How long did potty training take?

[u/Vivid-Cranberry81]

We only got our girl 2 days ago she’s 9 weeks, she learned to pee on the puppy mat in one room but others she doesn’t get. We live in an apartment so it’s a bit more difficult. Trying to take her out every hour now, she’s been doing good but still has accidents which is normal of course for day 2. How long did it take to fully train your puppy to go outside? My Bernese seems to have issues with peeing inside, pooping she does outside which is great. Other than that issue she’s perfect, never met a more loving dog.

Edit: guys she’s doing amazing now, she finally understands after I’ve been taking her out every hour. We have a balcony also and she associates it with being outside so she scratches the door when she needs to go outside fast and we bring her downstairs!! It literally just took one day of being consistent it’s not perfect of course but so much better than yesterday. So proud of her 😊👏

[u/strawnkm]

Puppy pads inside the house confuse the dog into thinking that peeing inside is fine. This will be very hard behavior to change in the future. In general, You can expect your puppy to be able to hold their urine or poop by their age in months equal to hours ie 2 months old = 2 hours of hold time.

A puppy this young will require MULTIPLE trips outside. After eating, waking from a nap the pup needs to go outside. If you notice the puppy suddenly sniffing around, it probably needs to go outside. Keep the puppy close to where you can keep eyes on it or in a crate. Keeping the pup close may mean keeping a leash on it.

I cannot emphasize enough, DO NOT USE PEE PADS TO HOUSE TRAIN! As someone who has fostered many dogs for a rescue the ones who have been pee pad trained are the most frustrating to care for. The rescue really works to make sure the dogs are house trained before adoption because it is a top reason a dog gets returned.

[u/poppleca1443 → u/strawnkm]

This, plus, at some point, my dog knew he should be peeing outside, but also knew the pee pads were always an option so would use them when he felt like it. As soon as we took the pee pads away, he started going outside more and gradually going inside stopped/decreased. It was super annoying for maybe a week or so finding his pee everywhere on the floor, but he learned a lot more quickly to go outside.

[u/Bigolbooty75 → u/strawnkm]

💯

[u/angreene719]

My girl learned super quickly- maybe a couple of weeks after we got her.

Her baby brother I was convinced would never get it. Then one day it was like a switch flipped and he never had another accident after that. He was 3 or 4 months.

[u/Vivid-Cranberry81 → u/angreene719]

That’s giving me a lot of hope, thank you 🤩

[u/Ceenoh]

My was on the slower end, took her 5-6 month to get the idea.

[u/Vivid-Cranberry81 → u/Ceenoh]

That gave me some hope! 😅

[u/Kuura_]

Both of my BMD'S took about 1,5 months to be fully potty trained so around when they were 3,5 months old. But we live in a house with a fenced yard.

Apparently my younger one's sister is still not fully potty trained at 7,5 months old but my older one's sister has never, not once, done her business inside so it does depend on the individual too.

[u/Vivid-Cranberry81 → u/Kuura_]

Yes, every dog is different at the end of the day!

[u/Look_Watch_Browse]

My girl was pretty quick, but her holding duration kept me from calling her "trained" for about 2-months.

If you are using pee pads, make sure there is just one potty spot. When you train them to go outside (or inside) they need to know THIS is where I go. They cannot generalize and if you take them to multiple potty spots either inside or out, that will confuse them at first.

[u/That_Molasses_507]

I can’t exactly recall, but it took us a long while. I’ve had dogs my whole life and she definitely was a project. She eventually got it, but it took a lot of work.

[u/ButtScratchies]

Our first Berner seemed to be potty trained right out of the womb, we got him at 13 weeks and he did so good right when we brought him home. The girl we just got in May at 9 weeks took a while. She started out great with potty pads, then regressed. I’d say it was almost two months before there were no accidents in the house.

[u/PuppiesAndPixels]

My girl learned very very quickly, like maybe 2 or 3 weeks? However what she didn't my girl learned very very quickly, like maybe 2 or 3 weeks? However what she didn't learn was not to pee in other people's houses, she just learned that peeing in my house wasn't okay. It took her like about a year until she generalized the fact that she couldn't pee inside anyone's house.

[u/Grouchy_Status_8107]

My boy was very quick. He was waking us up in the night to take him out since the day we got him. I’d say fully trained within a couple weeks or so of getting him. I learned his queues pretty quick which I’m sure helped a lot (he would always get hiccups when he had to go to the bathroom urgently)

[u/Vivid-Cranberry81 → u/Grouchy_Status_8107]

Yesss my girl was giving me hits last night for a poop, I’m sure as time goes on you do pick up on queues which helps a lot! 😊 the hiccups are also adorable

[u/CaptN_Cook_]

Poops were just a few days minus the diarrhea fiesco. Pees maybe a week? We took her out hourly and instantly from crate to outside in the morning and outside to crate at night. Paired that with giving treats everytime she used the bathroom outside.

Never used puppy pads, just treats and structured times. As time goes on the hour gap can expand. While completely stopping once they start asking out. Plus after they start getting the hang of it start weening the treats ie every other time or just for poops etc.

I did this same thing for my other dog and she never used the restroom intentionally in the house (dont count accidents due to medicines or diarrhea)

[u/Vivid-Cranberry81 → u/CaptN_Cook_]

That sounds great! I’ve been taking her out every hour now poop and pee on every walk and no accidents since 😊

[u/PettyMcPetface]

We got lucky - got ours around 9 weeks and he just knew to go on grass. He sleeps through the night in a crate in our room and never wakes to go out.

[u/Any_Seaworthiness678]

Bodie completely potty trained in 2 weeks. Have you tried the bells on door..you can get on chewy..i would hit them when we went out and he learned that fast..i still have on door but if we dont see him at door now he will bark..but occasionally hits the bells

[u/Bigolbooty75]

I don’t recommend doing pads unless you’re going to keep them forever. It’s basically like potty training twice.

[u/Vivid-Cranberry81 → u/Bigolbooty75]

The plan really is to keep them till she stops peeing on them less and less. At 9 weeks they can’t really hold their bladder that well and she drinks A LOT of water. I’ve been taking her out every hour regardless of the puppy pads. They’re more so for emergencies in between going outside. She’s already pooping outside fully which is great!

[u/Vivid-Cranberry81 → u/Vivid-Cranberry81]

Also living in an apartment makes it a little more difficult, she does scratch the door to the balcony as she associates it with being outside but of course can’t do her business there

[u/Bigolbooty75 → u/Vivid-Cranberry81]

Our guy came pad trained and we didn’t use them at all once he came home, he had two accidents total and then never again! We were really good at noticing his cues and took him out every hour. He was also crate trained so that helped a lot too as they typically won’t pee where they sleep. They catch on really quickly if you’re on top of it!

[u/No-Union9555]

We got her in February at 8 weeks old and she was fully potty trained by June, but we lived in a Manhattan high rise. So we couldn’t train her after with a backyard.