# 12 Week Old - Potty Training Issues HELP!!



## kasey.nieman (Feb 23, 2021)

Hello everyone!

My husband and I got our sweet little golden girl, Scarlett, about a month ago now (at 8 weeks) and she will be 12 weeks old this Saturday! She is a truly sweet and smart girl and we couldn’t love her more! We are so glad she is a part of our family now! 

That being said, we are having the biggest issues with potty training her. I have read so many of these posts and wanted to share my experience and see if there is any other advice anyone might have! 

We try to take Scarlett out about every 45 minutes now as that seems to be how often she has to go. Sometimes she gives us a sign that she needs to go just because she is sniffing around, but sometimes there is no sign at all. Some of the issues I think are that she may just think the backyard is too fun and also sometimes she gets spooked by an outdoor noise. Unless she is sleepy after a nap, she takes a long time to go potty (if she goes at all) because she is too busy trying to pick up every stick, piece of bark, rock, leaf, grass etc. I know she has to go when I take her out, but she gets so so distracted and I am not sure what to do about this! We have a lot of trees in the backyard and we try to rake and keep it as clear as possible, but in no time all the leaves and sticks are back on the ground. We try to take her to the same spot each time and keep that part clean, but she pulls at her leash and I’m so afraid she will hurt her neck and I end up walking around the backyard a lot of the time. As far as the noises, sometimes they bother her and sometimes she is totally fine. When she hears, but does not react to a noise we praise her and give her a treat! We give her amazing treats and praise when she potties outside and I know that she has made that association with going outside, but still has no problem going inside. 

I took her out 3 times within 30-40 minutes because I knew she had to poo and each time she would just try to run around, eat everything on the ground and jump and bite at my shirt and shorts. Then after the 3rd time I caught her squatting to poo and I picked her up and took her outside, but it was too late. I then put her in a time out in our kitchen and gated it off. We made sure she had water and a chew toy in there, but just wanted her to calm down and maybe associate going inside as being bad? Idk if that works though! I have read so many conflicting things about all of this so it is so confusing 

Also, the puppy biting is no joke! I have read in here though, that this is normal behavior and hopefully she grows out of it, but man do my arms and legs have a ton of bite marks! Ouch!

Please ANY advice would be so appreciated!


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## goldielynn (Sep 5, 2020)

How much space are you giving her inside your home to roam around? Our puppy (now 19 weeks) took to potty training quickly, but in part because we followed a lot of guidance in keeping his pen area pretty small. It started off two weeks in our master bathroom, then we moved him into the living/dining room (maybe 35-40 sq ft), which we gated off with a pet gate. At that time, he didn't have access to any other room. And we very, very slowly introduced him to other areas by training him there and with very strict supervision. He hasn't had an accident in our place or at any other home in about a month. I think his last accident was at 13ish weeks.

If she's finding places to have accidents in your home, you need to make her space smaller. Also, you don't mention whether you're crating her in order to strengthen her bladder. Even at 8 weeks, our puppy did not need to go every hour -- it was about every 60-90 mins depending on whether he just had a meal. Your schedule at every 45 mins seems very frequent for a 12-week old.


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

You can try using a keyword to associate the behavior of going potty vs just letting her do her thing and waiting. when she is going, just repeat the phrase, and then reward immediately after she is done, you can use a clicker too. it can be something like 'go potty' ( for me I say 'shooshoo' hahha and my dogs all can pee on command) 

After awhile she will know that your keyword means it time to do her business.


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## George2021 (Mar 6, 2021)

goldielynn said:


> How much space are you giving her inside your home to roam around? Our puppy (now 19 weeks) took to potty training quickly, but in part because we followed a lot of guidance in keeping his pen area pretty small. It started off two weeks in our master bathroom, then we moved him into the living/dining room (maybe 35-40 sq ft), which we gated off with a pet gate. At that time, he didn't have access to any other room. And we very, very slowly introduced him to other areas by training him there and with very strict supervision. He hasn't had an accident in our place or at any other home in about a month. I think his last accident was at 13ish weeks.
> 
> If she's finding places to have accidents in your home, you need to make her space smaller. Also, you don't mention whether you're crating her in order to strengthen her bladder. Even at 8 weeks, our puppy did not need to go every hour -- it was about every 60-90 mins depending on whether he just had a meal. Your schedule at every 45 mins seems very frequent for a 12-week old.


I’m getting a puppy tomorrow so this is helpful. How often do you recommend crafting the dog throughout the day?


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## kasey.nieman (Feb 23, 2021)

goldielynn said:


> How much space are you giving her inside your home to roam around? Our puppy (now 19 weeks) took to potty training quickly, but in part because we followed a lot of guidance in keeping his pen area pretty small. It started off two weeks in our master bathroom, then we moved him into the living/dining room (maybe 35-40 sq ft), which we gated off with a pet gate. At that time, he didn't have access to any other room. And we very, very slowly introduced him to other areas by training him there and with very strict supervision. He hasn't had an accident in our place or at any other home in about a month. I think his last accident was at 13ish weeks.
> 
> If she's finding places to have accidents in your home, you need to make her space smaller. Also, you don't mention whether you're crating her in order to strengthen her bladder. Even at 8 weeks, our puppy did not need to go every hour -- it was about every 60-90 mins depending on whether he just had a meal. Your schedule at every 45 mins seems very frequent for a 12-week old.
> [
> ...


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## kasey.nieman (Feb 23, 2021)

Thank you for your response! So she does have access to our living room and my husbands office as he works from home. Maybe we are giving her too much space to roam around. When my husband is busy working too, I am thinking he probably can’t watch her quite as diligently as needed which is probably a big part of the issue. She does sleep all through the night in her crate and does not go potty in there so that is good! We have been using the key word “potty” every time we take her out and right after she goes and that’s when we give her the treat (which I can tell she knows she is about to get). And most everything I read says 12 week old puppies usually go potty every 30 minutes to an hour so it seems your puppy is just really amazing with bladder control! That is awesome! We will try to make the area smaller and see what that does! Thanks again!


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

George2021 said:


> I’m getting a puppy tomorrow so this is helpful. How often do you recommend crafting the dog throughout the day?


The puppy needs to be crated whenever you're not directly supervising. I suggest the book "Housetraining for Dummies" or "crate training for Dummies" can't remember the exact title. There are several thousand threads on the subject here, use the search feature to bring them up an go through them. She should never be on carpeted area until she is 100% trained and if you keep her world small with baby gates and an ex pen (I use the kitchen) it will make it easier to keep accidents from happening. Hang a bell on the back door and teach her to ring it when she wants to go out. Use a kitchen timer to remind you to take her outdoors every 20 to 30 minutes when she's awake. Be consistent and keep her world small. It takes time and patience and some pick up on it quicker than others.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

kasey.nieman said:


> Thank you for your response! So she does have access to our living room and my husbands office as he works from home. Maybe we are giving her too much space to roam around. When my husband is busy working too, I am thinking he probably can’t watch her quite as diligently as needed which is probably a big part of the issue. She does sleep all through the night in her crate and does not go potty in there so that is good! We have been using the key word “potty” every time we take her out and right after she goes and that’s when we give her the treat (which I can tell she knows she is about to get). And most everything I read says 12 week old puppies usually go potty every 30 minutes to an hour so it seems your puppy is just really amazing with bladder control! That is awesome! We will try to make the area smaller and see what that does! Thanks again!


She has way too much freedom. If he is busy working she can be in an ex pen next to him but if he is not directly supervising then she needs to be crated.


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## goldielynn (Sep 5, 2020)

George2021 said:


> I’m getting a puppy tomorrow so this is helpful. How often do you recommend crafting the dog throughout the day?


To start, right when we got our puppy, we were very loose with a precise crating schedule. We left the crate open in our master bathroom (blocked off with a pet gate) so that he could go in and out of the crate as he pleased. We did this for the first weekend so that he could get used to the crate and not feel trapped inside. He miraculously chose to nap and play in the crate all by himself. After a couple of days of getting used to the crate, we had him do bedtime in it. After a few more days, built up to morning nap time (2-3 hours), then afternoon nap time (2-3 hours). By 11 weeks, he was spending about 15-16 hours a day in the crate (puppies sleep and nap A LOT). 

We also had the foresight to send him to puppy preschool at 10.5 weeks where they furthered his crate training. Our trainer told us that we needed to be firmer on his daytime crating schedule to help him learn to self-soothe (e.g., not constantly coming to us for attention or pestering us just because he's bored). It totally worked. When we work, he knows we have to work, and he just plays by himself. Sometimes, he gets up earlier than his usual morning wake-up time and instead of barking for us, he'll play with his squeaky duck.

A few weeks ago, at around 15 weeks, he had a few days of soft stool which required him to go outside multiple times a night. We were so tired of letting him out of the crate that we just left his crate door open and our backdoor open (adjoined to our dining room), with the pet gate up. He not only let himself out to potty in every single instance (saw three different mounds of stool), but when I woke up, I found him asleep in his crate... Needless to say, I was impressed.

If you put in the work early and stick to it, the results will come. You will have to put up with some or a lot of barking in the beginning, but sooner or later, he'll figure it out. Goldens are incredibly smart and quick learners.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

Patience. She is only 12 weeks old. She is a baby. There’s are no shortcuts. I thought Rocky was never going to get it, but suddenly, he was housebroken—at 6 months. Golden Retriever puppies are known as land sharks for a reason. Again, patience. Protect yourself as much as much as possible, but know that this too will end.


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## Ontariodogsitter (Feb 23, 2020)

What everybody said !  
We only had 2 accidents in the house, but I admit I lived in a room with her crate in it, blocked off with baby gate from the rest of the house for the first week of her life with us, I only left when she was crated and at night.
Bit of a pain but it paid off.


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## kasey.nieman (Feb 23, 2021)

Thank you all so much again! Scarlett is crate trained to the point where she sleeps there without a peep through the night and does not potty in there. Sometimes she even voluntarily goes in there to nap, but we will definitely incorporate more scheduled naps during the day in there too! Also, we are going to keep her space smaller so she doesn’t have room to get out of our sight (which she usually doesn’t anyways because she wants to be right by us so when she steps away we always follow her, but she is quick! Lol). Also, we will try taking her out for 15-20 minutes and if she doesn’t go, put her in the gated off kitchen and take her back out after 10-15 minutes until she does! Hopefully that will help as well! I am just not sure how to keep her from all of the distractions in the backyard, but I am confident that she will pick up on the potty training with these modifications and continued patience from mama and dad! All of this was so very helpful and appreciated! ❤


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## DearDarla (Jan 22, 2021)

kasey.nieman said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> My husband and I got our sweet little golden girl, Scarlett, about a month ago now (at 8 weeks) and she will be 12 weeks old this Saturday! She is a truly sweet and smart girl and we couldn’t love her more! We are so glad she is a part of our family now!
> 
> ...


Crate training is going to help you immensely with this. Any time you cannot fully monitor her indoors, she should be in her crate. When you take her out of the crate go straight outside and tell her to potty. If she won’t go after a few minutes or just wants to play then take her back inside and put her right back in the crate. Wait 15 or so minutes and then take her back outside. If she potties outside then she can have a little freedom and interaction with you indoors. If she doesn’t, then back in the crate she goes. This should be the pattern until she is reliably pottying outside and not having accidents inside. You can also try tethering her to you when you are inside with her to ensure you are monitoring her closely enough. Good luck!


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