When should I expect to see results when housebreaking my puppy?

Question

I have a 14 week old female pug. We have started taking her out to go to the bathroom and use the phrase, "Potty Out" for it.
I know she is a bit young to start housebreaking, but we figured why not get a start.
How long does it normally take? I know every breed and every dog is different, but is there a general consensus on time frames?
Any other advice on it would be welcome too. We do use a crate also.

Answer 1

I like the way you asked the question. Many people expect to have a puppy house broken in a week. The time it takes is in proportion to how much effort you put in to it. Every time your puppy does her business in the house, you are reinforcing the behavior. Pay close attention to her when she is out of the crate. Watch for the signs that she need to go. Move fast. Get her outside. In her crate remember that puppies can only hold their bladder for one hour longer than their age in months. Your puppy is 3 months old so can only be in the crate for 4 hours before she needs to be let out.

Answer 2

Your puppy is definitely not too young to start housetraining!! What she is too young for is perfection because she doesn't yet have a lot of bladder control. But by this age I've had puppies housebroken already (except for the odd accidents).

You need to keep her in the room with you and watch her. Take her out after a nap, hard playing, a long drink or if she just hasn't been out for a while. You're already using a phrase to get her to go and that's great, make sure you give her lots and lots of praise the very second she pees, then come right back in. This was she learns to differentiate between play time outside and potty time outside.

If you're very consistent and are able to get her out most times, it should only take (on average) a couple of weeks for a puppy to catch on. The key is positive reinforcement, rather than correction because that's how dogs learn best. You're also building a trusting relationship with her that will help you in future training. Good luck - sounds like you're well on your way.

Answer 3

Each dog is an individual. My Golden learned in less than a week where as I am still working with my now 6 month old pomeranian.
Patience and repitition is key. Your puppy is not too young to learn how to potty outside. This is the Ideal age to teach them.
With my golden it was quicker because I had the time to take him out every three hours on the dot. (puppies especially small breeds have very tiny bladders and cannot hold it for very long)
Crate training is useful if the crate is not too large for the puppy. A lot of times the puppy will use one corner and still have plenty of room to sleep in another. the general rule is ther crate must be large enough for them to lie down with their paws in front of them. If it is larger it probably won't be helpful (after all dogs do not like to defecate where they sleep). If you go long periods without being home have someone come over and let your puppy out. Most of all be consistent. If he is allowed to potty in the house when you are not home or in the crate he will learn that it is an acceptable behaviour and continue to do so.

Answer 4

I agree with everyone else... a puppy is NEVER too young to start training. You have to establish boundaries as soon as the puppy enters your house. I have a 5 month old puppy right now and she is just now getting it. lol She has been doing really well for about a month or so and just recently stopped having accidents. My vet suggested giving her a small treat right after she uses the bathroom (outside) and praising her a lot. That helped her a lot, I think. Just make sure you don't give her treats all the time otherwise she will expect it. Now my husband and I can take her out and say "Go potty" and she'll go. : )

Answer 5

It's never too young to begin potty training!

Every dog is different, but the general age that they can be expected decent results is 4 months as their bladders are able to "hold more water" at that age.

Make sure the pup goes out after every meal, nap, drink and play time as these are common times for the need to potty to occur.

We took our BC puppy out every 30 minutes or so until she was almost 4 months. After 4 months, accidents will still happen, but become much less frequent.

Answer 6

I started housebreaking my golden when he was 7 weeks it took him about 3 weeks to learn, I also have a havanese(small dog) got him at 11 weeks and he learned in less than 2 weeks. It just really depends how often your there and can take them out. I took my dogs out every half hour to hour, even in the middle of the night.
My sister has a pom and leaves her in a crate all night(over 8 hours) and a lot during the day. She has had the dog for a 2 months and she is still not housebroke. Shes a very smart dog she just needs consistency.
If she does good in the crate(does not pee) Then I would leave her in there at night, but any time they wake up they need to go right outside I just picked up my dogs and went straight outside. They also really need to go out really bad after they play.
When your dog does "gos" in the house you need to catch her in the action of doing it and tell her no then, if you do it after she is done it will confuse her. Then you need to pick her up and take her outside even if she is done. Good luck housebreaking it can get frustrating.

Answer 7

She currently does not have the muscle strength to control elimination - that starts to develop around 18 weeks or so. I tell most people to not expect their dog to be trained until over 1 year of age.

The keys to housetraining - praise for going in the right place, prevent accidents from happening. Simple in theory - not so simple in practice, of course. If she isn't in the crate, she must be in someone's eye sight. She can't get in the habit of eliminating indoors if she doesn't have the chance to do so.

Answer 8

no you ALWAYS start straight away!!! that is the right thing to do it took one of my dogs over a year but we got her old so that was an extreme but my other dog picked it up about 5 weeks after but of course still had a few accidents so just time max a few months!and doing things like everytime you take it out say a certain word like free or even toilet so that get used to going when you really want them to like before you bring it in at night may they will just go and you will have no midnight accidents!!

Answer 9

results come when you are 1 day from giving the puppy away. They will break down your every last bit of patience before finally seeing the light.

Generally though, about 3 weeks if you work on it every day (take outside and reward, good job with the key word).

Answer 10

We have an 8 week old puppy now that we are house training and he is doing pretty well.
Accidents do happen. They get better.
We take ours out every couple of hours.
After he wakes up from a nap we take him out.
Be patient and just keep working with your new one.
Give them lots of love.