How did you potty train your dog(s)?

[Disneyland1084]

When we adopted my maltipoo 4 years ago when she was 4 months old, she was really easy to potty train. Whenever she would have an accident in the house, we would take her to where she did and say "No no no!!!!" If she pooped, she would watch me clean it up, and throw it out the dog door. I then put her through the dog door whenever she had an accident. In one week she was fully potty trained. Never once used any puppy pads.

 

[loves to dive]

We have a Yorkie, they are smart but stubborn. She is potty pad trained at home but mostly just uses them at night or on rainy days. In our RV, she will not use potty pads and goes outside no matter what the weather. Which is a blessing and not. Getting up early in the morning to take her out because she has gone all night without going to the bathroom is a pain. Every once in a while she will have "an accident" (i.e. she is mad at us or just because) on the carpet in the bedroom. We have an industrial carpet cleaner and a Bissell spot cleaner so it's not like she is smelling previous "accidents". We can't use a doggy door since we live in the country in Georgia and there are a number of predators that would enjoy eating her.

 

[princesscinderella]

We have trained our dogs to use a doggy doorbell to go outside. It’s fairly easy when you are training them you push the doorbell and say go outside, let them out and wait til they go. Once they connect the dots usually they will try it too and when they ring it make a big deal give them a treat and take them outside. You only have to do this a few times before they figure out they have a voice to let you know what they want. Mine ring it all the time to let me know when they want something, even if it’s not going outside they will hit it and then walk to their food and water bowl to tell me they need water or are hungry. It’s called smart bell (you can find it on Amazon) I have it on both sides of the door so I know when the want to go out or come in. Sometimes they get impatient and ring it over and over again and it drives my husband crazy. For a puppy they can usually only hold 1 hour per one month old, ex 3 months can usually hold it for 3 hours. So make sure to take them out every couple hours when training a young puppy, I would set a timer so I wouldn’t lose track of time.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I have a lab - no effort at all. Dude just got it from the start.

 

[nw6675]

Our Shih Tzu was stubborn at first. But it didn't tale long for her to catch on. She tells us when she needs out and has not had an accident in years.

 

[Jennasis]

You watch the dog like a hawk when they are loose in the house and take them outside frequently to go to the bathroom (not to play). If you see them having an accident you Tell them "no" and take them outside to potty. If you discover an accident, scolding them for it is pointless. You have to catch them in the act. Until the dog is fully housebroken, they are not allowed unsupervised to roam the house and stay in their crate.

 

[Immadismom]

We have a dachshund who is potty pad trained. She was doing great going outside as a puppy until our senior dog got sick and could no longer make it outside. Once we had to use pads for the senior, the puppy caught on immediately and has REFUSED to go outside, even after the senior dog passed away. We take her for long, long walks and she will not go outside. She will come home, go straight to a pad & pee. It’s SO frustrating, but at least she doesn’t have accidents. We keep two clean pads in discreet places, and that’s the only place she goes. She also will not go if anyone can see her. Dachshunds are VERY stubborn.

 

[DisneyTeacher]

We just adopted a 6 month old Bichon who probably came from a puppy mill. We think he spent 6 months in a crate/cage with his siblings. He hadn’t been potty trained but probably because of his age he was easy to train. We took him out almost hourly for the first week then started spacing it out. On week two we hung a strip of bells from the door and in under a week he was ringing the bells to go out. We’ve had him for about two months and he’s only had a few accidents during the first couple of weeks and seems very trained now.

 

[Moliphino]

I'm about to find out, bringing home an 8 week ok puppy tomorrow.

My current dog I got at 4 months and she was pretty much potty trained already. She had one accident that wasn't even mostly her fault (she was at the door, we took too long).

We have bells on the doors, will do frequent potty breaks and reward pottying outside, crate training for times we can't actively supervise.

 

[AuntieMe3]

Honestly we've been soo lucky our dogs were soo good with this from the beginning. Our first family dog, a lab, we started to just take her out when she would wake up and every so often we would just take her outside. Then pretty soon she started letting us know when she had to go out, she never once had an accident in the house. Our next two dogs, boys...were the same and I think she taught them(she taught them a lot lol).

 

[mjkacmom]

Our rescue was completely house trained when we got her at 3 months, but we did introduce the bell on the door. She’s almost 12 and I end up letting her out dozens of times a day, I’m her slave.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Most of my dogs were quickly and easily trained with a selection of treats and ham was given when we would get a poop outside on command. The only dog that was stubborn was our Cavalier who needed to be fixed and then it never happened again. Lil' dude would legit fake a tinkle for a treat then do as he pleased inside for months, crafty little jerk that I adored - took so long DH even made a song asking him not to tinkle inside