Toilet training 12 week old pup

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the pads didn’t work just kept getting destroyed. We let her out every hour but she appears to do it indoors more than outdoors. She has weed on my cushions, her vet beds, in her crate, carpet, front door mat etc. She is banned upstairs so that helps. even though she been let out twice within a hour interval and hour later she pooed in crate. Not sure what to do re her toilet training. She doesn’t really give clues she is going either.

However on a positive note she doesn’t cry too much in the night. With food in hand or bowl she will sit and stay while the bowl is on the floor and waits for our command. She will stay till ive counted to 20. She is 12 weeks old now

 

Keep the faith ! She is still very much a baby and as such, bladder control especially can take some time to kick in . I know, its frustrating , the endless puddles to clean up , house smelling like a public lavatory with disinfectant ! You can buy a product at Pets at Home , which will eliminate all smell of urine and poo , this can help a lot in toilet training . No matter how well we clean up , there is always a residual smell left which encourages the pup to keep using the same spot , but this product will get rid of the most tiny trace .

 

An hour is a long time for some 12-week olds. I was still taking my puppy out every 20 minutes or so at that age, as well as after every play, sleep, drink or meal. She took an age to toilet train. You need to be watching her all the time at this age and, if you think "I'll just put this plate in the sink then take the puppy out", then take the puppy out first, even if it means putting the plate on the floor! You will get in tune with her and start pre-empting it, but it really is a case of the puppy going as soon as she feels the urge at this age.

 

Thank you. I still have puppy blues, so find it hard.

 

At 12 weeks old Bailey was still taken outside every 20 minutes or so, plus after playtimes, meals, sleeping. He didn't give any sign when he wanted to go out either, or so we thought, then I figured out that when he came and sat in front of either myself or my OH and just sat staring at us (the Children of the Corn stare we call it), then he wanted to go out. Now he sits, looks and then starts to whine (all within the space of seconds) then he runs and stands under where his harness, collar and lead are kept.

As already said make sure that you are using a special cleaner designed to clean up after dogs (and follow the instructions for use) otherwise although we can't smell anything our pups can and will keep using that spot as a toilet.

You are doing well, keep going it will all be worth it in the end

 

Just to cheer you up @Aella , yesterday while working with a client with 2 sibling pups who are 15 weeks old both of them managed to wee in front of us (admittedly one we managed to scoop up just about in time ) and one did a poo as well . Needless to say this was after the client had been reporting on how successful they had been with toilet training since our last session and as we were switching training from one pup to another. All it takes is a few seconds of distraction but they all get there as their bladder grows and matures and they begin to be able to hold for longer.

 

I know the positive reinforcement is the ideal way to train but sometimes simply rewarding the good behavior and ignoring the bad doesn't get the point across. Our puppy very quickly learned that we wanted her to potty outside. Within a couple days we could take her out and say, "go potty" and she would go immediately. Within a week we didn't have to tell her anymore. She would automatically potty when let out. But she was still having frequent accidents in the house. She had learned right away that doing her business outside was a GOOD thing, but simply ignoring the accidents inside was not teaching her that going indoors is a BAD thing. After a few weeks of this we realized she knew outdoors was good but figured indoors was OK too because there were no consequences. We decided we had to teach her inside was not acceptable by making a fuss. We did not spank her or physically correct her in any way. We just raised our voices and yelled, "No! Bad dog!" and generally acted upset and displeased and immediately took her outside. We only had to make a fuss a couple times and she realized indoors was not OK. No more accidents after that.

 

Why on earth would you yell at a puppy for having an accident indoors? They just don't have adequate bladder control when they're small. Xena knew that toileting outside was good, but the control just wasn't there until she was 12/13 weeks. Many dogs take much, much longer. Jesus wept, I can't believe I'm reading about people yelling at a puppy for having accidents.

@Aella honestly just keep at it. Definitely take her out more frequently (Xena was every 20 minutes at 12 weeks) but very quickly the bladder will improve and the penny will drop and accidents will be a thing of the past. Xena improved massively at 13 weeks. She only had 3 accidents between 13-20 weeks but that was because I was still taking her out frequently. I gave her plenty of opportunities to succeed.

 

So you used a form of positive punishment to toilet train your pup. As a pisitive reward teainer/behaviourist I think I'll stick to reward for toileting outside and ignoring accidents indoors which are the human's fault not the puppy's and advise anyone else to do the same.

 

This really isn’t necessary. You can train a pup to toilet outside without shouting. You wouldn’t shout at a toddler for having a toilet accident, so why shout at a puppy who is at the same stage?

 

Because you can TALK to a human child and tell them peeing on the floor is not acceptable. How is a puppy supposed to know a behavior is not acceptable if you simply ignore it? If the puppy starts chewing on the sofa are you just going to ignore it and hope he stops before there's a hole in it? No, you're going to tell him "no" and take him away from it and give him a chew toy instead to make the point that chewing the sofa is not acceptable. Simply ignoring the bad behavior is just going to leave you needing to buy a new sofa. Same with potty training. It is not cruel to just raise your voice and say, "No!" to a puppy. No physical correction was used. A "No!" is not punishment. It's called communication. How is a puppy to know something is not acceptable if you don't communicate that? They don't read minds. My puppy was not frightened by the loud "no". It simply got her attention and made her realize I did not like what she was doing. Sheesh, you people are acting like I was beating her or something! Calm down everyone.

As I said, she learned to go outside right away but continued to pee inside for weeks. She had no way of knowing peeing inside was not acceptable just because peeing outside was better. I would take her outside to pee and bring her in and just 5 minutes later she might pee again on the carpet. It was not a bladder control issue because she could hold it half the night in her crate without any problem. She just didn't understand that peeing on carpet was not OK. How could she know if I never told her? As soon as I communicated I didn't like it, she stopped. So, apparently that's all that she needed.

 

You can't reason with a baby or a toddler with inadequate bladder control. This is about physical development, not behaviour. To reiterate, it's the owner's mistake when a puppy toilets inside, not the puppy's. I'm afraid you're not going to find much agreement with your method here. The puppy's instinct not to soil the den will kick in as it's nurtured.

Nope, you don't have to tell him "no", which means absolutely nothing to the puppy, unless you yell at him, in which case it will only work if the puppy feels punished by it. As it is, you can simply redirect him onto something else and prevent the behaviour happening by management; deny him access to the behaviour. This is not the same as ignoring the behaviour.

No-one is saying it's cruel, but it is undeniably punishment and you have to own that.

You teach them what to do rather than what not to do.

Do you pee as often at night as you do during the day? Nope. Same with dogs. You cannot judge a puppy's daytime bladder control based on how long they can hold it overnight.

Apologies if you feel vilified, but shouting at your puppy is neither necessary nor, to most of us here, acceptable. "It worked" is not reasonable justification.

 

I'm on puppy number seven now and can say from experience that it's all about bladder control. Some pup's bladders mature quicker than others. Some pups recognise the 'urge' and can then hold it a short time sooner than others.

Once they know where to pee and can wait till they get there to do it, they will.

 

I think this is such an important point. It is a mistake to think that puppies can tell when a pee episode is coming, just as it’s a mistake to think they can control it even if they do recognise it.

 

Just had a tot up , and I`ve had nine pups of my own since I was an adult , plus four rescues , two of which weren't toilet trained . All have differed hugely in their abilities to control their bladders , and differed in their signals that they were about to lose what bit of control they may have had ! In fact , my old Labrador girl Tess was about six months old before she was anything like reliable, not her fault , just the way it was . Yelling doesn't solve anything , apart from confusion and yes, its frustrating when the house stinks of disinfectant and you feel like a lavatory attendant , but its part of the job . Stick at it @Aella , you`re doing fine xx

 

The only part of having a puppy that didn't stress me out was toilet training. I was not prepared for the crying, the biting, the lack of sleep or the never getting a second to yourself but I was prepared for a LOT of pee and poop. I just figured it came with the territory. I'd never heard of a dog that didn't go outside so I just assumed it would come with time.

And of course, it did we just ignored any accidents and cleaned them up without any bother and had pee/poo parties everytime he went outside. Honestly, our neighbours must have thought we were bonkers. When he went we said "wee wee" or "poo poo" and then he had the biggest celebration with lots of treats and praise and kisses. This has been a god send because now if I'm in a rush I can just say Stanley go wee wee and he knows he has to go.

By about 15 weeks he was reliable if we took him out at regular intervals (probably about every hour) and by 20 about weeks the job was done and we didn't have to think about it anymore.

She'll get there, just keep doing what you're doing

 

We took our boy out every 20-40 minutes throughout the day, and then every hour or two during the night. He soon learned where to do his stuff.

 

How very brave of you.

Seriously, a young puppy can't control his bladder so well. So when he pees inside and gets shouted out, yes he knows you're not happy about it, but there's not a whole lot he can do to fix that.

Your puppy wants to do it his best, but can't help himself when young.

Result: During those formative months, he starts to see you as a person who can be angry with him, even if he hasn't done anything intentionally wrong.

 

I used to hold a celebration party everytime Harley went outside, and still do on occasions (and she's 4 years old). If you shout at them they will just not do it in front of you and are more likely to hide somewhere and do it. I know which option I prefer.

 

To be honest there is no need to shout my little girl is only 10 weeks old and is for the most part toilet trained the odd accident we have is my fault as I'm not the fastest at getting to the door and yes I have had her out for like 15 min she comes in and then runs for the door again I just think its a puppy thing I've had a few over the years some hard to train some very easy.
I do remember the old days when oh rub the puppies nose in it that will work thank god we are past that now