Why won't our puppy go potty by himself outside?

Question

We have a 12-week-old bull terrier and are trying to potty train him. He has never gone to the bathroom when inside his crate, but outside the crate he has problems with when and where he is supposed to go and not go. If he has an "accident" in the house, he will go when no one's there in the same room, yet when we take him outside to do his business, he won't go unless someone is out there in the yard with him. If we just let him out, he will stay on the porch, even if he has to go to the bathroom. He will sooner wait and go have that "accident" after he's come back in the house rather than do it in the yard on his own. Ultimately we want to him to be able go to the bathroom outside by himself, and we want to be able to do this with the least possible amount of crate confinement. Suggestions?

Thanks everyone for the helpful hints!

Answer 1

That's how we trained my dog.

If he were inside using the floor for the bath room we would sternly say NO and then as we say that carry him outside, and we would wait to make sure he would go. THen give him praise and say GOod Boy after we saw him go outside.

Answer 2

I have potty trained several puppies. A puppy that age needs to pee and poo at a couple key times and your job as an owner is to get him outside immediately. After a play session, everytime the puppy wakes up from a nap. Let me tell you from experience, watch, you cannot get the dog out quick enough. Don't lolly gag, when you see the puppy's eyes open, head for the door. If time permits (I strongly recommend) take the puppy out every few hours. The idea is avoiding accidents. The more accidents your dog has, the harder it will be to break. Anyways.. Keep the dog on a leash in one particular area and repeat pee pee and poo over and over again (even after you get sick of saying it). You will feel like an idiot, but this is important...(I can get all 3 of my senior dogs to pee or poo on command because of this training. Makes it easy to get out of the house quickly if needed.) Do not let the puppy lay down, keep him moving repeating the phrase... Do not bring the puppy in or play with him until it has pee'd and poo'd. This may take an hour, patience. Trust me, by following this, any puppy can be trained in a week. When the puppy goes, praise, praise, praise. Once the puppy has done both immediately bring inside. If you want to let him back out to play, that is fine, but make sure he is brought inside after doing his business and then let him back out. You need to make him understand that he has a job to do outside. Once he is trained, he will understand that he needs to go outside. It may take a little more time since your dog has had so many accidents. But 1-2 weeks of this and you won't have to worry. Bull Terriers can be stubborn, so you will need extra patience.

Answer 3

WHen gone put him in the crate, and at night. When you take him out put him straight outside and do not let him in til he goes. Mine sat on the porch for and hour atleast before he finally would go. He will start to learn that after he goes he gets to go back in the house. After awhile he will go sooner than later because he wants back in quicker. Be patient, this is prime potty training age and at that age they are like crawling babies, never to be left in a room alone since you need to watch what they are getting into. It will help cut down on ruined household items and potty accidents. Make sure to love on and reward the pup for going potty outside and make sure to use a steady word for it and don't change words. If you call it potty to him always call it potty so he learns what it means.

Answer 4

Our little girl needed an escort outside while training.
That is normal. Take puppy to where you want him to potty and stand there until he does, then praise that he went potty.
My friend is a vet and said you actually praise the pee, not the dog. Clap over the spot he went, and say good potty! with plenty of excitement. If he tries to head back toward the house before potty, take him back to his spot until he does and offer encouragement. He will get it, usually by 6 to 8 months he will go out by himself. First thing out of crate either morning or when you have been out is potty, and first thing after eating and drinking, consistency is the key. good luck.

Answer 5

Well he is still quite young and will have some accidents. However, while you are trying to potty train him you need to go outside with him so that when he does go potty you can praise him and tell him he is a good boy. It will take some time before he is confident to go outside by himself. My puppy who is 7 months old just started going outside by herself. If your puppy has accidents in the house take him outside immediately and stay outside until he uses the restroom. You should also use some sort of enzyme remover on the spot that he has the accident. You should also take him outside after eating, waking from a nap, playing, chewing or any activity. Puppies especially at this age need to go outside often, however, as they get older they will need to go outside less often as they learn to hold themselves more. Good luck.

Answer 6

A young puppy should never be left to roam unsupervised in the house. One of the reasons is that he will select his own bathroom inside the house! He should never been in a room without people. As he learns the rules of the road you can allow him more freedom, but for the time being keep him with you. This can be done by closing doors or putting baby gates across doorways or getting an X-Pen. You can also tether him to your waist with a leash. It's important that he is always where you are. Dogs often select parts of the house where people rarely hang out as an indoor bathroom and it's hard to get the smell out of the carpet to a degree that he won't want to keep going back there.

Right now your puppy needs you to go outside with him and wait until he relieves himself before you come back in. Letting him out by himself is like letting a 2-year-old child go outside without an adult. Do not come back inside until you see him relieve himself. Remember that he is an infant right now, and he needs you to be there. He will gradually learn that he can go out and poop in the yard by himself but right now he is a baby who needs someone to be there with him. (Raising puppies is not for the feint of heart!)

Crate training, done properly, is a good thing. I agree that it's a bad idea to crate a dog 10 hours a day while you're away at work. But if you put him in his crate for naps and immediately take him outside when he wakes up, you're on your way to a nicely house trained dog.

I have two crate trained dogs. My big dog's crate doesn't have a door on it and she goes in when she wants to take a nap. I have a small dog, and his door is closed at night, but all I have to do is say, "Go in your room!" and he darts in there. I give him a treat every time and he just loves his little crate. I've never used it for punishment, just for safe rest times.

That's what I encourage you to do... help him understand that his crate is a pleasant place to chill. As he gets older and his house training is under control you can leave the door open and just let him come and go as he pleases, and only close it when you need to contain him for brief periods of time.

Answer 7

You need to set a schedual. They thrive on this. Water can be givin 6 to 8 times a day. After 5 minutes of drinking, Take him on a leash to one spot in the yard and tell him to go potty. Dont rush him and dont play. Wait till he goes, and praise. He can be fed 3 times a day till hes 6 months old. About 45 minutes to an hour after eating, he'll have to eliminate. Take him to that same spot and wait. Or take him for a walk. This will stimulate him to go. Please take a baggie with you to pick up after him. If he pottys outside and the second you go inside he goes again, Dont worry... he'll grow out of this. You need to realize that dogs never ever run out of urine. Tie his leash to your belt loop so hes not roaming around the house alone. Then you can always keep your eye on him. Good luck

Answer 8

You need to take him to the exact spot. A good way is to find the area he last went in, and take him directly to it, saying 'potty' or whatever command you use. He needs a reminder of why he's out there, and the scent should help to trigger his memory. Praise him effusively when he goes, then pick him up and immediately take him inside. This creates a connection for him between going outside and toileting. Try to keep play and toilet separate outdoor behaviours. Good luck, hope this helps

Answer 9

Well he's quite young still and still being trained.
I used the puppy pads for a few months inside, they have something in them (a scent) that draws the puppy to them to use the bathroom on them, I used 2 big ones together so he wouldn't miss, then eventually went to one then (about 2-4 wks later) eventually took that one outside and he never went inside again till this day. When he does go on the pad or outside praise him immensely so he knows he did the right thing.

Answer 10

Ultimately, he will go by himself. But for now, while you're training, you're supposed to go out with him. If you don't tell him "go pee" and then give him lots of praise the very second he does, how is he supposed to know when he's doing the right thing? That's how you teach him - so go with him - he'll get trained really quickly if he gets praised for doing it right and this stage will pass.