We are having the hardest time potty training our lab. She is 3 months old. Half the time she tells us she needs to go, and the other half she's all of the sudden peed in 3 different places within a 10 minutes span of time! We constantly watch her, she isn't aloud to wander around the house without our supervision. She gets a treat everytime she pottys outside. We also have to restrict her water so that we can monitor her better in regards to how much water she has had in relation to how frequently she pees. It's almost like she doesn't empty her bladder all the way so she has to go several times. What gives???????
Our pup is 16 weeks old. I would say we’ve pretty much cracked it but she still has the odd accident (I’m talking maybe one a week, if that). At 12 weeks it was still a bit hit and miss but as her body matures a bit more in the next few weeks it should make all the difference. You’re nearly there! I didn’t restrict/monitor Bailey’s water intake as such but I did pick up her water bowl around 8-8.30 to help her through the nights. I hope this helps
I have to ask if you are giving her treats whenever she goes to potty. We got our 4th lab last Tuesday(January 2, 2018) at 8 weeks. He is now about 70% house trained. We started him the day he came home with treats(cheddar cheese chunks/apple/carrot/hotdog) every time he went potty outside. We said: "Go Potty”. Then: “Good Potty”, and a treat. Now he pretty much pees on command outside, and head for the door and even whines to go out, when he has to pee. We do the same for POO but we call it BIG Potty. We take him out after any naps, after any play, and after eating or drinking a lot of water. Unless we are watching him, he is tethered to us in a 6 foot leash. He began to look forward to potty, and sometimes he will try to potty but nothing comes out, but we give him a treat anyhow. I recommend TRAINING THE BEST DOG EVER: A 5 week Program Using the Power of Positive Reinforcement by Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz and Larry Kay.
I do have to qualify what I said above, by asking where the dog came from. We got our current Lab from a very conscientious breeder who actually offers a 3 year guarantee agains hip, eye and other concerns. As a part of it, before we got him, the breeder(and the dog mother) taught all the puppies to use a litter spot 5 feet from their bedding. If one is able to pay full price for a AKC registered pup who was pre-trained by the breeder, then potty training will be enormously easier. If this did not happen, it can still happen with positive reinforcement, it will just take longer.
I don’t know what gives. Every puppy is different, and some are better at it if they were trained before you got them at 8 weeks. We take RijL out in the morning before breakfast, about 5 minutes after breakfast, lunch, dinner, after any nap, after any play session(or more than 10 minutes of play), after he drinks water, and any time he seems to be nosing around and hasn’t gone out(according to the journal). So we keep a potty journal near the door so we all know when the last pee or poo was. Unless he is playing, he is on a 6 foot tether to us all the time. And, like I said above, he is rewarded with a small piece of combination of either hotdog, apple, carrot, turkey, or cheddar cheese, after saying “Good Potty” or in the case of Poo, Good Big Potty”. Right now RijL is sleeping in his bed, and its 4:30 PM. When he wakes up, he will go out. And if its at 5:00 PM, I will hand feed him, and then 5 minutes later take him out again( and every 15 minutes after that until he Big Potty’s(Poo)).
I really wouldn’t restrict her water because it can cause health problems. I wouldn’t expect a 3 month old to indicate that they need to go outside. At that age I’d still be taking responsibility myself for taking them out to wee when they wake from a nap, after a play, after food -and probably about every 30 minutes in any case unless they were asleep.
