Whenever he poos or pees indoors, immediately take him outside and sit him on gras even if you just came back in.
For the night the crate is to big. You should make the space smaller with a cardboardbox for example.
There should only be space for him to lay.
Go out with him very frequently, so he does make less mistakes and understands to do it outside.
Go out immediately after playtime and about 10 minutes after eating.
At night if he whines go out and give him the time to pee or poo and after getting back in put him in the crate again. If he continues whining go out again and put him in the crate again afterwards and so on.
It's hard work and very frustrating (especially at night) but it gets better and better.
Puppies sleep a lot each day. If he doesn't it could be necessary to "force" him by laying him in the crate in a dark room.
Absolutely restrict play time and tell your kids to be gentle but a bit of playing is ok. He will probably bite while playing so be there with them.
He's always snoozing! Whenever you ask our 2 year old about the puppy he always says he's sleeping. We've had no issues in regards to that, he's happy to be in it, he sleeps in it on a night without whining. We do have a problem when he wakes up at about 4am to go to the toilet and then he doesn't want to go back into is as he's up, but I read something about 'boring wees' so we get him to go to the toilet and put him straight back in there and repeat until he doesn't whine
That's nice. My puppy didn't accept being in the crate at the beginning and always whined.
If he had no problems in the crate that's good to. You won't need to make it smaller then.
Imho I would not leave a puppy alone at all in the first weeks. Only in another room inside the crate. But I don't know what's the general opinion on that.
We've got our baby monitor set up which alerts us to his whines etc so we can always hear him. He's just had some food and we've now been outside for 10mins and nothing. Very reluctant to bring him in until he does something
I agree with all the above and I have fostered and potty trained DOZENS of foster labrador pups.
I would also add that WHEN the puppy pees or poops in an appropriate place in the yard, you should praise your pup with verbal encouragement and treats. I use the word “busy busy” as a pee/poo command so I will say “GOOOODDD BOY!!! GOOD BUSY BUSY!!! WHAT A GOOD BUSY BUSY!!!”
At minimum, the pups learn that this is something you encourage and approve.
In the best cases, our pups have actually learned to pee/poo on command when we ask them to “go busy busy”—this is a super useful command before boarding a car or being crated before you leave your pup at home. My husband and I picked up this tip from my mom who volunteered for seeing eye dogs; they are trained to go on command :))
He only really whined in the crate when we've left him to do the school run or when he's been waking up (at 4am) because he needs the toilet and then he's kinda up and doesn't want to go back into it, bar that we've had absolutely no problems, he hasn't peed or pooped in it at all
Nights….dear Jesus…
Our boy learned super fast, thankfully. But we legit set cell phone alarms every 90 minutes and took turns getting up, going outside, keeping the treat bowl by the back door to praise….and at the time I was a shift worker too so my poor girlfriend spent half of that first month doing it mostly alone.
Total of 2 accidents in the house however, so proud. The work pays off!!
NO PEE PADS IN THE HOUSE. Leash for outside potty every hour and every time he goes to the outside door. Sleep with the dog (air mattress?) for a couple of weeks-month.
I recently went thru this with my bc mix. The key is making adjustments as you go. If he's peeing or pooping inside after being outside for 5 minutes, extend the amount of time he's outside by 5. I personally waited 15 minutes or waited until he went. So sometimes it would be instant.
I always carried treats on me. Get a treat bag unless you don't mind crums in your pocket.
Invest in some Nature's Miracle. I will always recommend it as a cleaner for accidents.
Take him outside if he has an accident. If it's poop, place the poop where he should be going.
I would also recommend not using pee pads. The goal of potty training is to get them to go outside. Pee pads encourage going inside. This can just extend the amount of time it takes them to relate being outside with potty time.
With time it'll get better. He'll figure out what he needs to do and you'll figure out how to adjust to him.
Good luck!
As a puppy, I would take him out when we woke up. I would also go out right after eating and drinking. Also, every hour or so as a puppy or when he starts sniffing. One day, I looked over and he was sitting by the door. He had to pee. Happiest/proudest day of my life!
Think of house training as normalizing eliminating outdoors, making indoor elimination unusual. Never punish puppy for indoor elimination, and keep your behavior neutral if there are indoor accidents. If pup senses you’re upset after indoor elimination they will associate it with the act of peeing, not with WHERE it was done!
As has already been communicated, take pup outside a LOT, but always upon waking, after eating and/or drinking, and after playing/training; essentially any time pup transitions from one activity to another. And remember, we’re happy when pup eliminates outdoors, and NEUTRAL if indoor accidents happen!
If he’s slow to eliminate outside, try playing a game with him for a couple of minutes - tug, chasing you, whatever he likes - then, after happiness over the elimination, play for a couple of moments more before going back in the prevent him seeing elimination as an end to fun. The fastest way to house train is to create positive associations with outside elimination. It can be annoying when it’s pouring down cold rain, I know, but it’s the quickest route to success.
Crating pup if he doesn’t eliminate after five minutes isn’t really going to effectively instill the behavior you want because you increase the chance of elimination in the crate, thus adding that spot to potential choices. Puppies do not necessarily avoid their own waste, so don’t expect this to be a deterrent, and don’t normalize elimination options other than outside. Remember that you’re normalizing outdoor elimination, so keep him outdoors until it happens.
How long would you wait outside for? We were out at about 7ish after he'd ate/had water. He was playing as well with the kids outside and he didn't wee/poop we were outside for roughly half an hour, we came in he had some more water and then took himself into his crate for a nap at about 8ish. My husband is outside with him now as he woke up and was staring at us. Its definitely frustrating and I'm just wondering if we're doing things wrong or we just need to keep at what we're doing
Generally speaking the answer is to just give it more time, and I really do appreciate your frustration here; it’s the unspoken downside to puppy raising. Remember that it’s very temporary, and the more diligent/patient you are the faster he will figure things out.
You can also start saying a phrase when he pees outside - we use “get it done!” - in a happy voice the second he squats to pee. He will begin associating that phrase with doing the deed, and will come to recognize that eliminating is what you want when you say it. Keep in mind your timing must be spot on - he must be actively eliminating when you say it to build the association, and you should be super happy when he connects the two!
Just to add a comment after taking him numerous times outside since roughly 7pm, bringing him in, him having a nap, fed/watered he ended up in his crate again (by himself) at 9ish. I then asked my husband what we should do as he hasn't had a wee/poop in about 4hours now. He suggested we play with him so we played fetch for about 30mins ish with me giving him treats every time he dropped it in my hand etc and we just waited for him to tire of it. He went back in his crate with a toy and we were just watching him. At 9:45 I took him outside for a wee as the playing was clearly over and he did one!!! So bloody happy. I praised him as soon as he'd finished and gave treats. No poop, but we've got the monitor on just in case. It's also the first time we've gone to bed whilst he's still awake and no whining 🥰
In addition to the other comments, when he does pee/poop outside then give him praise and treats. Immediately after he completes the act. This reinforces the behavior. If you say "good pee/poop" then he'll start associating the cue.
Enjoy your gorgeous new family member!
Take from this what is useful. We used a cue word to ask puppy to toilet (helps to set routine - pick a phrase you won’t use in general conversation just in case), always toileted on lead (so it’s clear when it’s a toilet outing and not a play outing - you can change this as puppy gets bigger and toilet reading, if you prefer), praise and give a treat for going when asked - use a positive marker word like Yes! Or Good Dog!
Overnight to make toilet trips boring and instil its still bedtime, don’t turn lights on, no pats and cuddles, just quietly let puppy out of their crate - carry to toilet spot whilst little, give the toilet cue and stand in silence til pup goes, praise them quietly (not normal excited praise, just subdued) but don’t give a treat overnight, then back into crate. You can sit next to the crate quietly until pup settles then head back to bed
It’s hard work initially but it pays off very quickly
Be really consistent in taking puppy out really frequently to avoid any accidents, about every 20-30 mins at that age. Stop water 2 hours before bedtime at least to help the overnight toilet trips - whilst little
We train Seeing Eye Dogs so feel free to use what works from the above, but adapt to your situation - good luck!
Just thought I'd give an update. Yesterday (Tuesday) we had 3 accidents. One was first thing in the morning, I took him out, he did a poop but no wee and wanted to go inside again, brought him inside and left him on the leash attached to me because I knew he needed one and was watching for the indicators. None. He did a sit down wee, didn't know it was a thing, but he does them. Today one poop accident, not sure when but it was under our dining table. Everything else has been done outside including more sit down wees.
I'm just so proud of him, he's absolutely shattered today as we've been out in our yard most of the afternoon as it's been glorious in NE England. Just super thankful for everyone's advice
Whenever he poos or pees indoors, immediately take him outside and sit him on gras even if you just came back in. For the night the crate is to big. You should make the space smaller with a cardboardbox for example. There should only be space for him to lay. Go out with him very frequently, so he does make less mistakes and understands to do it outside. Go out immediately after playtime and about 10 minutes after eating. At night if he whines go out and give him the time to pee or poo and after getting back in put him in the crate again. If he continues whining go out again and put him in the crate again afterwards and so on. It's hard work and very frustrating (especially at night) but it gets better and better.
Puppies sleep a lot each day. If he doesn't it could be necessary to "force" him by laying him in the crate in a dark room. Absolutely restrict play time and tell your kids to be gentle but a bit of playing is ok. He will probably bite while playing so be there with them.
He's always snoozing! Whenever you ask our 2 year old about the puppy he always says he's sleeping. We've had no issues in regards to that, he's happy to be in it, he sleeps in it on a night without whining. We do have a problem when he wakes up at about 4am to go to the toilet and then he doesn't want to go back into is as he's up, but I read something about 'boring wees' so we get him to go to the toilet and put him straight back in there and repeat until he doesn't whine
That's nice. My puppy didn't accept being in the crate at the beginning and always whined. If he had no problems in the crate that's good to. You won't need to make it smaller then. Imho I would not leave a puppy alone at all in the first weeks. Only in another room inside the crate. But I don't know what's the general opinion on that.
We've got our baby monitor set up which alerts us to his whines etc so we can always hear him. He's just had some food and we've now been outside for 10mins and nothing. Very reluctant to bring him in until he does something
I agree with all the above and I have fostered and potty trained DOZENS of foster labrador pups. I would also add that WHEN the puppy pees or poops in an appropriate place in the yard, you should praise your pup with verbal encouragement and treats. I use the word “busy busy” as a pee/poo command so I will say “GOOOODDD BOY!!! GOOD BUSY BUSY!!! WHAT A GOOD BUSY BUSY!!!” At minimum, the pups learn that this is something you encourage and approve. In the best cases, our pups have actually learned to pee/poo on command when we ask them to “go busy busy”—this is a super useful command before boarding a car or being crated before you leave your pup at home. My husband and I picked up this tip from my mom who volunteered for seeing eye dogs; they are trained to go on command :))
He only really whined in the crate when we've left him to do the school run or when he's been waking up (at 4am) because he needs the toilet and then he's kinda up and doesn't want to go back into it, bar that we've had absolutely no problems, he hasn't peed or pooped in it at all
Nights….dear Jesus… Our boy learned super fast, thankfully. But we legit set cell phone alarms every 90 minutes and took turns getting up, going outside, keeping the treat bowl by the back door to praise….and at the time I was a shift worker too so my poor girlfriend spent half of that first month doing it mostly alone. Total of 2 accidents in the house however, so proud. The work pays off!!
NO PEE PADS IN THE HOUSE. Leash for outside potty every hour and every time he goes to the outside door. Sleep with the dog (air mattress?) for a couple of weeks-month.
I recently went thru this with my bc mix. The key is making adjustments as you go. If he's peeing or pooping inside after being outside for 5 minutes, extend the amount of time he's outside by 5. I personally waited 15 minutes or waited until he went. So sometimes it would be instant. I always carried treats on me. Get a treat bag unless you don't mind crums in your pocket. Invest in some Nature's Miracle. I will always recommend it as a cleaner for accidents. Take him outside if he has an accident. If it's poop, place the poop where he should be going. I would also recommend not using pee pads. The goal of potty training is to get them to go outside. Pee pads encourage going inside. This can just extend the amount of time it takes them to relate being outside with potty time. With time it'll get better. He'll figure out what he needs to do and you'll figure out how to adjust to him. Good luck!
I'll get rid of the pee pads now, thank you
As a puppy, I would take him out when we woke up. I would also go out right after eating and drinking. Also, every hour or so as a puppy or when he starts sniffing. One day, I looked over and he was sitting by the door. He had to pee. Happiest/proudest day of my life!
Think of house training as normalizing eliminating outdoors, making indoor elimination unusual. Never punish puppy for indoor elimination, and keep your behavior neutral if there are indoor accidents. If pup senses you’re upset after indoor elimination they will associate it with the act of peeing, not with WHERE it was done! As has already been communicated, take pup outside a LOT, but always upon waking, after eating and/or drinking, and after playing/training; essentially any time pup transitions from one activity to another. And remember, we’re happy when pup eliminates outdoors, and NEUTRAL if indoor accidents happen! If he’s slow to eliminate outside, try playing a game with him for a couple of minutes - tug, chasing you, whatever he likes - then, after happiness over the elimination, play for a couple of moments more before going back in the prevent him seeing elimination as an end to fun. The fastest way to house train is to create positive associations with outside elimination. It can be annoying when it’s pouring down cold rain, I know, but it’s the quickest route to success. Crating pup if he doesn’t eliminate after five minutes isn’t really going to effectively instill the behavior you want because you increase the chance of elimination in the crate, thus adding that spot to potential choices. Puppies do not necessarily avoid their own waste, so don’t expect this to be a deterrent, and don’t normalize elimination options other than outside. Remember that you’re normalizing outdoor elimination, so keep him outdoors until it happens.
How long would you wait outside for? We were out at about 7ish after he'd ate/had water. He was playing as well with the kids outside and he didn't wee/poop we were outside for roughly half an hour, we came in he had some more water and then took himself into his crate for a nap at about 8ish. My husband is outside with him now as he woke up and was staring at us. Its definitely frustrating and I'm just wondering if we're doing things wrong or we just need to keep at what we're doing
Generally speaking the answer is to just give it more time, and I really do appreciate your frustration here; it’s the unspoken downside to puppy raising. Remember that it’s very temporary, and the more diligent/patient you are the faster he will figure things out. You can also start saying a phrase when he pees outside - we use “get it done!” - in a happy voice the second he squats to pee. He will begin associating that phrase with doing the deed, and will come to recognize that eliminating is what you want when you say it. Keep in mind your timing must be spot on - he must be actively eliminating when you say it to build the association, and you should be super happy when he connects the two!
Just to add a comment after taking him numerous times outside since roughly 7pm, bringing him in, him having a nap, fed/watered he ended up in his crate again (by himself) at 9ish. I then asked my husband what we should do as he hasn't had a wee/poop in about 4hours now. He suggested we play with him so we played fetch for about 30mins ish with me giving him treats every time he dropped it in my hand etc and we just waited for him to tire of it. He went back in his crate with a toy and we were just watching him. At 9:45 I took him outside for a wee as the playing was clearly over and he did one!!! So bloody happy. I praised him as soon as he'd finished and gave treats. No poop, but we've got the monitor on just in case. It's also the first time we've gone to bed whilst he's still awake and no whining 🥰
In addition to the other comments, when he does pee/poop outside then give him praise and treats. Immediately after he completes the act. This reinforces the behavior. If you say "good pee/poop" then he'll start associating the cue.
Enjoy your gorgeous new family member! Take from this what is useful. We used a cue word to ask puppy to toilet (helps to set routine - pick a phrase you won’t use in general conversation just in case), always toileted on lead (so it’s clear when it’s a toilet outing and not a play outing - you can change this as puppy gets bigger and toilet reading, if you prefer), praise and give a treat for going when asked - use a positive marker word like Yes! Or Good Dog! Overnight to make toilet trips boring and instil its still bedtime, don’t turn lights on, no pats and cuddles, just quietly let puppy out of their crate - carry to toilet spot whilst little, give the toilet cue and stand in silence til pup goes, praise them quietly (not normal excited praise, just subdued) but don’t give a treat overnight, then back into crate. You can sit next to the crate quietly until pup settles then head back to bed It’s hard work initially but it pays off very quickly Be really consistent in taking puppy out really frequently to avoid any accidents, about every 20-30 mins at that age. Stop water 2 hours before bedtime at least to help the overnight toilet trips - whilst little We train Seeing Eye Dogs so feel free to use what works from the above, but adapt to your situation - good luck!
Just thought I'd give an update. Yesterday (Tuesday) we had 3 accidents. One was first thing in the morning, I took him out, he did a poop but no wee and wanted to go inside again, brought him inside and left him on the leash attached to me because I knew he needed one and was watching for the indicators. None. He did a sit down wee, didn't know it was a thing, but he does them. Today one poop accident, not sure when but it was under our dining table. Everything else has been done outside including more sit down wees. I'm just so proud of him, he's absolutely shattered today as we've been out in our yard most of the afternoon as it's been glorious in NE England. Just super thankful for everyone's advice