Hi community! Please forgive me in advance if I sound dramatic. We had two rescue dogs- one a dachschund mix and one a yellow lab. The doxie is 8 years old, the lab is 2.5 years. We wanted a lab puppy so ours would have a friend and playmate- so yesterday we brought home a 2.5 month old puppy. I’ve never had a puppy puppy, even when we got our lab she was 8 months, so the tininess and her being so little has been a lot for me. I don’t know how long it will take to potty train her and I’m worried about giving equal affection to the other two. She’s playful with our lab and they’re fine, the older one wants nothing to do with her. Overall she’s so cute and sweet, and I know she’s going to be great- just having so much anxiety!
How long a puppy takes to 'potty train' depends on a lot of things, including what has been done with for the last few weeks at her first home. Assuming 'potty training' has not yet been started, you can do it in a week or two if you have the time and commitment to let her out every half hour and get up through the night, or a few months otherwise. this is from my puppy guide: This really is easy, if rather time consuming! Your pup will want to wee regularly. The main times are 1) when he wakes up 2) when he’s been fed 3) when he’s been playing. He will want to poo when he wakes up and around 15 minutes after being fed. This is the easy part, you just need to let him out as soon as he wakes up, when he’s been playing and after he’s been fed. If none of the above have occurred for an hour or two, take him outside. This is all most easily managed by spending as much time outside with him as possible. Every time you see him weeing or pooing say “hurry up” (I find this less embarrassing in public than “go wee-wees”!) or similar, and when he’s finished “good boy” and give him a biscuit. If he wees somewhere he shouldn’t, a quiet “ah-ah” and gently carry him to where he should have gone. He’s probably finished by now, but if he does ‘resume’ then “hurry up- good boy” biscuit Don’t yell at him or grab him, it’ll only make him hide from you to toilet. During the night, let him out for last wees just before you go to bed. For the first week, I would recommend setting your alarm for 2am ish, and take him out quietly for a wee. Keep the tone down, no snuggles or play, just a wee and back to bed. Get up as early as you can and let him straight out then. If he has already had an accident before 2am (he may do if he is stressed with his first nights away from his brothers and sisters), set your alarm for an hour earlier and try to beat him to it! If he has been consistently clean for the first week, then by the second week, he should go from midnight to 6am no problem. It’s like having a newborn baby, but you have the comfort of knowing that it’s only for a few weeks, not years! It really is worth being obsessively consistent about toilet training. It can be done so quickly if you get it right, or take months if you don’t.
I’m a first time dog owner so was pretty anxious about taking on Dennis a 10 week old black lab a couple of weeks ago. I was expecting to get up in the night to take him out but he seems to have good night bladder control. We created a toilet area in the garden and certainly first thing in the morning and every first trip outside he seems to know to go there and perform!
Thank you! I’ll have to try these ideas. She’s pretty good about going when we take her outside- just trying to figure out how to get rid if the urine smell in the house...
It's important to clean up thoroughly after every accident because if the house smells like a 'toilet place' to a dog, they will continue to go there. And dogs have sensitive noses - much more sensitive than ours! Whilst you can buy expensive sprays and things in the pet store, you can make your own cheap version by using liquid laundry detergent and mixing it up with some water in a spray bottle. There are enzymes in this which will break down the smell of the pee. If you live in the UK, be sure to buy a biological laundry detergent because the non-bio won't have the same enzymes in it.
