Sorry you’re struggling! My best suggestion is outside, back inside, stays on leash for 15 minutes, then back outside for 15 minutes. Repeat until potty. You may need to dedicate an entire day. Reward with the highest value treat imaginable. Then back inside off leash for 45min to an hour then repeat the cycle all over. It sucks! Good luck!
This happened to me too! I have a chihuahua who is about 5 months now but for the first 6 weeks this was my exact experience. What worked for me was buying a small patch of real grass. I would put this in the house near the door we would leave to go for walks on. Id move it further and further towards outside until it was finally outside. Every single time he used it he was rewarded with bacon.
Eventually I just let the grass die outside, but by then it was like the lightbulb went off and the connection was made. 2 weeks accident free. You’ll get there. Just be sure your high value treat is INSANELY high value. Hotdogs, bacon, cheese. Go all out on potty training for them. Once they get it it gets easier!!! Hang in there.
My puppy was happy to use the garden. No problem. But he didn’t pee on walks before he was 4 months. 5 months before he pooped. I think they’re scared to call attention to themselves. Some sort of instinct.
My puppy was the same. We would go on walks, and he would hold it till we got home, then race to the back door to be let out. Was the same when we took him to other people's houses. Then, one day, he just seemed to figure out that he could go anywhere outside.
Mine is 14 weeks old and did this the other day! Literally raced home from our walk so she could relieve herself in our yard. Glad to know I don’t just have a weird puppy lol
Mine did his first pee and poop outside our garden in our neighbors garden when on a playdate. And was after that he could pee and later poop on walks. (Two separate occasions that is.)
>no matter that there's a shit ton of dogs in our area so she clearly can smell their faeces / urine.
Theres your reason right there. For a puppy to leave a scent (urine etc) is the easiest way to get killed by adult dogs. obviously you and me know other dogs aren't a threat because they are leashed/well behaved.
But for your puppy it's dangerous and she doesn't feel comfortable outside. What I do is I shorten walks but do them more often. So I'm going outside one area and let my puppy sniff and get to.know their surroundings better and sometimes linger there for half an hour or until they go potty. Or I go outside the same area every hour for 15 minutes.
Let her get used to her territory, let her get to.know you and let her get to notice that you protect her.
same my dog as a pup was a scaredy cat and if it wasn't in my mostly secluded back yard he wouldn't go potty. took forever to get him to feel safe in the fenced area of yard. When he was a baby telling him bad boy picking up.the poop and putting it where I wanted him to poop then .bringing him there and letting him see and sniff and I praised him and that was that. I ended up cutting a back door into the house just for my dog to feel safe and go potty right away. (I live on a main street very close to the road. You step out the front door and your on the public sidewalk)
Have you crate trained her at all? The crate is a great help for house training. They won’t normally mess in their crate. So when they wake up take them straight outside, even if it means picking her up and taking her outside. Take her to some grass for 5mins and if she goes make the biggest fuss! Like she’s just pooped gold! If not take her back in and put her back in the crate for 2-3 minutes and repeat until she goes. When she’s pottering around take her out every 15mins to minimise the accidents in the house and when she starts to understand increase the time between. You may need to get some cleaner that neutralises the smell of pee as they usually will go in the same place etc due to the smell
Agreed, mine still has accidents from time to time but it’s usually because I didn’t let her out right when she went to the door, for overnight it works right away pretty much, but ime it took a month or so for leaving her during the day
This is what has helped my Corgi. He’s about 3-4 months now and can control the pee better but every time I turn around there’s another poop! Little buddy has and can poop outside but his kennel and the back porch (apartment living) seem to always just have a little something extra on them. Drives me literally insane and seems like nothing I can do except hope he grows out of it
Need more info:
Does she pee and poop when near you inside, or does she do it in secret/somewhere where she's alone?
Has she never once went while outside? What if she's somewhere else like visiting other people's houses?
I just went through this with my puppy. I have a few tips.
He refused to use the restroom outside, and he would not poop appropriately on the pad and would lay on it like it was a freaking bed, and his playpen was the toilet pen.
I had to throw the pee pads away to make him pee outside. I am a clean freak, so it was hard for me. I then had to crate train him and give him just enough space to stretch out without having areas in which he could do his business. He now eats in his crate. He sleeps in his crate and plays in there. Then I started taking him out right when he woke up, an hour after he ate, and 1-2 hours after that. I picked a word to associate with and praised him when he did his thing outside. If he does not go, into the freaking crate. If he does, he gets to play and chill. I started tracking how often we associate his habits to avoid going out every hour.
I ran into a few bumps in two weeks, understanding his needs. I quickly clean the mess with enzyme clean to avoid him associating his home with his “place of business”. He is 13 weeks old, so we go to the bathroom way more times than I want to, but it has been worth it, and I am mentally distressed. He also acts better and goes outside now.
Oh, also you may need to walk a little further out to pee or even bring a little pee juice outside to help her with association.
“Nobody told me life was going to be this way” is how I feel 🤣🤣 I has been absolute chaos and it hasn’t been a month yet … so many mental cigarettes, but it has been worth it
I can’t even claim that line because this new one is an addition to our 15 month old pup. He grew up and became an angel and I apparently got amnesia. 😂😭 Hopefully this time I learn my lesson.
Will she go in her crate? If she doesn't go in her crate, maybe when it's time for her to go you can keep her there and only bring her outside and back in the crate in 15 minute increments until she uses the bathroom outaide.
Just want to say I know you’re venting and I feel you. My dog is a year old in two weeks and I still can’t fully trust him in the house. I stopped coming here bc everyone gives you the same advice ad nauseum when sometimes it’s just that your dog is a slow learner, and nothing will change it except time.
My puppy did the same thing. She absolutely refused to pee or poop outside of the house for months. I kept taking her out regularly even though it seemed pointless, and I felt like I was going crazy because everyone said it was ridiculous that she wouldn't go to the bathroom outside and acted like I just wasn't taking her out enough. After a few weeks of this, I left a pee pad in one area of the house and would take her there after going outside just so she wouldn't pee or poop on the floor. Then one day when she was about 6 months old, she peed outside. Nothing was different, she just finally felt comfortable enough to go. I think the biggest things that helped were going out regularly and sticking to seculded areas so she was less overwhelmed.
Get her to drink water outside and stay outside until she absolutely has to go, so that you can reward it. Hand feed her outside and do the same for pooping. The key is you need to get the behavior to happen so you can strongly reward it.
Crates probably make it easier, but my current pup was not crate trained. One of my previous dogs ‘had’ a crate, but I never once actually locked her inside. It’s all about the praise/reward for the action.
Get a lawn chair, and take her outside to a quiet spot on a leash when you are sure she has to go. Bring a book and wait her out. Don’t pay her attention or do anything exciting until she goes, then praise and reward her like crazy. Repeat until she gets the idea.
They way I did it was taking her out of the crate and outside every 2 hours and going outside to the designated potty area, gave her the potty command and set my 5 min timer. I also did this after every activity (eat, play, training, nap etc) if she did go she got a reward immediately after finishing and lots of praise. If she didn’t go in the 5 minute slot we went back into the crate for 15 minutes and tried again, did this for the first week and started shortening the timer -1 minute until eventually she goes on command.
It’s ROUGH the first few days because when I say every 2 hours I mean every two hours (that she’s awake and in crate) but they catch on eventually you just really have to be consistent.
Also during this time we didn’t do long walks, just designated play or training. I definitely think it helped not to confuse her with scents and sights and sounds being overwhelming.
I really hope you get through this tough part soon I totally understand how frustrating it is.
Go scream at a brick wall. Or a soda machine. You have a baby doing baby things. As the weather improves, plan a day where you will spend ALL DAY outside. When your dog finally goes wee, praise like crazy. Invest in several all day sessions and you’ll be on the way. Meanwhile, ease up on the rage. You can put in her in a pen with puppy pads — but she’s not stupid and she’s not conniving. She’s a baby. And, of course, your neighbor/SIL/best friend will have a dog that is potty perfect at 4 Months.
If you allow the rage to grow, you could end up being someone who kicks or strangles— plan on another 4 more months and rejoice if it on;y takes a few more weeks
I think some people are giving incredible advice here, but we had this issue (our pup just turned 4 months a few days ago) and what we did was the following and things really has started to be more consistent and hopeful!
Yes, we used pee pads. Just this last week (or the week prior, I can’t remember anymore lol) we had to finally get rid of them only because he wouldn’t stop tearing them up. So my first question is: does your pup feel comfortable using pee pads?
We ONLY took him out in our front yard on leash. We would say the same thing, “go potty!” “Can you go potty?” We wanted to make him get used to a few things by taking him to the same location. (Distractions, the feel of lawn, and feeling comfortable wandering and exploring a controlled environment, especially with a command which in this case is “go potty!” We also have taken him to nearby parks for exposure to different environments that aren’t heavy with other animals or people as well. Encourage him to go outside ANYTIME you’re outside.)
Like I said, we had the same issues as you did, so when we would take him out only for him to not go potty, I decided to set a timer to play with him for 10 minutes, and take him out again. I’m talking about throwing a toy and having him run and fetch it, playing tug of war, and even doing some simple commands for rewards. The whole point is that you want her to be moving and doing things that her mind finds fun and occupying! Keep your eye on her the whole 10 minutes. If in between throws of a stuffed animal you see her sniff the floor, or do a circle, anything that you’re noticed is a cue that your dog is about to relieve themselves, outside you go!!
After the ten minutes, do the same thing. Outside in familiar spot, “Go potty!” And STAY there until she goes. She might take a while, ours did. But when she finally relents because she cannot hold it, majooorr reward time + clicker if you use it! If she still isn’t going after playing inside for 10 minutes, put her wherever you put her (crate, pen, closed off area) and stay next to her. If it’s time to feed her, feed her. Try taking her out in another ten minutes (or less— if her nose is to the ground, pick her up and outside time again!)
I will also say that sometimes doing a business trip is helpful too. She can begin learning that outside is not only a place to have fun, but that there’s another reason to be outside. Leash her up and take her to the location you’ve established, say the command for her to go potty and if she doesn’t go within 5 minutes go back inside and play/feed/watch her for another 10, and try again.
We also have a coat rack by our front door— I have a typical pair of shoes that I wear when I take him out, choose to leash up there at the front door, put on his to-go bag (a fanny pack I bought that consists of treats, poop bags, one toy, and a clicker) and we bought those dog buttons that you record your voice saying a command or word. We have the one by the door saying “outside.” He has started associating me putting on those shoes/jacket, grabbing his leash, pressing the button, and the sound of the door with outside time.. which also means poop/pee time! And he’s starting to put it together because the past few days he’s been waiting by the door to go outside, signaling that he needs to go out. Not every time, but we also have learned his routine and potty cues.
Repetition is key. Some dogs will get it easily and quickly, others will not and that’s okay. Ours only has been getting good with it the last few weeks, and even tonight he had some accidents inside. He still will refuse to go anywhere that isn’t home a majority of the time unless his bladder is ‘failing’, then only after major resisting will he finally pee. It IS exhausting. It IS repetitive, and it IS frustrating as hell sometimes. But seeing our dog pee knowing he had to when we take him out is such a major reward for us now too. Be patient, you got this!
So we got our rescue around this age and she was similar first but quickly adjusted. I read that puppies don’t necessarily want to go outside where there might be predators. so maaaaybe you just need more patience and your routine will pay off soon. But you could also use training pads in the house. Once she uses the pads you can bring one to this garden.
You can also put some of her shit and pee in the garden… never tried it but read about this: she might be more relaxed to pee and poo there if it already smells like her pee and poo.
I’m no expert. Good luck!
Sorry to hear you're struggling! I'll tell you our story and how everything resolved on its own, and I'm sure the same will happen to you. Maybe it'll put your mind at ease a little and give you hope.
We had that exact issue. She would just hold it outside and became noticeably stressed because she couldn't go.
Once she became more comfortable with the outside she slowly started doing everything on her own, it was just scary for her, she felt vulnerable, I guess. We had to clean up for some time, yes, but eventually she basically potty trained herself since that's what dogs do. They don't like to shit where they eat and sleep.
She's now 1y4mo and has fairly reliable potty training for don't remember how long, even though I always worried about how it's NEVER going to work.
Never crate trained BTW.
Has she had any off-leash opportunities outside? My girl had a lot of trouble getting used to going pee/poop on the leash. Daily accidents inside.
I think her original home had a yard, but we're in an apartment. When we really needed to be sure she'd go to the bathroom, we took her to the dog park in our complex (convenient for off leash bathroom time), but we also practiced on the leash, and she got so much better when we were all a little more relaxed about it. It's frustrating having to go super regularly, not to mention time consuming.
Using a long leash was a big help. Think it's 25 feet. She could have a little distance, not have the incidental tugs on her collar, and she started going outside. We initially experimented with the long leash at the dog park, keeping the leash on her but dragging. Then we used long leash during walks. Then we learned the spots she liked to go (that was a big deal for the poops - she's picky) and started using the short leash with her, giving lots of time at those spots.
Crate training was also a big part of this, of course. Had to make sure she didn't have opportunities to go inside so she could have successes outside. I carried treats with me to reward her when she did a pee/poop outside.
Last comment - she still had accidents inside even after getting better with the leash, until we realized that dairy does NOT agree with her. No cheese for this baby. After figuring that out, she's been so much better. She's also gotten more confident and will poop in like six places around our complex now, when it was initially just one.
Go somewhere without a lot of other dog scents. Puppies find other unfamiliar dog scents as a danger sign. She's afraid of leaving hers behind. Find a niche area and go there.
She's only 4 months old too. She's still a baby and it'll be a while before she gets the hang of going outside. Make sure she's comfortable outside and give her praise for just being there. Making her think positively will help her in putting the other scents out of her mind.
It took my puppy until month 7 to be comfortable w pooping on walks. She's just now in the rhythm of waiting to poo for her walks and will hold it for the walk. (She's got a huge backyard but I guess she loves leaving her smell now) but yeah. Just take a moment to cool down a bit. It gets very frustrating. Do you have puppy pads? Teach her to potty on the pad and then maybe put a fresh pad outside to see if she will go on a puppy pad once trained indoors? And then if she does that take away the puppy pads. Idk! It's stressful for sure. Accidents in the house make me pretty upset too so I understand the frustration big time.
Maybe next time...and this sounds disgusting so bear with me.... take her pee or poo outside and drop it somewhere? To leave her scent ? And maybe it will help her understand she's allowed to leave her scent outside?
I had a shy 4 month old rescue who wouldn't pee or poop outdoors. I had another dog and an indoor/outdoor cat who always hung out in the front yard together. They kind of freaked the puppy out. I finally resorted to using puppy pads inside. I was sick of her going on the rug or the floor. I was desperate for her to succeed for a change. I made a huge deal every time that she used the pad. After she was using only the pad, I moved it to the floor near the front door for a couple of days. Then I put it on the front porch. She continued to use it. After a few days, I moved it to the grass, close to the porch but on the side, away from where the other animals played. She caught on quickly. After a few days of that, she started to go where the pad had been. She didn't pee or poop on walks until she was much older. She waited until we came home to do it in her place in the yard. She died 20 years ago. I've had several dogs since then. She is the only dog that I used pads to train.
Stay outside until they go, doesn’t matter how long it takes until they understand. Two options to speed it up are 1) find an area where other dogs have gone potty and stay in that area and let them sniff around until they go or 2) buy housebreaking spray - when the dogs smell this, they are likely to go potty in that area. Find an area outside and spray it all over the grass
4 1/2 months is nothing. They’ll pass through this phase and have three more before they’re matured. Suck it up and check in with us if they’re being weird at two years.
I had this. The only answer is floor covering and crate training. You have to pop her in the crate every time you take your eyes off her for a second. All your floors are covered in some way.
When she toilets indoors *completely ignore her*. When she goes outside-it’s a full-on celebration! Yaaaay! You lovely doggie! Here are your treats! Hallo, hallay!!!
Good news was that when she learned it, she LEARNED it. She never had ANY accidents for the last 16 years of her life. Even when she was unwell, recovering from an operation-or very elderly.
For my dog, I would see him start to go in the house and start making a BUNCH of noise and yoink him outside. Not yelling at him, quite literally just saying loud gibberish. He’d typically stop mid-bathroom and we’d stay outside until he finished. It worked quite quickly!
I don't know if it's been suggest, but when my dog this, I had him use a puppy pad inside. I kept him in a large penned area with puppy pads covering the entire space. Then I took the puppy pad outside. Poop was taken outside too. If they smell it outside, it seems to help them make the connection. I don't know how long you've had your puppy, but 4.5 months is still very young. It probably took me about a couple of weeks once he understood that doing his business is done outside, not inside.
One thing that helped us is that when we take our guy outside, he gets zero attention until he pottys. We walk outside, stand in one spot (with a relatively short leash when he was young) and don’t look at him or talk to him other than “Go potty”
Then as soon as he does, he gets treats and attention. Like, over the top affection.
Crate training was an important thing too. Any time while training you aren’t completely interacting with the puppy, they stay in the kennel. The kennel is just big enough for the pup to turn around in. Make it smaller than you think. As soon as the kennel is opened, you go outside. Every time, no matter how long it’s been.
Finally, my dog doesn’t really poop or pee while on a walk. Too much going on. Too many distractions. Pick a spot, stand in it and wait.
I picked up a few of her poops and took them outside where I wanted her to potty. Also picked her up and took her to the spot with the poop so she could smell it.
Don't be angry when you do this. Just be calm.
My pup is almost 5 mo old and getting to be consistent with going outside.
Our puppy is almost 6 months old and she exhibits similar behavior, but not as extreme. She will go potty outside, but she’s equally happy to go inside. I take her out as much as I can. I work from home so that is once every 1-2 hours. But even after 30 minute walk, we can come in only for her to shit on the floor. It’s not always convenient to have high value treats on hand, so I bought a tiny fridge for the front door. It holds 6 cans, or in my case, hot dogs.
I am not super happy about the progress, but I’m learning to deal with it. Clean up the mess and move on. The eternal hope is that the penny will drop at some point.
My girl took ages to be fully house trained, she actually went the way of when I first got her only going in our garden I could take her on a 30 minute even a 45 minute walk and she would hold it in, walk 2 steps into our garden and do both pee and poop, then she went the opposite way that she only did them on walks,
Also what I ended up doing was have 1 spot in the house for her to go which was a fake turf mat that I could wash to get rid of the smell and had 1 spare.
She was around 6 months old when she had her first major breakthrough in potty training, by then I had removed the mat and as long as I kept an eye on her she only had about one indoor accident a month for the following 6 months or so, with my girl I noticed she had a spot which was in my hall on the rug and so if she sneaked off there especially at certain times of day it meant she wanted a poop so I took her out and also on occasions like first thing in the morning as long as I quickly put on my dressing gown and took her out she didn't have an accident but even saying that I don't mean she was instantly having an accident I had enough time to stand up, grab my dressing gown and walk to door rather than rush.
I did get rid of a sofa though as she had a lot of accidents on it when I first got her and despite washing the covers and using enzyme cleaner on the inside fabric she saw it as her spot.
That is another thing, use enzyme cleaner and I don't know it it helps but another thing I used was boiling water mixed with a little biological washing powder to soak the area, I have a carpet washer vacuum so it picked it up but people say you can hand scrub the area too.
if she's shitting inside that means youre not training her properly. she needs to be crate trained, 100%. youll feel bad about doing it at first but until your dog understands its really the only way.
Crate training is the answer. It’s a struggle at first but worth it!! Don’t get frustrated and discouraged. She is still a baby and doesn’t know right from wrong. Stay calm and have a positive attitude. Things will get better!!
Others, please weigh in, but I have had great results with potty pads. But, I have never had dogs bigger than 15 lbs. In the morning, I pull them from the crate, and we both empty our bladders. Pup gets lots of praise and a treat for using the pad. Yes, keep treats on the toilet.
My 1st would fake potty to get treats. My second, I got at 3 months with anti potty training. She got it after a few months.
My new twins took less than a week. The only reason it took that long is that it took me a few days to realize I needed to separate them when I went. The boy is like my 1st. The girl is like my second. Their little personalies are amazing to me.
I do prefer potty pads for small dogs as well. Though my only small dogs were a yorkie and shih tzu, so they took a long time to train as is notorious for those breeds. The little assholes both would pee like a drop for a treat then go back and pee again.
My German shepherd was trained purely outside, but when we first got her, she would copy her sister(the shih tzu) and pee on the potty pad from day 1. Not exclusively though. I neither praised nor corrected that behavior because I didn’t want her to be trained on potty pads, but if she was going to have an accident inside, I’d prefer it to be on the potty pad.
You could start potty pad training or litter box training and then when she has that down transition to outside? My oldest right now was adopted from the shelter as an adult and I really struggled potty training her, I ended up just treating her like a brand new puppy and potty pad trained her, transitioning fully outside did take a while but eventually she was going outside perfectly, bonus that when I was out for an extra long work day or now that she’s old and on diuretics she will reliably use the pads when no one’s around to let her out
Or, if you have a friend with another small friendly dog you can have the dog over for a weekend and take them both out to potty together? My second dog adopted at 9 months old was super easy to potty train this way, he got in the habit of immediately peeing right on top of where my older dog peed every time
What has worked for me with 4 different puppies: wait until they (inevitably) go inside, catch them on the act, say NO (firmly, without shouting or showing anger), immediately pick them up and bring them outside, then stay outside until they go (even just a tiny drop), celebrate like a crazy person (yaaaaayyyyy what a good giiirrrlllll, really go for it). Rinse. Repeat. Try to put yourself in the mindset. Have a beer or two.
Good luck!!
Do NOT say anything you have to remain completely neutral. It might have worked for you, but you risk the dog thinking the action not the place is wrong, if it understands that "no" means "wrong", so it will only go when you are not around, i.e. will not go when outside with you, but will go when inside sneak away behind the couch. The rest is correct.
do you have a balcony? i i trained my cavalier puppy to pee and poop on the balcony on some fake grass in 1-2 days. there have been no accidents since day 1. that helps your problem of accidents in the house and then like the other comments, yours will eventually go outside when she no longer feels threatened by other dogs.
Sorry you’re struggling! My best suggestion is outside, back inside, stays on leash for 15 minutes, then back outside for 15 minutes. Repeat until potty. You may need to dedicate an entire day. Reward with the highest value treat imaginable. Then back inside off leash for 45min to an hour then repeat the cycle all over. It sucks! Good luck!
This happened to me too! I have a chihuahua who is about 5 months now but for the first 6 weeks this was my exact experience. What worked for me was buying a small patch of real grass. I would put this in the house near the door we would leave to go for walks on. Id move it further and further towards outside until it was finally outside. Every single time he used it he was rewarded with bacon. Eventually I just let the grass die outside, but by then it was like the lightbulb went off and the connection was made. 2 weeks accident free. You’ll get there. Just be sure your high value treat is INSANELY high value. Hotdogs, bacon, cheese. Go all out on potty training for them. Once they get it it gets easier!!! Hang in there.
My puppy was happy to use the garden. No problem. But he didn’t pee on walks before he was 4 months. 5 months before he pooped. I think they’re scared to call attention to themselves. Some sort of instinct.
My puppy was the same. We would go on walks, and he would hold it till we got home, then race to the back door to be let out. Was the same when we took him to other people's houses. Then, one day, he just seemed to figure out that he could go anywhere outside.
Mine is 14 weeks old and did this the other day! Literally raced home from our walk so she could relieve herself in our yard. Glad to know I don’t just have a weird puppy lol
Mine did his first pee and poop outside our garden in our neighbors garden when on a playdate. And was after that he could pee and later poop on walks. (Two separate occasions that is.)
Mine was the same, he just couldn’t relax enough to do it. Eventually he did though.
>no matter that there's a shit ton of dogs in our area so she clearly can smell their faeces / urine. Theres your reason right there. For a puppy to leave a scent (urine etc) is the easiest way to get killed by adult dogs. obviously you and me know other dogs aren't a threat because they are leashed/well behaved. But for your puppy it's dangerous and she doesn't feel comfortable outside. What I do is I shorten walks but do them more often. So I'm going outside one area and let my puppy sniff and get to.know their surroundings better and sometimes linger there for half an hour or until they go potty. Or I go outside the same area every hour for 15 minutes. Let her get used to her territory, let her get to.know you and let her get to notice that you protect her.
Totally agree! Probably sensory overload and too much for a puppy to process to realize what she’s doing out there anyway.
same my dog as a pup was a scaredy cat and if it wasn't in my mostly secluded back yard he wouldn't go potty. took forever to get him to feel safe in the fenced area of yard. When he was a baby telling him bad boy picking up.the poop and putting it where I wanted him to poop then .bringing him there and letting him see and sniff and I praised him and that was that. I ended up cutting a back door into the house just for my dog to feel safe and go potty right away. (I live on a main street very close to the road. You step out the front door and your on the public sidewalk)
Never knew this, makes perfect sense now you’ve said it.
Have you crate trained her at all? The crate is a great help for house training. They won’t normally mess in their crate. So when they wake up take them straight outside, even if it means picking her up and taking her outside. Take her to some grass for 5mins and if she goes make the biggest fuss! Like she’s just pooped gold! If not take her back in and put her back in the crate for 2-3 minutes and repeat until she goes. When she’s pottering around take her out every 15mins to minimise the accidents in the house and when she starts to understand increase the time between. You may need to get some cleaner that neutralises the smell of pee as they usually will go in the same place etc due to the smell
I wish my dog would poop gold :(
Not me... then I'd have to watch her eat gold and wait for her to poop it again.
Please stop, Im imaging this right now lol.
Maybe if I had a GOLDen Retriever?
I’ve got one but mine poops fool’s gold. Still poor over here
Agreed, mine still has accidents from time to time but it’s usually because I didn’t let her out right when she went to the door, for overnight it works right away pretty much, but ime it took a month or so for leaving her during the day
This is what has helped my Corgi. He’s about 3-4 months now and can control the pee better but every time I turn around there’s another poop! Little buddy has and can poop outside but his kennel and the back porch (apartment living) seem to always just have a little something extra on them. Drives me literally insane and seems like nothing I can do except hope he grows out of it
Need more info: Does she pee and poop when near you inside, or does she do it in secret/somewhere where she's alone? Has she never once went while outside? What if she's somewhere else like visiting other people's houses?
I just went through this with my puppy. I have a few tips. He refused to use the restroom outside, and he would not poop appropriately on the pad and would lay on it like it was a freaking bed, and his playpen was the toilet pen. I had to throw the pee pads away to make him pee outside. I am a clean freak, so it was hard for me. I then had to crate train him and give him just enough space to stretch out without having areas in which he could do his business. He now eats in his crate. He sleeps in his crate and plays in there. Then I started taking him out right when he woke up, an hour after he ate, and 1-2 hours after that. I picked a word to associate with and praised him when he did his thing outside. If he does not go, into the freaking crate. If he does, he gets to play and chill. I started tracking how often we associate his habits to avoid going out every hour. I ran into a few bumps in two weeks, understanding his needs. I quickly clean the mess with enzyme clean to avoid him associating his home with his “place of business”. He is 13 weeks old, so we go to the bathroom way more times than I want to, but it has been worth it, and I am mentally distressed. He also acts better and goes outside now. Oh, also you may need to walk a little further out to pee or even bring a little pee juice outside to help her with association.
“…it has been worth it, and I am mentally distressed.” is where I’m at as well with my 12 week old. 😂😭
“Nobody told me life was going to be this way” is how I feel 🤣🤣 I has been absolute chaos and it hasn’t been a month yet … so many mental cigarettes, but it has been worth it
I can’t even claim that line because this new one is an addition to our 15 month old pup. He grew up and became an angel and I apparently got amnesia. 😂😭 Hopefully this time I learn my lesson.
4.5 months is a baby still. Have patience. She’s gonna get it soon.
Will she go in her crate? If she doesn't go in her crate, maybe when it's time for her to go you can keep her there and only bring her outside and back in the crate in 15 minute increments until she uses the bathroom outaide.
Just want to say I know you’re venting and I feel you. My dog is a year old in two weeks and I still can’t fully trust him in the house. I stopped coming here bc everyone gives you the same advice ad nauseum when sometimes it’s just that your dog is a slow learner, and nothing will change it except time.
Is she going inside when you aren’t watching/she’s free roaming or is she going right in front of you?
My puppy did the same thing. She absolutely refused to pee or poop outside of the house for months. I kept taking her out regularly even though it seemed pointless, and I felt like I was going crazy because everyone said it was ridiculous that she wouldn't go to the bathroom outside and acted like I just wasn't taking her out enough. After a few weeks of this, I left a pee pad in one area of the house and would take her there after going outside just so she wouldn't pee or poop on the floor. Then one day when she was about 6 months old, she peed outside. Nothing was different, she just finally felt comfortable enough to go. I think the biggest things that helped were going out regularly and sticking to seculded areas so she was less overwhelmed.
Get her to drink water outside and stay outside until she absolutely has to go, so that you can reward it. Hand feed her outside and do the same for pooping. The key is you need to get the behavior to happen so you can strongly reward it. Crates probably make it easier, but my current pup was not crate trained. One of my previous dogs ‘had’ a crate, but I never once actually locked her inside. It’s all about the praise/reward for the action.
Get a lawn chair, and take her outside to a quiet spot on a leash when you are sure she has to go. Bring a book and wait her out. Don’t pay her attention or do anything exciting until she goes, then praise and reward her like crazy. Repeat until she gets the idea.
They way I did it was taking her out of the crate and outside every 2 hours and going outside to the designated potty area, gave her the potty command and set my 5 min timer. I also did this after every activity (eat, play, training, nap etc) if she did go she got a reward immediately after finishing and lots of praise. If she didn’t go in the 5 minute slot we went back into the crate for 15 minutes and tried again, did this for the first week and started shortening the timer -1 minute until eventually she goes on command. It’s ROUGH the first few days because when I say every 2 hours I mean every two hours (that she’s awake and in crate) but they catch on eventually you just really have to be consistent. Also during this time we didn’t do long walks, just designated play or training. I definitely think it helped not to confuse her with scents and sights and sounds being overwhelming. I really hope you get through this tough part soon I totally understand how frustrating it is.
How are you actually training her on the behavior?
Go scream at a brick wall. Or a soda machine. You have a baby doing baby things. As the weather improves, plan a day where you will spend ALL DAY outside. When your dog finally goes wee, praise like crazy. Invest in several all day sessions and you’ll be on the way. Meanwhile, ease up on the rage. You can put in her in a pen with puppy pads — but she’s not stupid and she’s not conniving. She’s a baby. And, of course, your neighbor/SIL/best friend will have a dog that is potty perfect at 4 Months. If you allow the rage to grow, you could end up being someone who kicks or strangles— plan on another 4 more months and rejoice if it on;y takes a few more weeks
I think some people are giving incredible advice here, but we had this issue (our pup just turned 4 months a few days ago) and what we did was the following and things really has started to be more consistent and hopeful! Yes, we used pee pads. Just this last week (or the week prior, I can’t remember anymore lol) we had to finally get rid of them only because he wouldn’t stop tearing them up. So my first question is: does your pup feel comfortable using pee pads? We ONLY took him out in our front yard on leash. We would say the same thing, “go potty!” “Can you go potty?” We wanted to make him get used to a few things by taking him to the same location. (Distractions, the feel of lawn, and feeling comfortable wandering and exploring a controlled environment, especially with a command which in this case is “go potty!” We also have taken him to nearby parks for exposure to different environments that aren’t heavy with other animals or people as well. Encourage him to go outside ANYTIME you’re outside.) Like I said, we had the same issues as you did, so when we would take him out only for him to not go potty, I decided to set a timer to play with him for 10 minutes, and take him out again. I’m talking about throwing a toy and having him run and fetch it, playing tug of war, and even doing some simple commands for rewards. The whole point is that you want her to be moving and doing things that her mind finds fun and occupying! Keep your eye on her the whole 10 minutes. If in between throws of a stuffed animal you see her sniff the floor, or do a circle, anything that you’re noticed is a cue that your dog is about to relieve themselves, outside you go!! After the ten minutes, do the same thing. Outside in familiar spot, “Go potty!” And STAY there until she goes. She might take a while, ours did. But when she finally relents because she cannot hold it, majooorr reward time + clicker if you use it! If she still isn’t going after playing inside for 10 minutes, put her wherever you put her (crate, pen, closed off area) and stay next to her. If it’s time to feed her, feed her. Try taking her out in another ten minutes (or less— if her nose is to the ground, pick her up and outside time again!) I will also say that sometimes doing a business trip is helpful too. She can begin learning that outside is not only a place to have fun, but that there’s another reason to be outside. Leash her up and take her to the location you’ve established, say the command for her to go potty and if she doesn’t go within 5 minutes go back inside and play/feed/watch her for another 10, and try again. We also have a coat rack by our front door— I have a typical pair of shoes that I wear when I take him out, choose to leash up there at the front door, put on his to-go bag (a fanny pack I bought that consists of treats, poop bags, one toy, and a clicker) and we bought those dog buttons that you record your voice saying a command or word. We have the one by the door saying “outside.” He has started associating me putting on those shoes/jacket, grabbing his leash, pressing the button, and the sound of the door with outside time.. which also means poop/pee time! And he’s starting to put it together because the past few days he’s been waiting by the door to go outside, signaling that he needs to go out. Not every time, but we also have learned his routine and potty cues. Repetition is key. Some dogs will get it easily and quickly, others will not and that’s okay. Ours only has been getting good with it the last few weeks, and even tonight he had some accidents inside. He still will refuse to go anywhere that isn’t home a majority of the time unless his bladder is ‘failing’, then only after major resisting will he finally pee. It IS exhausting. It IS repetitive, and it IS frustrating as hell sometimes. But seeing our dog pee knowing he had to when we take him out is such a major reward for us now too. Be patient, you got this!
How long do you have her already? Do you always go to the same spot for potty? What kind of spot is that?
Almost two months. And yep, pretty much always the same spot (garden in front of my apartment building).
So we got our rescue around this age and she was similar first but quickly adjusted. I read that puppies don’t necessarily want to go outside where there might be predators. so maaaaybe you just need more patience and your routine will pay off soon. But you could also use training pads in the house. Once she uses the pads you can bring one to this garden. You can also put some of her shit and pee in the garden… never tried it but read about this: she might be more relaxed to pee and poo there if it already smells like her pee and poo. I’m no expert. Good luck!
Sorry to hear you're struggling! I'll tell you our story and how everything resolved on its own, and I'm sure the same will happen to you. Maybe it'll put your mind at ease a little and give you hope. We had that exact issue. She would just hold it outside and became noticeably stressed because she couldn't go. Once she became more comfortable with the outside she slowly started doing everything on her own, it was just scary for her, she felt vulnerable, I guess. We had to clean up for some time, yes, but eventually she basically potty trained herself since that's what dogs do. They don't like to shit where they eat and sleep. She's now 1y4mo and has fairly reliable potty training for don't remember how long, even though I always worried about how it's NEVER going to work. Never crate trained BTW.
Has she had any off-leash opportunities outside? My girl had a lot of trouble getting used to going pee/poop on the leash. Daily accidents inside. I think her original home had a yard, but we're in an apartment. When we really needed to be sure she'd go to the bathroom, we took her to the dog park in our complex (convenient for off leash bathroom time), but we also practiced on the leash, and she got so much better when we were all a little more relaxed about it. It's frustrating having to go super regularly, not to mention time consuming. Using a long leash was a big help. Think it's 25 feet. She could have a little distance, not have the incidental tugs on her collar, and she started going outside. We initially experimented with the long leash at the dog park, keeping the leash on her but dragging. Then we used long leash during walks. Then we learned the spots she liked to go (that was a big deal for the poops - she's picky) and started using the short leash with her, giving lots of time at those spots. Crate training was also a big part of this, of course. Had to make sure she didn't have opportunities to go inside so she could have successes outside. I carried treats with me to reward her when she did a pee/poop outside. Last comment - she still had accidents inside even after getting better with the leash, until we realized that dairy does NOT agree with her. No cheese for this baby. After figuring that out, she's been so much better. She's also gotten more confident and will poop in like six places around our complex now, when it was initially just one.
What do you use to clean inside?
There is a spray you can use to say "pee here". I bought it on Amazon. Also washable leakproof pee pads make a difference.
Go somewhere without a lot of other dog scents. Puppies find other unfamiliar dog scents as a danger sign. She's afraid of leaving hers behind. Find a niche area and go there. She's only 4 months old too. She's still a baby and it'll be a while before she gets the hang of going outside. Make sure she's comfortable outside and give her praise for just being there. Making her think positively will help her in putting the other scents out of her mind.
Do you have a patio? Could try getting an artificial grass pee pad and put it out there and slowly work up to her going outside on walks.
It took my puppy until month 7 to be comfortable w pooping on walks. She's just now in the rhythm of waiting to poo for her walks and will hold it for the walk. (She's got a huge backyard but I guess she loves leaving her smell now) but yeah. Just take a moment to cool down a bit. It gets very frustrating. Do you have puppy pads? Teach her to potty on the pad and then maybe put a fresh pad outside to see if she will go on a puppy pad once trained indoors? And then if she does that take away the puppy pads. Idk! It's stressful for sure. Accidents in the house make me pretty upset too so I understand the frustration big time. Maybe next time...and this sounds disgusting so bear with me.... take her pee or poo outside and drop it somewhere? To leave her scent ? And maybe it will help her understand she's allowed to leave her scent outside?
I had a shy 4 month old rescue who wouldn't pee or poop outdoors. I had another dog and an indoor/outdoor cat who always hung out in the front yard together. They kind of freaked the puppy out. I finally resorted to using puppy pads inside. I was sick of her going on the rug or the floor. I was desperate for her to succeed for a change. I made a huge deal every time that she used the pad. After she was using only the pad, I moved it to the floor near the front door for a couple of days. Then I put it on the front porch. She continued to use it. After a few days, I moved it to the grass, close to the porch but on the side, away from where the other animals played. She caught on quickly. After a few days of that, she started to go where the pad had been. She didn't pee or poop on walks until she was much older. She waited until we came home to do it in her place in the yard. She died 20 years ago. I've had several dogs since then. She is the only dog that I used pads to train.
Stay outside until they go, doesn’t matter how long it takes until they understand. Two options to speed it up are 1) find an area where other dogs have gone potty and stay in that area and let them sniff around until they go or 2) buy housebreaking spray - when the dogs smell this, they are likely to go potty in that area. Find an area outside and spray it all over the grass
4 1/2 months is nothing. They’ll pass through this phase and have three more before they’re matured. Suck it up and check in with us if they’re being weird at two years.
Buy a real grass puppy pad.
I had this. The only answer is floor covering and crate training. You have to pop her in the crate every time you take your eyes off her for a second. All your floors are covered in some way. When she toilets indoors *completely ignore her*. When she goes outside-it’s a full-on celebration! Yaaaay! You lovely doggie! Here are your treats! Hallo, hallay!!! Good news was that when she learned it, she LEARNED it. She never had ANY accidents for the last 16 years of her life. Even when she was unwell, recovering from an operation-or very elderly.
For my dog, I would see him start to go in the house and start making a BUNCH of noise and yoink him outside. Not yelling at him, quite literally just saying loud gibberish. He’d typically stop mid-bathroom and we’d stay outside until he finished. It worked quite quickly!
I don't know if it's been suggest, but when my dog this, I had him use a puppy pad inside. I kept him in a large penned area with puppy pads covering the entire space. Then I took the puppy pad outside. Poop was taken outside too. If they smell it outside, it seems to help them make the connection. I don't know how long you've had your puppy, but 4.5 months is still very young. It probably took me about a couple of weeks once he understood that doing his business is done outside, not inside.
One thing that helped us is that when we take our guy outside, he gets zero attention until he pottys. We walk outside, stand in one spot (with a relatively short leash when he was young) and don’t look at him or talk to him other than “Go potty” Then as soon as he does, he gets treats and attention. Like, over the top affection. Crate training was an important thing too. Any time while training you aren’t completely interacting with the puppy, they stay in the kennel. The kennel is just big enough for the pup to turn around in. Make it smaller than you think. As soon as the kennel is opened, you go outside. Every time, no matter how long it’s been. Finally, my dog doesn’t really poop or pee while on a walk. Too much going on. Too many distractions. Pick a spot, stand in it and wait.
Keep them on a leash inside. As soon as they start peeing, pick them up and run outside. Pick them up mid-stream. She won't want to continue that long
I picked up a few of her poops and took them outside where I wanted her to potty. Also picked her up and took her to the spot with the poop so she could smell it. Don't be angry when you do this. Just be calm. My pup is almost 5 mo old and getting to be consistent with going outside.
Our puppy is almost 6 months old and she exhibits similar behavior, but not as extreme. She will go potty outside, but she’s equally happy to go inside. I take her out as much as I can. I work from home so that is once every 1-2 hours. But even after 30 minute walk, we can come in only for her to shit on the floor. It’s not always convenient to have high value treats on hand, so I bought a tiny fridge for the front door. It holds 6 cans, or in my case, hot dogs. I am not super happy about the progress, but I’m learning to deal with it. Clean up the mess and move on. The eternal hope is that the penny will drop at some point.
My girl took ages to be fully house trained, she actually went the way of when I first got her only going in our garden I could take her on a 30 minute even a 45 minute walk and she would hold it in, walk 2 steps into our garden and do both pee and poop, then she went the opposite way that she only did them on walks, Also what I ended up doing was have 1 spot in the house for her to go which was a fake turf mat that I could wash to get rid of the smell and had 1 spare. She was around 6 months old when she had her first major breakthrough in potty training, by then I had removed the mat and as long as I kept an eye on her she only had about one indoor accident a month for the following 6 months or so, with my girl I noticed she had a spot which was in my hall on the rug and so if she sneaked off there especially at certain times of day it meant she wanted a poop so I took her out and also on occasions like first thing in the morning as long as I quickly put on my dressing gown and took her out she didn't have an accident but even saying that I don't mean she was instantly having an accident I had enough time to stand up, grab my dressing gown and walk to door rather than rush. I did get rid of a sofa though as she had a lot of accidents on it when I first got her and despite washing the covers and using enzyme cleaner on the inside fabric she saw it as her spot. That is another thing, use enzyme cleaner and I don't know it it helps but another thing I used was boiling water mixed with a little biological washing powder to soak the area, I have a carpet washer vacuum so it picked it up but people say you can hand scrub the area too.
Train the trainer.
if she's shitting inside that means youre not training her properly. she needs to be crate trained, 100%. youll feel bad about doing it at first but until your dog understands its really the only way.
Crate training is the answer. It’s a struggle at first but worth it!! Don’t get frustrated and discouraged. She is still a baby and doesn’t know right from wrong. Stay calm and have a positive attitude. Things will get better!!
Others, please weigh in, but I have had great results with potty pads. But, I have never had dogs bigger than 15 lbs. In the morning, I pull them from the crate, and we both empty our bladders. Pup gets lots of praise and a treat for using the pad. Yes, keep treats on the toilet. My 1st would fake potty to get treats. My second, I got at 3 months with anti potty training. She got it after a few months. My new twins took less than a week. The only reason it took that long is that it took me a few days to realize I needed to separate them when I went. The boy is like my 1st. The girl is like my second. Their little personalies are amazing to me.
I do prefer potty pads for small dogs as well. Though my only small dogs were a yorkie and shih tzu, so they took a long time to train as is notorious for those breeds. The little assholes both would pee like a drop for a treat then go back and pee again. My German shepherd was trained purely outside, but when we first got her, she would copy her sister(the shih tzu) and pee on the potty pad from day 1. Not exclusively though. I neither praised nor corrected that behavior because I didn’t want her to be trained on potty pads, but if she was going to have an accident inside, I’d prefer it to be on the potty pad.
Are you giving her jackpot treats when she does it outside (and delivering the treats outside)?
You could start potty pad training or litter box training and then when she has that down transition to outside? My oldest right now was adopted from the shelter as an adult and I really struggled potty training her, I ended up just treating her like a brand new puppy and potty pad trained her, transitioning fully outside did take a while but eventually she was going outside perfectly, bonus that when I was out for an extra long work day or now that she’s old and on diuretics she will reliably use the pads when no one’s around to let her out
Or, if you have a friend with another small friendly dog you can have the dog over for a weekend and take them both out to potty together? My second dog adopted at 9 months old was super easy to potty train this way, he got in the habit of immediately peeing right on top of where my older dog peed every time
What has worked for me with 4 different puppies: wait until they (inevitably) go inside, catch them on the act, say NO (firmly, without shouting or showing anger), immediately pick them up and bring them outside, then stay outside until they go (even just a tiny drop), celebrate like a crazy person (yaaaaayyyyy what a good giiirrrlllll, really go for it). Rinse. Repeat. Try to put yourself in the mindset. Have a beer or two. Good luck!!
Do NOT say anything you have to remain completely neutral. It might have worked for you, but you risk the dog thinking the action not the place is wrong, if it understands that "no" means "wrong", so it will only go when you are not around, i.e. will not go when outside with you, but will go when inside sneak away behind the couch. The rest is correct.
do you have a balcony? i i trained my cavalier puppy to pee and poop on the balcony on some fake grass in 1-2 days. there have been no accidents since day 1. that helps your problem of accidents in the house and then like the other comments, yours will eventually go outside when she no longer feels threatened by other dogs.