We adopted a Golden Retriever puppy and everything went pretty smoothly. She’s currently almost 5 months old. The in-home potty training went very well and very fast, she always does her business in a diaper-like sheet (sorry, I don’t know the english term).
Now that she has her vaccines in order, she’s ready to go outside. We’ve been trying for 1 week for her to get used to doing her business outside but it has been a frustrating experience. She doesn’t feel comfortable doing her business outside and will only do it when she can’t hold anymore. Her ability to hold poop is not that high so we have had some (not much) success with pooping outside but… we discovered that she can hold her pee for at least 4 hours. We haven’t managed to get her to pee outside yet.
Things we tried:
- We take 3 walks a day, after every meal; Shorter walk on lunch time, longer walk on dinner time.
- Take the diaper sheets (both clean and dirty) outside, to create a sense of familiarity or smell. She ignores them completely
- Long walks with leash on grass or open field
- Long time in a doggy park, without leash and no other dogs and lots of water
- Walks with other friendly dogs that pee/poop frequently
- Praising other dogs when they pee/poop
- Play time with other friendly dogs in the doggy park
- Removing the diaper sheets inside, which causes to do her business on the floor without much of a thought
- Do a picnic on the grass and have her on a long leash to walk “freely”
We praise and reward her heavily when she poops outside and have no reaction when she does her business inside. She is still excited to go outside, I feel like she loves it there! Just doesn’t enjoy doing her business there, I guess.
Any tips? Thanks a lot!
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Puppy pads typically have scents to attract them to it, so that may be part of the problem.
One thing you can do is move the pad towards the door slowly, like a few yards or even feet a day. They’ve learned “that’s where they go”, so moving it slowly shifts it.
Then start putting it out on the walks
Why would you train to go inside. Always took puppies outside to go to the bathroom.
You can check the comment chain below for extra details, but in my country there are sanitary laws that prevent you from walking animals without the mandatory vaccines.
That is good and all, but how has that law enforced? Do they check papers everytime you take the dog outside?
Are you suggesting to simply flaunt the regulations and hope you’re not caught?
Basically you need to register your pets in local parish office. They require microchip and up to sate vaccines (there is a list of mandatory vaccines). If everything is in order they’ll give you a permit valid for one year. You’ll have to renew it once it expires. It doesn’t cost much but it annoys me that I have to pay for this.
When you walk the dog you need to bring the permit with you. It works like a persons ID card, at any point a police officer may require you to present it. Id you don’t have it you’ll be fined. I don’t know how the fine values nor how it escalates from there. I like to obey the law, not just when I agree with it…
I owned pets pretty much all my life and have only been asked dor the permit once. The police officer didn’t appear to have a microchip reader, they did not confirm the permit belonged to the dog I was walking.
Hmm when you say reward, are you giving her treats when she poops outside? That tends to help.
The sheets you mentioned I believe are called puppy pads. Personally I think they’re a bad idea as they let dogs know that it’s fine to poop indoors. In nature, a puppy’s mother would take the puppy away from the den if they try to poop inside, to teach them that they need to keep the den clean. Maybe the next time the puppy tries to go inside you could quickly grab them and take them outdoors to do their business?
Hmm when you say reward, are you giving her treats when she poops outside? That tends to help.
Yes, we say “good girl” and hand out several of her favorite treats.
Maybe the next time the puppy tries to go inside you could quickly grab them and take them outdoors to do their business?
We have been somewhat doing this. We close the door to her usual go to place and check out when she’s circling around it, then we go outside. Works great for poop but unfortunately not for pee. She holds her pee for hours until we finally give up and let her go.
Good rule of thumb for puppy bladders is double their age in months is about how many hours they can hold it. But that’s typically used for knowing when you can stop waking up in the middle of the night to train your puppy to go outside.
Very unfortunate about the misunderstanding from the vet.
Why would you teach the dog to pee and poop inside in the first place?
Vets specifically told us not to go outside until all vaccines were in order.
By that I’m sure they meant that you should keep it away from other/unknown dogs more than anything. Being outside isn’t inherently dangerous for a puppy.
Unfortunately no, it was not a misunderstanding. It’s the law, you have to periodically prove your vaccines are in order otherwise you are intelligible to walk it outside…
Two things… 1. Your English is very good but it’s ineligible meaning not allowed, intelligible means smart to do. Yes English makes no sense. 2. Does it give any signs it needs to go? Like I know my dog will be right next to me when he needs to go out. I don’t mean in the room but like pressing against my body or legs, won’t be 1 foot away. I had another dog who would sit by the door when he wanted to go out.
Yes, she does give us signs. We close the door to her usual go to place and check out when she’s circling around it, then we go outside. Works great for poop but unfortunately not for pee. She holds her pee for hours until we finally give up and let her go.
Honestly, I’d try to phase out the inside sheet for her. You’re doing all the right things - taking her out regularly, and after every meal - she’s old enough that she should be able to hold it between outings (nighttime can be tougher). If you don’t have a dog-door, now would be a great time to teach her how to let you know she wants to go out. I taught my dog to ring a bell (like on a hotel or shop counter) when he wants to go out. I started by teaching him to give me his paw, then getting him to do it while the bell was in my hand, I would ring the bell every time I went out the door, would get him to do it and then just let it evolve. It’s been so helpful for him to communicate what he needs. Esp as he’s a bit of a vocal dog - helps to know when he needs out.
The best way in my experience is to get to her outside before she has a chance to go inside. It may mean waking really early or going to bed late so that she can last between trips outside. There might be some accidents while she gets used to it, but for example, if you can take her out first thing in the morning before she wakes up, and then (like you do already) reward her with lots of praise and treats when she goes outside, she’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. The trick is to to give her so many opportunities that she won’t have an accident inside.
That’s what’s worked for me in the past n
The best way in my experience is to get to her outside before she has a chance to go inside.
We have been somewhat doing this. We close the door to her usual go to place and check out when she’s circling around it, then we go outside. Works great for poop but unfortunately not for pee. She holds her pee for hours until we finally give up and let her go.
We have a string of bells attached to the back door. We never taught her to use them, but if they tap the bells with their nose, we always open the door and let her out.
She learnt within a few days how the bells work, without us actively showing her anything. It’s easier than learning their body language or guessing if they need to go out if they have a way to communicate it directly.
I forget the name of the app, but we used a potty tracker. Basically, once we realized our puppy went to the bathroom X hours after eating or drinking, we took him outside a few minutes before then.
I’ve also heard you can take those pee pads and gradually move them closer to the door until they’re outside.
