How To Potty Train A Puppy

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how to potty train a puppy

Nothing sours the honeymoon period of new puppyhood like urine soaked carpets and puddles in the hallway. Fortunately these problems are usually short lived, and with the right advice you can even sail through this mucky stage without a mop bucket in sight. Today I’ll share how to potty train a puppy in easy stages and with straight forward, no nonsense advice. And realistic too. You won’t have a perfectly clean pup in 24 hours, but it will make the next few weeks go by fast and effectively.

The main things you need to remember are to keep small puppies off carpets where possible, and restrict them to washable floors. Ensure bathroom visits are very regularly, and wait with them whilst they pee. Watch them like a hawk if they haven’t had a potty break recently, praise successful trips outdoors and never punish their mistakes. But of course there is also a lot more we can say about how to properly potty train a puppy.

Contents

There are important ways you can tailor your strategy for potty training outdoors, indoors, or potty training puppies older than 8 weeks old. Deciding how you’re going to tackle potty training in advance is the key to potty training quickly, with as few accidents as possible and minimal frustration.

How to potty train a puppy

Once you have brought your new puppy home you’ll want to get them potty trained as fast as possible! This page is your ultimate ‘how to’ guide to that process. I’ll share my years of experience raising puppies, and let you know when to start, how to potty train a puppy to go outside or go on pads, and how to cope with setbacks. And teach you my important principles and techniques in easy to follow steps.

Getting started at 8 weeks old

Whether you call it potty training, house training or house breaking, you can make a start with teaching your puppy the right place to pee and poo from the moment you bring them home. In fact, it is important that you do this and that you make an effort to avoid ‘accidents’ even in those very early days.

If you can avoid accidents as much as possible from the start, you will make faster progress – this means the more effort you put in at the beginning, the better things will be. This is because puppies naturally like to pee where they have peed before. And so it is better not to build up any kind of history of peeing in your home if you can avoid it.

But whatever age you start your puppy potty training journey, you’ll find yourself navigating three key stages. And in this respect, how to house training an 8 week old puppy is exactly the same as how to potty train a 6 month old puppy.

The three stages of house training

  1. Learning where to potty – establishing a toilet area
  2. Starting to hold on – learning self control
  3. Independent toileting

We’ll be looking at each stage in turn. The same stages apply whether you’re toilet training in an apartment or a yard. But the way you approach them differs slightly. Which is why it’s important to decide which one you’re doing early on.

Puppy potty training methods

There are two different methods of house training. One is better suited to puppy parents who are able to be at home for their puppies all the time. And the other one is adapted for puppy parents that have to go out during the day.

To help you choose the right one for you, we’ll explain exactly what’s involved in each.

Method 1: How to potty train a puppy to go outside

Method 1 is a great system for anyone that can take time to be with their new 8 or 9 week old puppy all day for the first few weeks. The system is based on teaching your puppy to toilet outside from the start, as this makes the process faster and simpler. It is set out in three clear stages:

  1. Establish the toilet area (8-9 weeks)
  2. Learning self control (10-12 weeks)
  3. Extending the clean zone (3-6 months)

Stage 1 – Establish the toilet area

This stage is all about teaching your puppy the right place to wee and poo. While at the same time, preventing him from emptying himself in any of the wrong places.

During this phase, restrict your puppy to a small area of your home and one that has washable floors. Your first job is to get your puppy to his outdoor toilet area many times each day, especially on the following occasions:

  • on waking
  • after eating
  • after playing
  • any time his bladder is full.

Supervise Your Puppy

Your second job is to supervise or contain your puppy when his bladder is filling up. You can do this by crating him for a few minutes, or by cuddling him in your arms. I recommend the cuddle option for the first few days, that way you can introduce the crate gradually once he has settled into his new home.

Recognising when your puppy’s bladder is filling up

The most reliable way to predict this at first is to go by the clock. Either spend your first day together in the yard getting a feel for how frequently they pee. Or if that isn’t possible, start on the assumption they need to wee every 30 minutes, and adjust that up – or down! – depending on your puppy’s progress.

If your puppy pees every 30 minutes, then it’s a pretty good bet that his bladder is filling up if his last wee was more than twenty minutes ago.

A complete and simple guide to potty training your puppy - from the Labrador Site

As you can see, there is some guesswork involved in house training a puppy, but not too much. And you will soon get to know your puppy’s natural rhythms.

The secrets of successful outdoor toilet trips

Not wanting to pee outside is a common toilet training puppy problem and one we look at in more detail in this article. Keeping your puppy company is the key. You need to go outside with your puppy and wait there with him until he has done a wee.

This may take longer than you would like, and you probably have better things to do than stand in your yard while your puppy chases butterflies or plays with your shoe laces. But stay outside you must, until he has done that wee.

Coming Indoors Early

If you must come indoors before your puppy has relieved himself, you need to supervise him very closely. Hold him in your arms – or put him in a small crate for a few minutes – before going back out to try again.

Don’t worry, you won’t still be doing this in four years time. It is a new puppy problem, and it will pass. And if you teach your puppy to pee on command, it will pass even quicker!

Rewarding success

If you put plenty of effort in, and take your puppy out a great deal in those first few days, he will quickly learn that the place you have allocated to him for potty purposes is the place to pee. And he’ll happily empty himself when he is taken there.

You can praise him and give him a little treat for doing so. Have your treat on hand (keep them next to your poop bags so you remember to grab both on the way out), and deliver it right after your puppy has completed their business. Rewarding his successes and ignoring his accidents is the quickest way of successfully communicating what you want, and quickly potty training your puppy.

Stage 2 – Learning self control

During stage 2 your puppy begins to develop some self control. This means he can wait a few minutes before emptying himself when his bladder starts to feel full. And you’ll find that you don’t need to supervise him so closely in the first twenty minutes or so after his last wee.

But your job is still to make sure your puppy reaches his toilet area frequently enough that he doesn’t run out of capacity to hold it in. Keep an eye on your puppy for the tell tale signs that he needs to use the toilet:

  • whimpering, whining or barking
  • restless
  • sniffing about, especially sniffing in circles!

Using Your Crate

If your puppy is now used to his crate, you can start using it stretch out the gaps between toilet trips. Because provided you don’t make him wait too long, your puppy won’t wee in his own bed.

Accidents during stage 2

At some point during stage 2, many puppies will be able to last an hour or so between wees. This is when puppy parents often relax their vigilance, and their puppies start having accidents in the house again. If this happens to you, don’t panic.

Simply go back to shorter gaps between trips to the yard for a few days. Then start to space out those trips again, but more gradually this time. Remember that a puppy who lasts an hour between one wee and the next won’t necessarily manage another hour before the third.

Stage 3 – Extending the clean zone

This is where all your hard work starts to really pay off. Once your puppy is confidently and consistently toileting outdoors, and you can further stretch out the gaps between toilet breaks, and start to introduce your puppy to the rest of your home.

Take it slowly, and if accidents occur, to go back to shorter gaps between trips outdoors for a few days. Bear in mind that your puppy may be used to peeing in the yard and not in the kitchen by now, but they might not automatically understand which rule applies to the lounge.

Method 2: How to potty train a puppy indoors

This section has a lot in common with how to potty train a puppy when you work. Puppy parents who can’t consistently be around to take their puppy out frequently in the first few weeks need to give their puppy a suitable place to pee indoors when they’re not around.

how to potty train a puppy

You can still take them out whenever you’re at home, but while you’re out they’ll use sheets of newspaper or pee pads indoors. Likewise if you live in an apartment without a yard, you’ll need to potty train indoors until your puppy’s vaccination schedule is complete.

So follow method 2 if you need to know how to potty train a puppy in an apartment as well. And that means using pads.

How to potty train a puppy on pads

The simplest way to do this is to restrict the puppy to a smallish room with washable floors. Cover the floor with puppy pads to begin with, with their bed in one corner. If you don’t have a small room with a washable floor, you’ll need to put up a sturdy puppy play pen to contain him.

How do you train a puppy to pee on a pad?

With this arrangement in place, as long as your puppy leaves his bed to pee (which his mom will have encouraged him to do), he will pee onto the pads.

Puppies instinctively pee where they’ve peed before. So over the next few days, reduce the area of the floor that is covered with puppy pads by half. You should find he begins to make an effort to pee and poop on the part of the floor that is covered – but it needs to be a sizeable part to get this good habit established.

How to potty train a puppy fast using pads – reducing the toilet area

By the end of the first week, you can begin to reduce the part of the floor that is covered with puppy pads right down to a small area, preferably near the back door. By the time that the puppy is capable of waiting until someone comes to let him out – you’ll be able to move the pads outside.

It is usually best to do this when you have some time booked off work – or during a long weekend when the weather is fine. You’ll know that your puppy is capable of waiting when he is clean and dry most times he is left, even with the puppy pads there.

How to crate potty train a puppy

Using a crate whilst you potty train isn’t a third method for house training a puppy. But if you choose to crate train your puppy LINK alongside potty training him, the crate can be a useful aid for potty training too. Once your puppy thinks of the crate as their bed, they will be reluctant to soil in it.

If you’re potty training outdoors using our first method, you can use the crate briefly after unproductive toilet trips during stage one, and to very gradually to extend the time between toilet trips in stage two. Indoors, a crate can be a useful way to mark out a sleeping area vs a toileting area inside your puppy’s pen.

You Still Need To Watch Your Puppy

Always watch puppies closely in their crate during potty training, and whisk them out to the right spot at the first sign they might need to relieve themselves.

It’s important to remember that using a crate won’t give your puppy more control over their toileting than their body will allow.

So even though they don’t want to, they will soil their bed if their body can’t hold on any longer.

You can find out a lot more about crate training and the role it plays in rapid house training on this page.

Potty training a puppy when you work

It’s one thing to use puppy pads and the indoor potty training method because you need to do the school run or buy groceries.

It’s another to rely on them while you leave your puppy for extended periods to go to work.

As well opportunities to use the toilet, Labrador puppies need company and socialisation while they are small.

You really can’t leave a puppy alone all day, every day. He needs to be cared for by someone, even if that someone isn’t you.

So, if you are going to go back to work you need to arrange someone to look after him, or to come in at intervals throughout the day to play with him and take him out.

Here are some articles which will be of interest if you are thinking of getting a puppy and work full time:

How to potty train a puppy at night

Puppies vary in how long they can last at night without a wee.

Many pups are nine or ten weeks old before they can last from midnight to, say, 6am or 7am without a wee.

Some pups are even older, and a few pups can last six or seven hours from around eight weeks old.

What you need to accept is that this is not something you can control.

The puppy has the bladder he has, and you cannot influence that.

What you can do is make it easy for him to be clean, by taking him to his toilet area during the night and very early in the morning, if that is what he needs.

Puppy potty training at night – night waking and nocturnal bathroom breaks

To be on the safe side with an 8 week old puppy, have them sleep in a crate or deep sided box near your bed. Or set up a camp bed for yourself close to the room they’re sleeping in.

When he stirs in the night, carry him outside to his toilet area. Don’t make a fuss of him, be very boring.

Just wait for him to do a wee, tell him what a clever boy he is, and pop him back into bed.

He may protest a little in the hopes of some more interesting company, but should soon settle back down to sleep.

Getting more sleep

Within a few days, you’ll have a reliable idea of how far through the night he can get before he needs to pee.

Now if you’d like to move him to a new bedroom, or return to your usual one, you can set an alarm for just before he’ll need to go, and take him out.

Over the coming days, you can gradually move that alarm closer and closer to morning.

At around ten weeks old many puppies will be able to last for seven hours overnight. Some pups will need another two or three weeks to get to this point, which is fine.

Many young dogs will not be able to last more than seven hours until they are six months or so.

But when will you be able to say that the whole puppy potty training process is complete?

How long does it take to potty train a puppy?

Puppy potty training is complete when he reliably does all of his toileting outside, and can hold on with a full bladder between toilet trips.

If you can take your Labrador puppy outside to use the toilet from day one, you’ll find that you can predict his toileting rhythms and avoid accidents within a few short weeks.

But a dog is not really fully house trained until he can comfortably wait several hours between wees, understands that the place to pee is always outside, and will try his best not to pee in the house if you’re late home.

Potty training a puppy in 7 days – is it possible?

Potty training isn’t most pet parents’ favorite job. So it’s no surprise that people are attracted to titles like “how to quickly potty train a puppy” and “how to potty train your puppy easily”

But is potty training a puppy in 7 days really achievable?

Many people think that they have finished house breaking a puppy because their three month old puppy hasn’t had an accident for a few days, if at all.

The conscious control stage

This kind of success is great, but it is more a case of good management than a puppy who has learned precocious bladder control.

So while you can certainly learn to avoid accidents and manage your puppy’s toileting behavior in a week or two, he isn’t truly potty trained at this point.

And it pays to be patient before allowing him unrestricted access to all areas of your home without regular supervised toilet breaks.

How to stop your puppy peeing or pooping in the house

Of course mistakes will occasionally happen. Your puppy’s bladder is small and his memory is short.

But repeated mistakes can set you back considerably, because puppies can smell the tiniest trace of urine and they think it is important to pee where they have peed before.

In this way one or two accidents can start a downward spiral, so take action right away.

There are two important ways to stop your potty training puppy having further accidents:

  1. Take him out more often
  2. Clean up more thoroughly

Take him out more often

It is annoying if your friend’s puppy house training is going better than yours.

If their puppy can last an hour between wees, and your puppy can’t.

But your puppy is what he is. And when you are learning how to potty train, you need to consider the dog in front of you, rather than the national average.

After all, there is no single right answer to “how long should it take to potty train a puppy?”

So if he has an accident 25 minutes after peeing in your yard, he needs to go out again after 20 minutes next time.

Clear up accidents thoroughly

Once a puppy has had an accident in the home you need to remove all trace of it.

You can buy special cleaners for this purpose which destroy the proteins in puppy wee.

This will stop him recognizing the scent of somewhere he’s peed before.

Don’t use cleaners containing bleach, because puppies frequently mistake the ammonia smell of bleach for traces of past wees.

Why you should not punish your puppy for potty training accidents

In the ‘old days’ people had very different views on how to house train a puppy.

Accidents were considered to be the dog’s fault, and puppies were often punished for accidents in the house.

The puppy was shown the pee or poop and smacked or had his nose rubbed in what he had done.

This was not only a horrible thing to do to a puppy, it was also completely ineffective.

Puppies were not house trained any quicker than they are with kind modern methods today.

Quite the opposite in fact.

Punishment will slow down your potty training progress

In fact punishment can slow down puppy toilet training as it –

  • Encourages puppies to ‘hide’ when they wee, so that they won’t get into trouble.
  • Makes the puppy afraid to pee in front of you.

This means you will have to wait even longer when you take your puppy outside to his allocated ‘bathroom’ area.

But by using praise and positive reinforcement, you can achieve exactly the opposite of that – a puppy which pees quickly and on command!

Teach your puppy to pee on command

Each time your puppy empties himself in your chosen spot, use a special phrase to mark the occasion.

For example “hurry up!” or “be quick!” said in a jolly and upbeat way.

After a few weeks you will find that when you say this phrase, your puppy starts to feel the urge to empty himself.

This is because the phrase has become associated in his mind with the act of going to the toilet.

In a couple of months or so, many puppies learn to wee on command through this simple technique.

Needless to say, don’t use a phrase that you also use around the home to cajole the kids on busy mornings!

Solutions to common puppy potty training problems

If potty training isn’t going as you hoped, and peeing on command seems like an impossible dream, don’t despair.

You are not alone. Little setbacks and hiccups in the potty training process are common to many new puppy owners.

I have written an in-depth article that covers all the common puppy training problems that puppy parents experience.

Do check it out if you run into problems, you may find it helpful to read it when you have finished this one.

Join the Forum!

Do also join the forum where we have lots of other puppy parents and many experienced Labrador owners who provide help and support to you and others with new pups.

You don’t have to do this alone, and we’d love to meet you.

Related Articles

how to potty train a puppy

References

How To Potty Train A Puppy

The Labrador Site Founder

Pippa Mattinson is the best selling author of The Happy Puppy Handbook, the Labrador Handbook, Choosing The Perfect Puppy, and Total Recall.

She is also the founder of the Gundog Trust and the Dogsnet Online Training Program 

Pippa's online training courses were launched in 2019 and you can find the latest course dates on the Dogsnet website

180 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Pippa,
    We have a 17 week old female black lab, and its the dreaded toilet training. We will take her out at regular intervals, after food and after sleeping. She may go wee outside then come in and wee again within minutes. I haven’t heard of this crating training and not sure I fully understand it. Her toileting is causing real problems. Can you please give me some advise. When we take her out she is on a lead as our garden is not enclosed. But she does wee when ww take her out.

  2. I have lovely male 9 wk old lab. He wee outside every time we go out and I do this very regularly but he does little weed indoors 4 minutes after we come in. Is he just very little and I should keep pressing on?

  3. Hi Pippa,
    I have a 12 week old male Lab. He is wonderful and learning basic commands quickly. The main issue is potty training. We have been very diligent in his training. Many trips outside. Crate training. Every 3 hours at night and every 2 hours or so in the daytime. The problem is, he seems to have no issue peeing in his crate and laying in it. We will take him out, he potties, then he will be in his crate 15 minutes later, chewing on his toy and just pee while laying there. I am just not sure how to address this behavior. We immediately take him out. No fuss. No scolding. And then clean the crate with vinegar and put him back in. Is this common and how do we defeat this behavior? Thanks in advance

    Matthew

    • Hi Matthew, two hours is much too long for many 8 and 9 week old puppies to last, so if you have been using this routine from the beginning, he may have got into the habit of peeing in his crate. The other thing to consider is the size of the crate. How big is your pup’s crate? Pippa

      • OK. he is 15 weeks now. we still have him on a steady schedule of every couple of hours to potty. his crate is sized down to keep him confined, but he still pees in his crate and doesn’t seem to mind being in it. he has never pooped in his crate, but we can take him out, he pees, bring him in and he pees again with no warning within 15 minutes……Help.

  4. Hi Pippa. I have a similar issue to Kerry. Our lab is now 16 weeks and does brilliantly keeping clean during the day. At night though, she usually produces a poo and a wee for us, always is similar spots. She is restricted to the kitchen, has her last food at 5.30 and is last let out at about 11pm. We are down in the morning by 6:30/7:00. Are we expecting too much control too soon? We are thinking of crating her because we have had a handful of nights when she has remained clean – so we know she CAN do it. Advice gratefully received. Thanks.

      • We just got a female lab 7/8 weeks old. What a great puppy.she is fine during the day on going potty out side , has her spots she likes. However at night we have a crate and she pooping in it 3/4 times a night. Somewhat loose, we take her out before bed , her last meal is around 5/6 at night and she will wine to go out but only after she’s poops . No pee ever. it’s a small crate. very frustrated and need help. She goes after every nap like a clock during the day ,even uses the doggy door to go out then back in. Night time help?

  5. Good morning.
    I already have a 2 year old male black lab and a 1 year old cavapoo. Both well behaved and housetrained. I did use the Crate for my boy, but didn’t with the little dog as she did everything with him and it wasn’t long before she was completely housetrained.
    I now have a beautiful 10 1/2 week old Labradoodle (hope that’s ok to be posting on this site!). She is clean in the day – I frequently let her in the garden with the other dogs. We got her at 9 weeks and only had a few wee’s in the day on day 1 and 2. At night however, all 3 dogs are kept in the kitchen (big bed and sheets, none of them crated). Her last outing to do her business is around 11. She is quiet in the night, all of the dogs have settled well together. Now, I get up at 6 to let them out. I’m only doing this as the puppy would need it as my other dogs will go a lot longer. Most mornings, we have one poo (always in the same spot!) and sometimes one wee – although sometimes no wee’s at all. I let them out and clean up. I don’t mind cleaning it up – but would you suggest I get up earlier and pre-empt the fact she’ll need to go? My hesitation is disturbing all the dogs and then them not settling and waking rest of household up. My ideal schedule when she is old enough is to get up at 6, take them for a walk…hence why 6 is the time I’ve started to get up.
    I don’t get mad at her for messing in the house at night as I know she’s a baby – I just ignore it. Should I persevere into the schedule I hope to keep? Will she eventually just stop messing? I last feed her at 6.30 and take water up at 7 (I make sure she has access to lots of water in the day)
    Hard to know what to do because of having 3 of them.

  6. Hi Pippa,
    I have a 7 weeks puppy. I’m starting his potty training. My backyard is mostly paved but there is a small area with lawn and I would like my puppy to use that area as a toilett as I can’t take him outside for a walk because he is not fully vaccinated yet. He’s pooping and wee-ing everywhere in the backyard but the lawn. How could I teach him to do its things on the lawn? I would appreciate all the help you could give me. Thanks!
    Mercedes.

  7. Dear Pippa- Our puppy Henry just turned 8 weeks old. We got him 1 week ago. We have been following your advice- taking him outside as much as possible, rewarding him for going outside and not punishing him for accidents inside. He wakes us up crying at least once a night and we take him out to pee. However, he does also constantly go in the house. We assumed it was because he was young and it would take some time. We put down some wee pads but he avoids them. Instead, he pees all over the apartment, and also in his crate, on the couch and in our other dog’s bed. And now, he refuses to pee outside but pees as soon as we get back in the house. Any specific advice on how to break this habit, and general house training in general, would be appreciated. Thanks.

  8. Hello,
    First I want to say thank you for the advice 🙂 I just got a 7 week old puppy and he has been doing alright with the house training so far has had a couple accidents here and there and I have made sure to clean them properly. My problem is that I work overnight shifts that are 10 hours long I stay by myself so no one can take him out while I’m not home. I’ve brought him over to a friends house the last couple nights because I didn’t have a crate yet but now that I do will it mess up the training if I leave him in there while I go to work? How can I train him during these shift hours? Any help is appreciated 🙂 thanks

  9. I just got my dog rocky 2 days ago, and he came from a kill shelter with 5 other litter mats, all he knows how to do is to go potty in his crate we put it outside and he won’t use it. This morning I took him out and he was standing right beside me and peed I told him what a good boy he was and then my husband took him for a walk but he didn’t go. Then my son took him outside later that night and he pooped, so I don’t really know what to do we are going to start training classes with him soon, but I worry about his poor little bladder. I do take him out and we are out there for like 10 to15 mins but nothing happens, and when I take him out he is not on a leash. I think tonight I might go get the tray and bring it in just so I know he will go. I don’t really know what else to do so help please. Thanks Kim oh by the way he is not quite 5 months yet

  10. Hello, I loved reading all your advise… can I ask would most of it apply to ny 10 week old husky… weve had him from 8 weeks and crate him at night and while im at work. I work ten mins away so comes home at lunch time to let him out to wee and poop. But it does mean he is alone for maybe three hours at a time twice a day mon to friday. It makes it worse as he hasnt had his second injection yet… booked for monday and even then I cant walk him for another week. So I feel bad as I know at the minute he hasnt got much of a life… my question is do you have any tips for training the dog to let you know when he has to go… my pup wont go in his crate so that is a great tool. But when playing even if he has just been for a wee 10 mins earlier he might wander to go and have a poo in the house.

    Also sometimes he wilk settle in his crate. I get up around 3 or 4 am to take him out for a wee. Dont play with him just say good boy and back in the crate but thenbits like hes wide awake and gowls like mad to be out for over an hour. Am I doing right by ignoring this behaviour. I go back to sleep u til seven ish I dont go back and praise when hes quiet… is that my issue… ?

    Im also taking him to puppy classes in two weeks… the trainer said really it should have been earlier for him but I wouldnt take him until he was vaccinated so hope its not too late!

    Thank u and I hope you can apply some of your excellent knowledge of labs to my boy.

  11. Hi! Very helpful article.. I just bought a puppy yesterday and it has already pooped twice in my garden and weed once there as well.
    The owner said he is potty trained on the newspaper.. How do i make sure that he empties himself on the newspaper and not in the garden? I know its too soon to expect him to learn it all but i guess i need to reinforce what he learnt back at home with his siblings and mother. Need a bit of help with how I can reinforce the habits!

    Thanking in advance

    Regards!

  12. Hi
    I have read through these articles with the greatest interest and am very impressed with the amount of advice been given
    My question is, we have just got a 10 week old chocolate Labrador. I’ve successfully, through your advice, conquered a few things and would like to know how to go about getting my dog on a lead without her chewing on it. We’re not out and about yet as she’s not had her second jabs yet but thought I would try a lead in the garden. She sits to command and sits and waits for her meals.
    Thanks for any advice
    Bev

  13. Thanks for the great article! I have a chocolate lab that is 11 weeks old. We picked her up 3 weeks ago, and started on house training. We use crate for the night time and day when I am at work, and kids at school. She does great, knows that she should go outside to do what she has to do, and even asked to go outside to bathroom several times (barking by the door, or walking towards the door and stopping to look back at me to see if I am following). However, she still does mess up at home( she pees on the floor quite often). What should I do when she messes up at home? Is firm “NO” acceptable to correct her, or should the accidents be ignored completely? I realize that it usually takes longer to completely house train the puppy, so accidents are expected. I am just not sure how to treat them? Thank you!

    • Hi Julia, Punishment is not helpful in the housetraining process. If your pup is having regular accidents, shorten up the gaps between toilet breaks, and then use short periods in the crate to lengthen them out again.
      Pippa

      • Hi Pippa,
        Thanks for reply. I am sorry I didn’t explain situation better. She gets rewarded every time she goes to the bathroom outside (she gets small treats and a lot of praise), and she understands the concept of what she is asked to do. She doesn’t mess up in the crate; and she spends a lot of time outside. But it seems to me that when she is taken inside the house ( not in the crate), she feels she needs to go to the bathroom on the floor frequently…Sometimes I am not fast enough to bring her to the door…Or I don’t see it coming… ( she is taken out after each nap, each playtime, and each meal, and many times in between). I read a lot of information, but confused about how to treat accidents; some articles say let her know its wrong by saying no, some say ignore her accidents. So which one should I do?

        • Hi Julia, just ignore the accidents. Saying ‘no’ has no meaning for an 11 week old pup unless it is associated with punishment, however mild. And punishment is not appropriate in housetraining. So hang on in there. You are doing the right thing. This phase will soon be over 🙂
          Best wishes,
          Pippa

  14. I forgot to mention, we take her out frequently and it seems like the only time she goes in the house is right after we come back inside from going outside.

  15. Thank you so much for your website. It has been very very helpful. We have an 9 week old female lab. She is a very quick learner. Lately, we take her outside to potty and she goes potty outside. When we walk back inside she immediately goes potty again (always #1). We do not ever scold her accidents (or give her any attention regarding them), but have we in some way inadvertently “praised” her for going in the house? We are wondering why she is not fully emptying her bladder when she goes potty outside. Thanks for the advice!

    • Hi Meredith,

      It could be simple coincidence that she is going again after going outside, some puppies wee very frequently when they are feeling lively, and going outside probably excites her. Try taking her outside again after ten minutes or so indoors.
      And try not to worry, she is just a baby and her bladder control will improve rapidly over the next few weeks.

      Pippa

  16. please help me I got a lab 7 weeks old now hes 8 weeks old I cant seem to get him to understand no potting in house no matter how many times I take him out to pottie he still comes in and tries to pottie again I make sure he goes before I bring him in if theres any one that can help me please I also have a crate that I put him in

    • Hi Melanie, if your puppy is relieving himself outside, and then again when he comes back in, you are not taking him outside often enough. Some small puppies need to wee very frequently. Best wishes, Pippa

  17. Hi, we have a 3 month old puppy and he won’t signal when he needs to go out to the loo. He never barks and he never whines. If you leave the door open then he will go straight out but if its shut he just goes inside. Is there any way we can teach him a signal to tell us he needs to go because he will not bark. Thanks.

  18. Hi, I just got a lab puppy for the first time is around 9 weeks old and I’ve been reading a lot on this site but I already made some mistakes, he pooped in his crate and 2 times in my room, I took him outside when he barked at 2 am and he wouldn’t poo, the moment he was in he did… and he just won’t poo outside ever, even when I wait an hour with him, he just won’t, I am afraid he already got used to pooping inside. This is just my second day with him so I might be overdramatizing but I don’t want this to continue, I think he was used to poo inside his den in the pet store where he was. Any advice? Other than that he is lovely haha. Thanks.

    • Hi there, you need to keep your puppy in a fairly restricted part of the house to begin with, and teach him to be clean there before giving him access to other rooms. Puppies sometimes poop in a crate that is too big, but in the first day or two, accidents are very common. You just need to be very vigilant and take him outside after every meal or game, whenever he wakes from a nap, and at half hour intervals in between, until he has got the hang of it.
      Pippa

  19. good day pippa.my female black lab have a white chest but her parents are purebred lab.is it possible that her liter are all pure color lab when the times come of her pregnancy?thank you

  20. good day pippa.i have a female lab she is on her one week since stud,why she loose her appetite ?what can i do?is it ok if i give her a chicken with bones at this time of her prenatal?thank you very much…

  21. We have a 6 month old black lab that we’ve been having continuous problems with. Some weeks she is great and doesn’t go in the house, other days or weeks it’s multiple times a night. We used to crate her over night, but have stopped because she was crying, barking, and shaking the crate all night.
    Is it best to move the crate to a place we just can’t hear it and let her cry herself out? Or is there a way to train her to stop going over night? She’s generally pretty good during the day, with just the occasional accident. (she never “asks” to go out, but we take her out every 2 hours)

  22. Hi there, glad you like the website 🙂 Check out this article for my thoughts on the vaccination/socialisation/safety issue. I don’t recommend using newspaper at all, and would definitely not encourage a puppy to wee in its crate. By doing so, you lose the major benefit of the crate which is to assist in easy house training. Do join our forums lots of new puppy owners there!
    Pippa

  23. hi, i have a 1.5 month old lab and i am confused about making the spot for him. should it be outside the house or in the front courtyard( we dont have a garden). i am using a puppy pad for the purpose and somehow its useful. also my lab follows me wherever i go, even if i am busy on a call strolling, he’ll follow me for every round. its looks funny but its not good for house training as he relieves himself wherever he is. how can i stop him from following me. and where shall i keep his crate? inside the house or in the front courtyard? and will the habits inculcated now be permanent esp the housetraining:(.. plz help.

  24. Hi Pippa,
    I have a 4 months old golden lab and it has been over a month since I am trying to potty train him. I feed him 4 times a day and take him out immediately and also 2 more time (total 6 times) but he never pees or poops outside and the moment he is in he relieves himself. In fact he pees and poops in every room of the house and no matter how much I try to erase the accident with utmost powerful cleansers he still does the thing there. Of all the 6 trips outside there has never been a single incident of success when he relieved himself but immediately does it when he is brought inside the house. My wife and I are both working (in different shifts) and the maximum time he is alone is 3-4 hours. We want to play with him inside the house too (we do that in the park everday) but are unable to do so because he pees and poops everywhere around. Please help.

    • Hi Arjun, check out the article above, you are not taking your puppy out often enough. When you do go outside, you need to stay with him until he pees or poops. He hasn’t learnt yet that this is where you want him to do it. Many four month puppies cannot last 4 hours without a wee.

      Pippa

  25. Hi,
    I have a 3.5 months old lab who we got around 15 days ago. We are facing a lot of issues to potty train him. His previous owners used to keep him in balcony of their house and he used to poop and pee in their toilet. They use to take him out for a walk in the evenings only and not for potty. Now since he is with us we have been trying to potty train him but we have failed. He poops and pees in the balcony where we keep him because we have had lot of accidents in the house. Despite of our cleaning the traces with hardest of chemicals, he still poops and pees there. We take him out immediately as we feed him (thrice a day) however he only sniffs and plays and very often we have to stop him from eating strays’ poop. We are really stressed. Kindly advise.

    • Hi Shikha, the answer to house training problems always lies in more frequent visits to the outdoor toilet area, and closer supervision (or short periods of confinement) in between visits to the toilet area. Three times a day is not sufficient for a three month old puppy. He may need to go out as often as every hour in order to get a good toilet habit going.
      Pippa

  26. Hi
    Was just looking at your advice here and have a problem that I hope you can help with. My 5 month old Labrador pup has got in the habit of peeing in her bed. We have an older basset hound too and the two of them are close already, they tend to always sit & sleep together on a bed in the utility room or on a large been bag in the sitting room. The problem is even is she has been out all day she runs in to pee on either of these. I have machine washed them to rid of the smells. Used sprays and detergents but she keeps doing it in these beds and Mac our other dog ends up with a wet bed too. Whats hould I be doing? thanks

    • Hi Jo,
      Puppies that are allowed free access to the garden are sometime slow to learn where is the right place to pee. You need to get a routine going whereby she is taken out, does a wee straight away, is allowed in for a while, then closely supervised until time for the next wee. That way, you know that when you bring her inside, she has an empty bladder. You may have more success now, if you completely change where she sleeps and what she sleeps in, to break the association of peeing in her bed.
      Pippa

  27. Hi There,

    I brought my eight week old Lab home last night and she was doing excellent all day even with her crate

    At about 10 last night she went to her crate on her own and then fell asleep so I thought ok this is good I will close it and we will go to bed. I awoke at 2 to use the bathroom myself went to check on her and she was just looking at me so I thought perhaps I will take her out for a pee I did and she peed instantly but she was very playful but i ignored it so I brought her back in her crate closed the door and she had a mental break down.

    I let her there for 4 hours crying against my better judgment as I thought ok she’s going to stop for 5 mins and I can go and get her and praise her for being quiet. After 4 house of non stop whining I thought I can’t leave her there longer the poor thing needs to pee. When I went to get her she did not pee but she had pooped. I feel terrible and now I don’t know what to do please help have I ruined her for crate training now??

    • Hi Robyn, no you haven’t ruined anything. She is small and scared because her world has been turned upside down. She will settle and feel safe in a few days. If you are worried about her being upset you can have her next to your bed in a box for the next couple of nights. Your house will seem a lot less strange to her in a day or two when she has become accustomed to it. Alternatively, you can continue to leave her in her crate each night and she will get used to sleeping alone over the next few days.

      Pippa

  28. Wow that was strange. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again.
    Anyway, just wanted to say wonderful blog!

  29. hi i m from india
    i ve a black labrador(female).
    she is very calm and cute.
    my question is that she never barks when an outsiders enters the gate.
    so please tell me how to train her.
    she is 1 year 4 months old and she got her first heat today.
    it would be helpful if you guide me.

    • Hi Rohini
      I don’t teach dogs to bark at people. In fact I spend a lot of time teaching dogs to be quiet. So I’m afraid I cannot help you.
      Pippa

  30. Hi
    Wonder if you can help please with house training – our Chocolate lab is 14weeks and despite our best efforts is still not fully house trained . We take her outside frequently, watch for her cues and don’t make a fuss when she has ‘accidents’ in the house but she still goes to the toilet and varions parts of the house at different times of the day. I can’t find a pattern of why she’s doing it and at a loss with what we’re doing wrong !!

    Any advice would be great and much appreciated !!

    Thanks. Jane

    • Hi Jane,
      Try not to worry, 14 weeks is still very young. What most people do wrong is overestimate how long the puppy can last, and allow the puppy too much freedom. The key with housetraining is to find baseline at which the puppy can cope. Decide how long she can last without a wee at a minimum and knock a few minutes off. This is your starting point. Now make sure you let her out at the interval you have determined. Set an alarm to remind you. Restrict her to one small area of the house and crate her when she is not being supervised or when she fails to ‘wee’ on her trip outdoors.
      Think about joining The Forums for help and support.

      Best wishes
      Pippa

  31. Hi Pippa,
    first of all thank you very much for this website, I have been reading it since a while as preparation for getting our black male lab in a couple of weeks from now, he will be almost 10 weeks old…however we are really puzzled about “where”to potty train him. We live in a country where there are a lot of unvaccinated dogs and other animals… and garbage in the surroundings so I am wondering whether we should place his “den” inside the house…do you think it would be safe to potty train him outside before he receives the rabies vaccination? do you think it would be safe to potty train him outside when he is older?

    Also, if you think the best is to have his “den” inside, should we use like a plastic container or something like that?

    Thanks so much in advance for your advices!

    • Hi Jym,
      By den, I presume you mean ‘toilet area’ rather than sleeping area? I don’t normally recommend indoor ‘potty’ training as the dog then has to be taught to use outdoors later on. However, my advice applies to dogs in the UK and I really don’t feel that it is appropriate for me to advise you on the safety of putting an unvaccinated puppy down outdoors, in other parts of the world. The best person to advise you will be your veterinary surgeon who will have the local knowledge to evaluate the risk.
      If you have to housetrain your puppy indoors for his own safety, then you can use ‘puppy pads’ especially designed for the purpose, or the old fashioned method of newspaper. You can try putting puppy pads in a container of some sort, or in a pen reserved for the purpose if you want to, but many people simply put the pads close to the back door, and then move them outside during the transitional stage later.
      Pippa

  32. We are getting a 10 month old. She was potty trained and then due to her own’s job moved outside for the last several months. How hard will it be to retrain her. Do I start from scratch. She has been well cared for but the owner was gone 10-12 hours a day and felt leaving the dog in the yard was better than inside all day without relief. She is leash trained and sits on command. thanks

    • Hi there, it is best to start from scratch. You have the advantage that this dog will have much greater bladder control than a puppy, and has a previous history of being clean indoors. Many kennel dogs learn very quickly, but let her out very frequently to begin with and don’t make her wait too long overnight (say six hours max for the first couple nights). Early mornings is often the most ‘risky’ time for accidents.
      Good luck
      Pippa

  33. Hi! Regarding crate training – if you bring the puppy out to the pee spot and he doesn’t pee, do you put him back in the crate? Also, how many times does an average puppy poop a day? And how long is appropriate to stand and wait at the pee spot for a pee or poop? Sorry for all the potty related questions! Thank you!

    • Hi Margaret,
      If the puppy doesn’t want to pee, put him back in the crate for fifteen minutes and try again. Give him five minutes or so to sniff around in his poop place before taking him back in.
      You will get better at judging when he is ready to ‘go’.

      There is no ‘average’ no of poops I’m afraid, it depends on the puppy, what he is fed on, how many meals he gets, and so on. But it is perfectly normal for a puppy to poop several times a day.
      Pippa

  34. Hello Pippa,

    Since the past 2 days our puppy has been acting very very aggressive and is biting us really hard and not playfully. We’re literally feeling helpless and scared. How should we calm her down?
    Also we left her alone yesterday because of some work we had, and we were out for around 6 to 7 hours. We’ve never left her alone for so long. Is it because of that?
    She bites everything that comes in her way very angrily.
    Please help! 🙁

    • Hi Sheena,
      I’m afraid young puppies do bite very hard, and can seem quite fierce when they are playing. Your puppy is too young (7 or 8 weeks?) to be showing signs of aggression. It might not seem like play, but it is.

      Pippa

  35. Hi, we have an 11month old female black lab. We have had her from 13 weeks old we trained her really well, but we moved house yesterday and despite being around her most of the time all she does is cry, she wont sit down and she is going to the toilet inside instead of when we take her out! I dont know what to do because it seems like all our hard work is going to waste! 🙁
    Thankyou, Melissa.

    • Hi Melissa, it isn’t uncommon for housetraining to regress after a stressful event like moving house. Just start over, as if she were small, taking her out frequently and rewarding every wee. She will soon settle back in to her routine. Pippa

    • Hi.. I have an 8 month old lab who is firstly fun and a great addition to the family.. However, I cannot get him to ONLY go to the bathroom outside.. I’d say he’s having accidents but at this point.. He definetly know where he should be urinating/ defecating at… Not so sure what to do any more…. Any help is appreciated and I think I’ve either read or tried everything so far…

  36. Heya!
    Thank you for the welcome. I’ll go through the page 🙂
    I’m personally quite new to puppies and dog training, honestly I know nothing about them! 🙂
    We’ve been getting a lot of opinions from people and they all vary immensely.
    I just got off the phone, and my friend says you should follow the ‘leader of the pack’ technique apparently show your dog that your the leader and don’t let her be the leader and all of those things. My heart melts, and i absolutely can not train or command. Shes just a little puppy!
    Anyway cutting it short, any tips on this theory? If it does exist =))

    Regards and cheers,
    Sheena

    • Hi Sheena,
      Theories in dog training have changed quite a lot in the last few years.
      Twenty years ago ‘leader of the pack’ theories were widespread. Nowadays, not so much 🙂

      Recent studies have shown that most dogs don’t actually place much value on dominance or status, and that groups of dogs do not actually form packs with hierarchies at all. In fact, even our understanding of wolves have now changed in this respect.

      The facts are that you do not need to be ‘dominant’ or a ‘pack leader’ to train a dog. You just need to control the resources available to your dog and to allocate rewards in an effective and appropriate way.

      Enjoy your puppy. And don’t worry, she is not planning to take over the world, or even your kitchen. There is a busy and friendly forum you can join to get help and support from other labrador owners.
      Pippa

  37. Hey Pippa,
    Me and my boyfriend have recently bought a lab home 2 days, she’s beautiful and extremely active. I think way too active for any puppy! Lol, anyway the problem would be quite a common one. Shes teething and bites almost anything that comes her way. I stay with my family, he stays alone and she has kept him up all nights cause shes way too active. She takes little naps for 20 to 25 minutes and is up and going again!
    This is her 3rd day and she was sleeping for quite some time in the evening and has completely gone way too overboard, shes too pepped and too happy.
    I wanted to ask firstly, is there any way to make her sleeping times and playing times a routine? Shes barely 48 days now.
    Secondly i also wanted to know, we have a guniea pig in the house and hes rarely caged, Ive had him since a year now. She attacks him, although very playfully it scares the life out of my little pig. How to calm her down for them
    to stay in harmony?

    Thank you so much! Also all your articles are all helpful, your all over the internet about labradors! You’ve helped a lot a lot of owners 🙂
    Cheers!

    • Hi Sheena and welcome to the labrador site 🙂

      It is a really good idea to get the puppy into a routine. That includes teaching her that night times are for sleeping. Your boyfriend will need to let her know that no-one is willing to play with her at night. He may need to let her out for a wee during the night for the next few weeks, but should be very calm and distant whilst he does this.

      Your puppy will not have the self restraint to be trusted with small pets for some time, and you need to put your guinea pig out of harm’s way whilst the puppy is around. When she is more mature, you will probably be able to teach her not to touch the guinea pig if you want to.

      Pippa

  38. yes i like your comments my dog just chews everything insight she is getting good at going out sometimes i have got up and taken her out at three oclock in the morning but for the last two nights it has been 7oclock which is good because i get up at that time for work she keeps trying to bite my son and shes keep on ripping wall paper but she is only playing but we love her to bits

  39. My 7week old lab puppy has been with us for a week now and she won’t stop crying at night she won’t even sleep in her bed. I really don’t know what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  40. Hi Pippa,

    What a great article – I get my 7 wk old puppy on the 17th december – and cant wait to try these training methods out.

  41. Hi Pippa, I enjoyed your e-book How To Win At Dog Training and Total Recall is on its way to China. I’m very excited about the book!
    I’ve got a 9 week old chocolate lab named Sebastian, and he is absolutely adorable! He’s been staying in our living room for 2 weeks now. My boyfriend has trained him to wee and poop at the balcony. I think our pup has done pretty well for that until my boyfriend moved his “den” to the balcony today. Now he’s doing wee and poop on our carpet in the living room. He’s done it on the carpet before when he first arrived but ever since my boyfriend trained him he rarely made any mistakes. I’m not sure if he’s confused or just simply not fully trained yet? We do have a crate and use it quite often, without a routine though. He seems perfectly fine staying and sleeping in it but he will never go into it on his own. I used “box” as the cue word and had his favoutite treats in my hand as well. The luring didn’t work out well. He simply sat there staring at me and wouldn’t move to the crate even though I put several treats in it.
    I know all pups bite. When he bites too hard we always say a loud “NO”, then immediately try to put a chewing toy in his mouth. Sometimes it works but most of the time it doesn’t. He’s just more interested in us than his toys. We have even heard him growl for 2 or 3 times when we tried to stop him chewing our trousers. He absolutely loves to chew our trousers. Maybe he thinks it’s a game to play or something?

    • Hi Eva, you are right in thinking your puppy is not house-trained yet. It will be several months until he is reliable in the house and at 9 weeks old he still has very little control. Your job is to take his to his toilet area very frequently and wait there with him until he ‘goes’.

      Try not to move his ‘den’ around as he will find this very confusing.

      Don’t worry about the puppy being more interested in you than his toys, this is a good thing. Most dogs do not play much with toys on their own. Growling during play is also normal but is a sign that your puppy is getting over-excited. So just end the game when he does this.
      Good luck with your training, and enjoy your puppy!
      Pippa

  42. Ive got a 5 month old black labrador dog and he is weeing during the night when we are in bed. He goes out the garden for a wee before i go to bed and ive cleaned the floor with all kinds of cleaning products to disgise the smell but he still goes back to the same place all time. Can you suggeset anything else i can do to stop my dog from having accidents during the night ?

  43. This article if very helpful, but I am a little confused, my puppy is 8 weeks old and has had its 1st vacination, the 2nd is not due until a few weeks time, I am under the impression that puppies should not go outside untill after the 2nd vaccination. Should I still take her out in the garden for toilet training, as the article implies, bearing in mind the high number of urban foxes around.

    • Hi Linda
      Most puppy owners do put their puppies outside to toilet from the start, partly because it makes housetraining easier, and partly because your puppy will miss out on some important experiences by not being allowed to run around outdoors.
      Worries about infections from foxes are very common and it is a good idea to discuss your concerns with your vet. I suspect the risk is very small, but that would be no comfort if your puppy were to contract parvovirus. Your vet will be able to tell you whether there have been any outbreaks of parvo in your area, and recommend the best course of action.
      Pippa

  44. It’s been a while since we had a puppy in the house so this article was an excellent read in anticipation of picking up our puppy in a couple of weeks. My alarm clock will be set ! 🙂

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