# Help? Please? potty training.



## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

I sympathize with your problem. But this is quite normal I have to say.
We had that very same problem with Kia and it went away when she was approx. 6 months old. And the very same with Lila (our other Golden), in her case it took approx. one more month longer. She is now 8months old and it still happens, but very very rarely.
It's just that your golden is still a puppy. 
Please if you have patience, never scold Abbiedale for such accident unless you catch him in the act.
He is really not urinating deliberately, even if it may seem like it. It is just that his bladder is not fully developed to hold the urine.
Any excitiment can cause urinating. Also their memory span is very short at this age. He is still learning, don't forget that 
Believe me, this will come with time. 4 months, is still very young to expect from him to completely control his bladder, even if you consider him 
housebroken. 
Another scenario is if your puppy is not properly house broken, but I really think it's very easy to mistake it at this age with puppy bladder control problem.
Just keep on doing what you do now. Praise him a lot for doing it outside and accidents at home will happen less often and trust me... one day you will simply not remember when it happened the last time. 

Joe


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## Buffy & Abby's Mom (Nov 27, 2005)

I've had many dogs over the years. I heard a long time ago that puppies cannot be completely housebroken until they are 6 months because physically their bodies are not capable. Just like a baby usually is not trained til 2 years. My personal experiences with all of my puppies bear this out. Just think - you only have 2 more months to go!


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## monomer (Apr 21, 2005)

My suggestion is get the crate *now*... you wait much longer and you won't need it. We typically 'retire' the crate by 4 or 5 months of age. The crate allows you to be 100% vigilant... because if you cannot be interacting with your pup or otherwise be giving her your undivided attention then she should be in the crate. The 'trick' is to always (100% of the time) catch her right at the start of the act and quickly usher her outside (FYI: tucking the tail under is the "off" switch)... no yelling or scolding is really necessary, trust me she will sense your displeasure. Scolding after the act is not only ineffective, its very damaging to the dog/human bond you are trying to create at this age. The reason the crate is so much easier to 'apply' properly with a very young puppy is that they sleep so much anyway and for the short period they are active its easier to dedicate the full time to them. With older puppies its becomes very time consuming to do this and so you either settle for less vigilance (i.e. learning will then take a very long time indeed) or you make the crate a veritable prison for the pup by confining her for long periods of awake time... this is cruel and unusual punishment! and to be avoided at all costs. Bottom line here is Abbie will be housebroken as an adult, there is no question about that... the only real question then is "When?" You know there are several other threads 'floating' around that contain some very good advice about this very issue... do a search, take some time and read through those threads.

EDIT: Also you can help speed up the "signaling" thing a little by 'kick starting' it... whenever Abbie goes near the backdoor, just open it up and let her out, even if its just for play she will begin to associate approaching the backdoor means someone's going to let me outside. Once she gets to the point where she goes to the door every 15-minutes you know she's got the idea... the novelty will wear off after awhile but at least you now have a "signal".


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