Question about house breaking....

[ginnie5]

How long should it take? Tucker is 13 weeks now....we've had him since 9 weeks and he still is not trained. If he is loose in the house we're going to find a mess. Somehow before I got up this morning he got off his leash and pooped in the kitchen. Granted he goes outside thru the kitchen door so he was in the general area but......I'm getting frustrated. I don't remember it taking this long with the other dogs.

[suzyhomemaker09]

You keep him tied on a leash inside?
IMO the best results come from crate training for housebreaking.
4 weeks seems an awfully short time to expect a pup to be housebroken.

[TedH71]

Pups won't be housebroke until the age of 6 months to as late as 8 months as a general rule. It also depends on what breed your pup is. Asian dog breeds can be housebroken at the age of 8 weeks. Most dogs take up to 6 months to be housebroken 100%. Crate training helps greatly in teaching a dog to hold it bec it can't get away from it's own pee/poop. They will go in the crate until they're old enough to hold it. Taking the pup outside every 30 mins will help also. Do not let the pup roam the house. Keep the pup in a room until the pup proves trustworthy then expand slowly to the rest of the house.

[Pink_Carnation]

We have had both extremes on house breaking...the first dog was from a late bloomer breed...he got fairly good for messes at about 6 months, he never did fully get the hang of the other but was fairly reliable with promting from us at about 1 year. The other dog a complete mutt we got him at 12 weeks from mom in a home and had 1 accident aside from the diareah(sp).

[Maura]

Male puppies have smaller bladders than females, so they need to pee more often. The larger the adult dog, pretty much the longer it will take to housebreak because they physically and mentally are slower to finish growing.

Your pup should be leashed to your bed or in a crate (didn't you have a problem using the crate in your bedroom?) overnight until you or somebody else takes him, on leash, to his toilet area. Also, whoever is the last person to bed should take the dog out just before hitting the sack. This gives the dog the shortest possible time between potty breaks. Whoever is the first one out of bed in the morning needs to have the "chore" of bringing the puppy outside, on leash, with treat. If the puppy doesn't go, he is to come back inside and be tied to the door handle. He is to be brought out again every ten minutes (use a timer). You should be getting an idea of his schedule by now, but your house is kind of busy to be attuned to the very minute the puppy pottys.

[ginnie5]

Maura, that's what I'm doing.....he's on a leash attached to the bed at night or me during the day. Its the only way I can stop him from wandering off and going somewhere. he absolutely hates being crated and will manage to get the crate across the room or tear his nose up trying to get out of it. The spaces between the bars doesn't look big enough for his nose to fit so I"m not sure how he does it! Bandit was completely trained and trustworthy by about 5 months but I guess this guy is going to do things differently. He is now waking me up at night to go out. he kind of barks till I wake up. Its jsut during the day that we're having issues still. They are getting farther apart though so I guess I just need to be patient.

[Ravenlost]

In my experience (with the exception of our Border Collie, Huck) it takes longer to house train a male puppy than it does a female. And I agree that they usually don't have full bladder/bowel control until about six months.

It just takes patience and lots of potty breaks!

BTW, we only crate new strays and/or sick pets here.

[Maura]

How often is your puppy pooping? A pup on a raw diet will only poop twice a day, and it will be firm and easy to clean up. A pup on a corn based diet will need to eat a lot and will poop out almost as much as he eats.

[Backfourty,MI.]

when our dogs were puppies Dh or I tried to take them out every half an hour. We litterally watched the clock. If we weren't able to watch them or had to go to work then they were in a crate. It doesn't seem like it took to long to house break either one but they are now 7 & 8 years old so my memory is that much older too.

[beccachow]

I feel the pain, we had gotten a chow pup and in my experience they housebreak within a few days. Not this one, though. He FINALLY has it down, at 5 months. I still am going to expect a boo boo here and there, but it took forever compared to the other chows I had. I really think each dog is different and that is that. I left him free run in the kitchen and as I found the wee wee pad dry, gradually moved the gate farther down the hallway. Last night he finally had free run, and no accidents. My biggest problem with him now is he is chewing my daughter's toys, we now have several handicapped Barbie dolls.

[lauriej57]

I agree that males take a bit longer to housetrain. No matter which they are, you have to learn just how it is that they ask to go out. We have 3 dogs right now. Our 3 year old female boxer, she housetrained really easy, she just quietly sits by the back door, assuming you have esp and know she's stitting there. We got her at 10 weeks old, and she was trained by 3 months old. Our 1 year boxer/shepherd mix trained really easy also, she was 4 months when we got her, and she was trained within a month. She never asks to go out, she just holds it, until we asks one of the others if they have to "go" and then she's all over you. Rocky though, our male boxer, who we got at 8 weeks old, took a bit longer, he must've been 5 or 6 months old before he really got it down, for the most part. It was hubby, who is home with them all day, who realized that when Rocky comes up and licks on your arm, he has to go out. It's crazy, but it's true. He never goes to the door, he never whines to go out, he just comes up and licks on your arm, and the more he has to go, the faster and harder he licks. He hasn't had an accident since we figured that out.

I also agree with the crate training. All three of mine are crate trained. The oldest didn't take to it very well in the beginning. The other two had no problem with it right from the get go. Since they are totally inside dogs, it works great for when we have to leave them alone for a bit. The oldest one Missy, she is great left loose in the house, finally. They always get a milkbone when they go to their "rooms". Sometimes, when the milkbone comes out, Missy still runs to her room, which now belongs to Sophie. She loves her milkbones, will do just about anything for one.

Sophie and Rocky will go to their rooms to take their naps, all on their own. Sophie sleeps in hers at night with no problem, especially since we've been having problems with her lately roaming the house, and chewing what she shouldn't.

It really only takes a couple of nights of whining to get them past it. I'll tell you, if Sophie was leashed to my bed at night, my bed would be missing a leg or two in the morning.

[Oregon Julie]

What breed of dog is Tucker? That can make a huge difference in how long it takes.

[beccachow]

I agree with laurie57 that you need to figure out your dog's cues. I can't even explain how I know Cricket needs to go out, I just do from the way he acts. Once I figured that out, the battle was over. DUke will whine, Scooter will pace, each are different.