Training
You take him out, he stands in the grass for ten minutes, you come in and he goes on the rug. House-training takes set times and a real fuss when he gets it right.
Worth knowing. An adult dog, clean for years, who suddenly starts going indoors, a puppy who wees very often, a little at a time or with effort, and any trace of blood all need a check with your own vet before any plan: urinary infections are common and cannot be trained away.
The puppy is ten weeks old. You took him out five times today and he still went indoors three times. Or you have an eight-month-old who spends twenty minutes outside, walks back in and goes on the hall rug, same spot every time. Or you adopted an adult a week ago who was described as "house-trained", and he has wet the sofa twice. All three come down to the routine and to how much fuss you make of him outside. And the fix is the same for all of them: take him out more often than you think he needs, praise him and give him something tasty right there, within two seconds, and give him no chance to go where he should not.
A dog has no idea that "indoors" is wrong and "outdoors" is right. He knows where people were delighted with him and where it felt comfortable. And a soft rug in the hall, three metres from a door he cannot open, feels very comfortable indeed. House-training means offering the right spot so often that he never needs the rug, and turning every success out there into a small celebration until he would rather use the grass.
Take him out without waiting for him to ask: the moment he wakes, daytime naps included; fifteen to twenty minutes after every meal and after a long drink; after any game lasting more than five minutes; last thing before bed. In between, at fixed intervals. At 8 to 10 weeks, every hour he is awake. By three months, every two hours; by four months, every three. A healthy adult can hold on for four to six hours during the day. For the first week, set alarms on your phone, because your memory is not a routine.
Take him out on the lead to the same spot every time and stand still for five minutes: no chatting, no games, no phone. As he starts, say one calm word ("go wee") so he links it to what he is doing. Within two seconds of him finishing, praise him in a happy voice and give him a tasty treat from your own pocket. If you have to go back inside for it, by the time you return he has forgotten what it is for. Then five minutes of walking or play. If nothing has happened after five minutes, go back in with him on the lead or pop him in his pen for ten minutes, then try again.
This is the bit almost everyone gets wrong: once he has been, you do not head straight back inside. If weeing means the walk is over, he learns to hold on for as long as he can so he gets more time outside, and then goes indoors two minutes after you get back. That is where the classic "he wees inside even though I take him out" comes from.
Between outings, the puppy is always in one of three places: where you can see him (easiest with the lead clipped to your belt around the house), in a crate or pen of the right size, or outside. The right crate is big enough for him to stand, turn round and stretch out. Any bigger and he makes himself a toilet corner. The signs that he is about to go: nose down and sniffing, circling, suddenly stopping mid-game, heading for the door or whining. At any of those, outside, carried if need be.
If you catch him in the act, a short "oops" with no telling-off, pick him up and go out. If he finishes outside, celebrate as if he had won something: praise him warmly, give him a tasty treat on the spot, enjoy it together. Find it afterwards and you do nothing. No words, no looks, no "lesson". Clean it with an enzymatic cleaner, one that breaks the urine down. Bleach and ammonia-based products smell like urine to his nose and mark the spot as a toilet, so leave them in the cupboard. A half-cleaned spot is an invitation, and his nose finds it long after yours has given up.
For one week, note on paper or on your phone: the time, inside or out, wee or poo, and what happened in the twenty minutes before. After seven days a pattern shows. Every accident a quarter of an hour after a meal? Go out sooner. All of them on the mat by the door? He wanted out and did not know how to tell you. All of them while you were working in the other room? Too much space, too soon. The diary corrects your routine. The dog has nothing to correct.
A bell hung from the door handle gives him a way to ask. At first you touch it with his paw before every outing, then he does it himself, and the door opens straight away. Plenty of dogs pick it up within two weeks. A few then use it to ask for a walk every ten minutes, at which point the bell comes down.
| When | What you do |
|---|---|
| On waking | Straight outside, carried to the door. When he goes, praise and a treat within two seconds. Then breakfast. |
| 15 to 20 minutes after a meal | Outside, same spot, five minutes. |
| During the day | Outside every hour he is awake and after every game; between outings, the belt lead or the pen. |
| Evening | Last meal three hours before bed; last outing right before lights out. |
| Night | One or two trips out, low light, no talking, no play. |
| Day 7 | Read back through the diary, see where and when the accidents happened, and move the times. The dog stays as he is. |
8 to 12 weeks. The bladder is small and control has not developed yet: physically, he cannot "hold it" for more than an hour while awake. At this age accidents are down to the routine. One or two trips out at night, with an alarm set before the time he usually wakes.
3 to 6 months. The gap between outings grows by roughly an hour a month. Around four or five months the setbacks arrive: teething, the first serious distractions outside (he is too busy looking around to go), the hormones of early adolescence. Keep the routine for another two weeks after the last accident, then hand out freedom room by room. Most puppies are clean by four to six months if the routine has been kept. Small breeds often need longer.
6 to 18 months. The "clean" dog goes indoors again: in a new house, at the in-laws', when another dog moves in. For him the rule was "in that house", not "in any house". Two or three days of the puppy routine in every new place. In entire males, marking starts, which is a separate issue from house-training.
The adult. A dog who has always lived outdoors has no idea what "inside" means. An adopted adult arrives with another household's rules. Three to six weeks of a strict routine, exactly as for a puppy, with the lead indoors and praise outside every time he gets it right. He learns faster than a puppy because he can hold on longer; he just has to find out where.
The senior. Damp patches on the bed after sleeping, urine leaking as he walks, a dog who goes indoors and looks surprised himself: incontinence, infection, kidney disease or cognitive decline. All of those are for the vet, none for training. More frequent trips out, a bed that washes easily, and not a word of reproach for a dog who can no longer feel it happening.
With a strict routine and supervision, accidents become rare within two to four weeks for a puppy and two to six for an adult. "Clean" means four weeks without a single accident indoors, with the supervision from step 3 still in place. Only then does he get more freedom, one room every two weeks. Most puppies become reliable at around four to six months. Until then, a "clean" puppy is a puppy with a good routine.
The signs that it is working come in a certain order. The accidents in the diary drop from daily to weekly. He goes within the first minute outside, in his spot, when he hears the word. He starts going to the door by himself or nudging the bell. And one day he plants himself in front of the door and stares at you with an intensity you have not seen before. Setbacks after a move, visitors or illness are normal; three days of the puppy routine bring him back.
Nearly every puppy class starts with this question. That is where you discover that everyone else has the same hall rug.
What dog owners search for most often on the internet about this problem, with the short answer.
Most often because you go back in as soon as he has been, and he has learnt to hold on so the walk lasts longer. Or because outside he is too busy looking around and only goes once he relaxes, on the rug. Or because the outings are too far apart for his age. Stand still for five minutes, praise him and give a treat within two seconds, stay out afterwards and take him out more often.
With an enzymatic cleaner, which breaks down the urine, left to work for as long as the label says. No bleach and no ammonia-based products: to a dog's nose they smell like urine and mark the spot as a toilet. On carpets the stain soaks into the underlay and the floor; if you can, lift the rug for a month. A half-cleaned spot stays an invitation.
With the routine kept, accidents become rare within two to four weeks, but "reliable" means four to six months for most puppies, because bladder control has not developed until then; small breeds often need longer. Until then, a "clean" puppy is a puppy with a good routine and supervision between outings.
In an adult who used to be clean, your own vet comes first: urinary infections, stones, kidney disease and, in older dogs, incontinence or cognitive decline are common causes and cannot be trained away. If the vet finds nothing, look for what has changed: a new house, a new routine, another dog, visitors, and go back to the puppy routine for two weeks.
No. He does not link the punishment to what he did an hour ago but to you and to weeing, so he learns to go where you cannot see or stops going in front of you outside too. The "guilt" you see is fear of your tone. If you catch him in the act, a short sound and outside; if you find it afterwards, clean up and bring the next outing forward.
They often come together: the same causes, plans that complement each other.
He asks to go out every hour, squats and passes a little, sometimes pink. Cystitis is the obvious guess, but stones and the prostate look the same at first.
His first night away from his mother and littermates, alone in the dark in a box. Crying is normal; how you respond in the first few nights decides how long it lasts.
He howls from the first minute and only goes quiet when you walk back in. That is panic, and panic is worked in seconds at first, not in hours of 'getting used to it'.
Needle teeth, torn sleeves, crying children. Play biting is normal in a puppy and it passes, but not by itself: you teach him how hard he is allowed to bite.
In Puppy Class and the basic obedience course these exercises are worked in a group, with real distractions and feedback at every step.