Source
r/puppy101•
dlm

Strategies for getting younger pup to consistently signal he needs to go out to potty

13-week-old Old English Sheepdog boy, got him at 8 weeks old. He's crated overnight and for a pair of two-hour stretches during the day. At all other times, someone is home with him.

The issue I am running into is that, once or twice a day, my pup will pee inside the house while making almost no attempt to signal beforehand his need to pee.

He's taken out proactively in the 2 hours after meals, before he looks like he might need to go out. He's definitely taken out when he shows the slightest intention (circling, sniffing, walking toward the door, stopping what he's doing and looking at me). I've even got a bell on the door that he's slowly figuring out. When he does pee, he gets immediate reinforcement (treat / praise). He seems to understand that outside is for peeing.

But when he's awake and active, even lightly active, there are these one or two moments each day where he will abruptly stop whatever he's doing and pee a few seconds later.

He's not looking for a specific location, he's not whining, he's not barking, he's not circling, he's not going to the door to indicate his needs. The areas he pees on are thoroughly cleaned with an enzyme cleaner. I've asked the vet during checkups about a UTI and she doesn't suspect a UTI to be present.

So it's really just behavior. And what I need to figure out is if this is a physical development issue that can only be corrected with patience, or, alternatively, if there are things I can do to remind him to signal his intention.

And just to clarify, he does signal more often than he does not, though it's a very weak signal and results in some false positives.

I'm open to any ideas. Thanks!

Posted Jun 30, 2017, 1:04 AM UTC

27
Cyranodequebecois•

The strategy is time, patience, and gallons of Nature's Miracle.

Your pup is a baby. I doubt HE knows he has to pee before he does so.

The only other advice is to take him out more often even if he hasn't given you any signal. Before being fully house-trained, I learned my puppies biological schedule (through trial and error). I knew she would pee/poop after waking up, an hour later, after eating, etc. I was taking her out 7-8 times a day.

Good luck!

2
fishfluke•

I feel your pain. Have a 6 month old black lab and he would go to the bathroom in our bedroom constantly. We went with the bell on the door and the whole thing with that. Was going good with it until he stopped ringing the bell. It went like that for a few weeks and suddenly he has matured. Rings the bell when he has to go out. Lets you know that he needs to go. Rings the bell and stands by the door. Wait it out. Still a puppy it will all come together for you.

1
Just_Cos•

I'm getting a pup in Oct and I think the bell is a great idea! Were there anythings you did to help train that behavior? Super interested!

1
fishfluke•

When we got the bell we would take his snout and rub it on the bell. We would also say potty when doing the above. When he would start going to the bathroom again we would say potty. and when he was finished gave lots of praise/treats. Eventually it clicked with him and been accident free for a good bit. We were lucky cause there is only two people living in the house and we were both on the same page with what to say and do. Consistency is key to getting him to understand that my bedroom carpet is not the place to take a bathroom break. My only complaint is that he would ring the bell harder cause its sometimes hard to hear it with the tv blasting and the ac in the window.

2
Cyranodequebecois•

Took about two weeks for my girl to learn at this age. Everytime we took her out we would make her 'touch' the bell first.

Of course, then she started ringing all the time whenever she wanted to go outside. When that starts happening, if you take her out and she doesn't pee or poop, she goes straight into the kennel for 30min. Take her out again. No pee/poop? Back into kennel. Repeat until they pee-poop. Then she can be free again.

So its still quite a bit of work/hassle, but worth it. Because at that age if you take them anywhere (friends houses etc) you are endlessly worried about accidents. Once they learn "bell" you can just bring the bells with you anywhere and she will use them for bathroom wherever she is.

2
AIDS1255•

I'm going through the EXACT same thing! She is getting better about it, so I think that if you continue with he positive reinforcement it should keep clicking with the pup. I also introduced the clicker recently. Not sure if it helped her progress at all, but it just seems to be a thing that takes time with my pup. She had parvo show up a couple days after I got her and I couldn't take her outside as a sixish week old pup, so she learned that going on the floor of the apartment is okay from that. She's a bit older than 3 months now and seems to almost be out of it. She's a German shepherd husky mix for reference

1
Crowb88•

Sounds like you're doing everything right. Keep in mind he's 13 weeks old. Eventually his bladder will grow, just keep up what you're doing.

1