At what age should my puppy be reliably house-trained?

Question

She is 4 months old and our first puppy. We have read and listened to a lot of advice but we are still learning!
She is normally kept in the kitchen with a baby gate between her and the rest of the house, and now is now very unlikely to have an accident there (only if she is not taken out often enough). We have been letting her get more and more freedom in the rest of the house (mostly with supervision) and now has an accident every other day there. She is starting to learn that the rest of the house is inside too. We ignore her if we do not catch her in the act and clear up the accidents with a special cleaner. If we do catch her, we make a loud noise to startle her and carry her outside.
Are we on the right track? Should she be trained by now? I am worried that we are running out of time when she is impressionable.

She does have a crate- it is kept in the kitchen and she sleeps in there at night. She doesn't go inside often during the day- only for time out or if she has been very naughty :-)

Answer 1

there is no set age.. sounds like you are on the right track. You also seem aware that when she does have an accident.. its not her fault, its yours for not paying attention or taking her out soon enough.. very good.

By the way, housebreaking can be done at any age. I adopted a 2 year old dog in Oct who was previously paper-trained.. and she'd often miss the papers. She now potties outside.

Answer 2

Your on the right track! Keep doing what you are doing. I'd only add that if you find a time when you are not watching so closely then she shouldn't have the freedom of the rest of the house. This doesn't mean she should be banished to another room to be alone. Get a dog crate andset it in the room with you..use it at night so she can sleep in the same room with you. Remember, every time she doesn't have an accident is a win for you both. At four months I think she should be done, but it really depends on how long you've had her and every dog is an individual. Try to pay closer attention to times she might need to go out..the faster you get it done, the faster you can move onto other things.

A word about dog crates..they should be roomy enough for her to get up and move around easily and you sould buy one that will fit her adult size, the kind with the wire bars she can easily see out of. Crates are not something that's mean and she will come to look at it as her personal space, a place to go to when she wants a time out and to be left alone. Plus crates just make training her to be the dog you'd like her to be in the house so much easier..with or without supervision, whether you're home or not. GL :)

Answer 3

Sounds like you are doing good the only thing I will say is i had a sister who couldn't get her Yorkie house trained
The reason was they would pick the dog up and carry her outside this ended up being a reward for the dog and after the vet suggested putting a leash on him and walking him to the door it not only showed the dog how to get form different areas of the house to the door to go out but in only 2 weeks was trained she had the dog for 8 months.
Also in general a dog gets full bladder control at 6- 8 months.
Good Luck

Answer 4

It sounds like you're doing fine! Potty training is something that you don't want to 'test', really - you always want the dog to be right and you always want to set the dog up for success. It sounds like things are right on track for your gal - keep rewarding the successful potty trips outside. I go to off-leash hours every morning in the Park, and my dogs don't get released until they're empty. They've learned quickly!
Good luck!

Answer 5

There is no set time limit ... every dog is different - even if they are the same breed.
Here's how long my dogs took after I brought them home (all Flat Coated Retrivers) ...
Bailey - 3 weeks.
Crystal - 2 weeks
Logan - 13 months
Lylah - 7 months

Go figure ...

Answer 6

Nah you are doing fine.. Some train faster than others, but I think you are doing good. You are doing the right things, just get her out a little more often, and you'll have the whole thing beat!

Answer 7

The sooner the better because then your puppy will get use to the rules, pluse the learn betterand faster .