Do you honestly think that the time and success of "potty training" depends on the breed of the dog?

Question

Ie : Labs are effortless to house break
Chihuahuas take forever
What do you think?

Thank you all. Appreciated.

This was an "opinion" only question. There was no need for "thumbs down".

Answer 1

Well I feel it depends on the owner. Yeah some breeds learn faster than others but it comes down to the owner taking the pup out every few hours. If you have a lazy owner you will have a lazy learning pup no matter what breed. Haha Every dog or animal for that matter has to pee and poop.

Answer 2

To some extent, Yes. Some breeds are more hard headed than others.

BUT

A lot depends on the individual dog and the individual human. Going into a situation thinking "it's a Chihuahua, so it may never be potty trained" or "It's a lab, it should be potty trained in a week" is going to cause a lot of problems for you and the dog.

Answer 3

Before I came to own so many different breeds of dogs, I used to think it was all the same. Now I do think that it depends on the breed. For instance, my aussie mix, my sheltie, and my heeler all learned in the wink of an eye, and would probably burst before they ever messed in the house.
These are all larger or herding breed dogs, who are very obedient and eager to please.
My pins, on the other hand, are quite the stubborn and opinionated lot. They want to be able to make up their own minds about when they are going to pee in the house. They took a much longer time to train, because the training had to involve basic obedience as well as simple potty training. They also have a tendency to "spite" pee. Once again, the stubborn opinionated personality.

I am sure there are challenges with many other breeds as well.

Edit: Ron-did you get up on the wrong side of the bed today? No one who answered here has shown any idiot tendencies but you.

Answer 4

In my experience...yes. But I'm not sure if it was the breed or the breeder -- how they were raised.

Our pug was never fully housetrained, no matter what we did. My lab seemed to grasp the concept before entering the house (at 8 weeks) and I felt like I was just finishing the training.

BUT I agree that pup's early life has a lot to do with housebreaking. Our pug was a gift from our grandmother, and I suspect it came from a puppy mill. It did not mind pooping in it's crate and sleeping right next to it. So, I think the damage of a puppymill beginning can be near impossible to overcome.

We also had a golden mix who was housebroken from eight weeks. (It was a sort of accidental pregnancy/BYB situation, unfortunately). They were kept in a dog house and the mother made damn sure to sweep the pups out of hte doghouse every time they went potty. They learned housebreaking very young.

And my current lab was from a reputable breeder. I visited them at 5 weeks and they had a seperate area to potty, and even at that age, they knew the difference. At that age, the potty area was only a few steps from the bed area, but they knew the difference. So when she came home housebreaking was almost finished.

Answer 5

Yes and no. With any kind of training you are working with certain limitations brought on by the traits that have been bred most heavily into the breed you are working with.

However, I firmly believe that 90% of the problems owners have with house breaking their dog stems from the owners themselves. They have unreasonable expectations of young puppies. No 8 week old puppy can hold it for 8 hours, yet people are constantly surprised and upset that the poor dog pottied on their floor when they didn't come home from work at lunch or get up at 4 am to let the dog out. The other big problem people have with training of ANY kind, including house training, is consistency. They try one method and don't get immediate results so they try something different. No wonder the poor dog doesn't "get it," they keep changing the rules before he can understand them!

Answer 6

It has been my experience that it has more to do with dogs personality. The more hyper the dog then the harder it is to train. That may or may not be a trait of certain breeds, but I have seen some calm smaller dogs and some hyper larger dogs. I had a MinPin that would only use the rest room on grass. That was something that started off as soon as he left the litter. I also had an Irish Setter that was harder to potty train. As the setter got a bit older she calmed down a bit and it wasn’t an issue.

Answer 7

I think a lot of it is labs or other large dogs tend to be able to hold it longer while small dogs like chihuahua's need to be taken out more often. I also think that large dogs seem to be potty trained more easily because they aren't babied as much as chihuahua's are. You don't see people on here asking if they could litter box train their lab. I think all dogs are pretty easy to potty train but the key is being consistent and teaching the dog that one thing is good. I think when you praise them for going on a pee pad as well as outside it confuses them so they think they are getting praise for going potty in general.

Answer 8

I think to generalize, yes, some breeds are just darn stubborn! My mutt trained within about a week, I have a bassett hound who is about 7 months old and he still has no desire to tell us when he needs to go out. But I also think even more so it depends on the dog, they all have thier own personalities....its just too bad that when you purchase them they don't come with a WARNING book saying, I will thouroughly enjoy pooing on your carpet, but will also love you unconditionally.

I would say researching breeds first though is very important. If you get a dog because it is cute and not known for intellegence, you aren't going to enjoy the dog near as much!

Answer 9

OH YES!!! MOST DEFINATELY!!!! My westie was the WORST to potty train in any dog I've ever had or been around. I've heard that terriers are notoriously horrible to train, which my westie is. Now, at 6 yrs (and from about 2 yrs on) he's fantastic!!! I can let him run around the house all day and he won't have an accident....I'm still occassionally having problems with my doberman, but she also drinks a LOT more water and my prior dobermans' were not as big a problem. My parents have had collies also and say they are easy to train....

Answer 10

some smaller dogs are pretty hyper but i think it depends more on the trainer. Potty training can be made easy by putting the dog on a leash at ALL times and then keeping it in a kennel.... at least until it works. The kennel must be kind of small, otherwise they'll go to the bathroom in it if they have too much room.