pup that ends up potty trained in a couple weeks and the other could take months! Just stay consistent Also, there are a few people that got their puppies at a younger age and I can personally say I'm not judging! I got Cally at 6 1/2 weeks old!

It really will vary with how consitent you are with the puppies, and how well they respond to the training you're giving them.

It took us 9 months to get Embry potty trained. Given he was my first dog, I was 18 and had no idea what I was doing. Two days after I had him I was begging my boyfriend to return him because I couldn't do it anymore. Zoey has never had an accident since we got her at 14 weeks. Ares on the other hand, is welll...Ares. He's been battling UTI after UTI and so he's very on and off with potty training, but he's gotten better since being fixed and only "excited" pees once in a while.

What really helped us was getting our carpets professionally cleaned and using enzyme killed carpet cleaner to get their scent out and start from scratch. Good luck, I know how stressful it is.

Ah just give it time. My eskimo took a week to potty train, I brought him home at 4 months. But my husky is being a plain brat about it, she'll pee outside and after a good ten minutes its obvious she's done so we come in, and after about 30 seconds she starts pooping anywhere she pleases on the carpet. I always place her by the door and then take her outside in hopes she'll at least start going to the door so I know she has to go, but she gives no warning at all, and once we're outside again she just sits there wagging her tail like 'what now?' -facepalm- As for the age thing, I got Yuki at 6 weeks old, a bit early as well. She's 11 weeks now, but I won't expect her to be potty trained until about 4 months. If she's still not by then, well then I'll be back here XD

Mobezilla wrote:

Ah just give it time. My eskimo took a week to potty train, I brought him home at 4 months. But my husky is being a plain brat about it, she'll pee outside and after a good ten minutes its obvious she's done so we come in, and after about 30 seconds she starts pooping anywhere she pleases on the carpet. I always place her by the door and then take her outside in hopes she'll at least start going to the door so I know she has to go, but she gives no warning at all, and once we're outside again she just sits there wagging her tail like 'what now?' -facepalm- As for the age thing, I got Yuki at 6 weeks old, a bit early as well. She's 11 weeks now, but I won't expect her to be potty trained until about 4 months. If she's still not by then, well then I'll be back here XD

Mine is doing the same thing! But she is totally perfect otherwise.

Both of my dogs are crate trained (well, Jenna is in crate training) and though Steele was always out with me when I was home/watching him when he was younger, I could NOT leave him in the house unsupervised. I'd definitely come home to an accident on the floor.

That being said, Steele is now almost three, and only six months ago was he fully house trained where I can leave him uncrated 24/7 and not have to worry about my poor carpet. Of course, the dogs get at least three walks a day when I work, and more if I don't if I see signs he has to go out.

Yes, it took Steele two and a half years to be fully house trained.

Jenna seems to be picking up on the house training thing much quicker. She's only had one accident and it was because I was literally telling my boyfriend that since he let her out of her crate, she'd need to out, and he said no she'd be fine. Yeah... she wasn't fine. Mark learned his lesson. She's only ten months old, and even though I know I can't leave her home uncrated because she'll destroy the house, I'm pretty confident in her potty training.

Thought I'd better check back in. Milla is now almost 11 weeks and Hunter is 13 weeks, we still have a long way to go but we're perservearing. They both know weeing inside is naughty and will stop straight away if they are caught (except for the puppy pads). Sometimes they will tell us when they need to go out, other times theres no sign or it's too subtle for us to notice yet - but we're getting there. They are both much better at night time than they were previously. Theyarent crated as I said, the dog run is about half completed, should be finished this weekend so they will be in the run during the day while we're at work from then on - which will hopefully clear up the confusion we have currently with them being forced to go toilet inside while we're at work. We're aiming to have them toilet trained by 6 mths, hopefully...

Why do you have puppy pads?

Juneau was potty trained by ~4 months. As long as you're consistent, you can achieve your goal!

First things first though... Remove potty pads, please. This makes your pups think it is OK to pee in the house (it's inside, right?). You want them to pee outside. Give them praise & treats when they potty outside! Every time! I went to Petsmart and bought these "training treats" with a count of 200. 1/2 calorie each treat. They last a while lol.

I ALWAYS kept an eye on her in the house when she was under 5 months. Now she can roam about the house without peeing/pooping/chewing stuff up. Of course, I still check on her every 15 minutes or so to see what she's doin'.

Good luck!

As I said we're not home during the day so they either wee on puppy pads or the floor! I know they're not ideal, but that is the situation until the dog run is complete and then they will be outside during the day. My husband and I both work full time, and don't think it's fair to keep them in a crate all day - puppy day care doesn't exist in this part of the world so we make do with what we have.

Are they not crated?

A couple of things that have helped with my progress...

Like Jennet said, the enzyme agent is very important. When they do go inside, make sure to spray it with Nature's Miracle (available at local Pet supply chains) so they don't smell that spot and think it's ok to go in that area the next time. We're still young enough that we have occasional accidents (thankfully not many), but I notice Kodi finds a new place each time. However, outside we use the same area of the yard and it's like the scent hits a trigger in his brain -- he smells *that smell* from where he went before and its almost like an involuntary reaction.

The other thing that I think has helped has been to make them potty first outside -- and then spend some time outside playing with them. My husky LOVES to be outside, especially with the cooler weather. From what I have read if you hurry them back inside immediately after using the bathroom, they start to associate going potty with having to go inside. If they want to stay out, they will prolong the process - making the owner more irritated or thinking that they don't need to go. Only to come back and go inside.

Good luck!!!

mheath0429 wrote:

Are they not crated?

As I said they're not crated, a) because we're away during the day which is not fair on them and b) because my husband is against crating.

Are they confined to one room. I didn't crate Cato when he was little, but I did confine him to one VERY puppy proofed room, that if he peed in it it was oak. Puppy pads are reiterating peeing in the house. Accidents are accidents, but not on pee pads.