# How do you know when puppy is potty trained?



## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

I'd say when it had been a whole month with no a single accident, I considered mine fully house trained. This includes me not necessarily taking him out every hour like a young puppy... but when I felt he was "telling" me he needed to go out to potty as well. 

How old is your puppy? What we did was take ours out every 30 mins or so, then moved to every hour or so, then every 2 hours... slowly make it longer and longer between "scheduled" potty trips for him... he slowly learned to hold it longer and longer on his own, knowing we'd let him out shortly. Good luck!


----------



## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

I should add also, we did not crate our puppy. Are you? We used peepads for him while we were away at work. He basically trained himself to use them. We'd come home from work and find the pad soaked. Then a couple weeks later, there'd be just a few pee spots. Then a couple weeks later, just one or two. He was probably about 4 months old when we realized the same peepad had been down for a few weeks and was still dry. He just weaned himself off them as soon as he could hold it longer. We did take him outside to potty every time as long as we were home. He knew that, and only used the peepad if we were at work. 

I considered Sam 100% potty trained at about 4.5 months old, I think.

It sounds from your post that you (or someone) is home all the time with the puppy? I'd forgo the peepads in that case, and depending on whether you crate or not, you may want to do what I suggested in my 1st post and slowly start to space out his outside potty trips so he learns to hold it longer and longer.


----------



## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

When Tucker was much younger, we would take him outside about every 1-2 hours to use the bathroom. Now that he is older (6.5 months), we just take him outside about 4 times a day and he hasn't had a single accident in the house or crate since around Thanksgiving. As they get older, you can test them by making them wait a little longer between potty breaks. I can always tell if Tucker has to go out because he will start pacing and will usually whine a little bit, but he has gotten very used to our routine and is great about holding it until he gets outside. Of course, if he starts acting like he needs to go, we will take him out right away. He is very good at letting us know if he needs to go. I should also add that we still crate him at night.


----------



## thunt55 (Jan 20, 2009)

Yes we are crate training and there is someone home all day (well most of the day). He is 11 weeks now. He can hold it for 1 1/2 to 2 hours and then we let him out (or if he starts pacing, sniffing, ect.). The problem is when we just took him out and he peed and then he comes back in and start pacing and sniffing and standing by the door. I am thinking, "I JUST TOOK YOU OUT" so I don't know if he has to go again or is just playing games (or wants to go outside for other reasons) but I don't want any accidents inside so I take him out again and he usually just plays and doesn't pee again. It is frustrating. By the way, he get at least 2 miles of walking in a day (not at one time).


----------



## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

My benchmark is three months w/o any accidents in the house. A single accident sets my calander back and I then wait for three MORE months of success. Up to that point, whatever management and training program I'm using (crate, no unsupervised time, etc.), I stick with it!

On average, I find that most of my pet clients successfully hit the three month benchmark around the time the dog is 7 months old.


----------



## Bogart'sMom (Sep 16, 2005)

Bogart was Crate trained. He never messed in his crate even during a bad Diareah spell. He would cry to go out. He only had one pooping accident in the house ever and that was the second day after we brought him home. He did have pee accidents in the house mostly on tiles ( he had pitty on me, LOL). I would say he didn't have any more accidents after 13 weeks old. I took him out every couple of hours and the night he slept through he was an easy pup to housetrain. I remember my 1st female Golden, Dani was probably 5 months old before she was house trained and could hold it longer. Some dogs get it faster then others. Bogart was a clean piggy LOL.


----------



## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

In my opinion the young puppy stage is very unstable. Things aren't really "set" because they are growing and developing at a phenomenal rate. Even if a puppy was 4 months old and hasn't had an accident in weeks...I'd still be watchful and nervous. All it takes is a sniff of old urine to trigger a pee.

By the time Lucky was 7 months I finally felt comfortable. He was still having issues and lapses at 4....almost 5 months.


----------

