How long did housebreaking take?

I've had a few experiences with housebreaking a dog. I remember that Sierra was the quickest learner. She was 9 weeks old when we got her. I started her on Saturday and by Monday she had it all figured out. The only time she had accidents indoors was when a human was at fault.

Misha was the slow learner. She was four months old before she could go all night without an accident. It took over six months before she was fully housebroken. Part of the problem was she had such a tiny bladder. I had to start rationing her water because she would gorge on water if the bowl was full. Her bowl was small, but still too much for her. She peed when she was excited, too. Every time some came over I had to rush her outside first.

When my Dad died and we moved, she lapsed for about two months. The new surrounding confused her. Finally, at about a year and a half, she was fully trained. I was beginning to worry that it would never happen.

How long did your dog take to be housebroken?

 

Haha we're working on 3 years here. But I have a very broken and messed up dog. In the past most of my dogs have gotten it in a few months tops. We are finally finally FINALLY having success with our current dog.

 

MakingCents, you don't know how relieved it makes me feel to know others are going through similar problems with their dogs. I always second guess myself with Misha.

We had a Collie when I was in high school. She was a slow learner, too. Though I don't think she took half as long as Misha.

When we'd leave her alone, we'd cover the carpet with newspapers. Every single time we came home and there was a puddle in the one spot that wasn't covered. I don't think she linked the feel of the newspaper.

 

Majority of our dogs will already learn to do their things outside the moment they can be considered as mature dog. Like 6 mos and above.
We also let the door open for almost the whole day (of course aside from sleeping time) since there were gates in the compound and our dog cannot just go out of those gates.

 

When I got Peanuts, she was three months old. She'd learned to indoor potty at the potty spot after a week. But then she still had pee accidents until her 6th month. Sometimes, I'd catch her peeing near the spot rather than on it because it was quite far . But now, she's a certified expert. Any dog who's accompanied her inside the house has learned the potty spot almost immediately, which is amazing because I didn't have to do any training on them.

 

We have spread a shower curtain liner in our one room that he mostly goes in. He does (probably 90% of the time) go on the curtain if he goes in the house so it's not getting everywhere but STILL , I wish he would stop.

He just went 7 days without peeing in the house which is the longest yet so I gave him a nice big bone!

 

I've read that if you give them a place to pee inside the house like with newspaper or the potty pads it can make it more difficult to housebreak them. So, when I got Sierra and Misha I didn't use anything inside. It was human intervention. Every hour I would take them outside. It worked perfectly with Sierra. I wish all her other training had gone so easy. Misha was much slower. I sometimes wonder if her small bladder added to the problem. We've all had too much water and then we are running back and forth to the bathroom.

Now, I only have to worry when she is excited. Sometimes she will pee a little when someone visits.

haopee, I have never heard of a dog training another dog. That's pretty neat. I wonder if it's because they leave a scent behind when they do their business?

 

I think if you give them a place to pee it does make it harder to train them. Our dog chose his pee/poop spot. He peed and poop in the same place for probably 3 straight weeks, after that we decided to put the shower curtain down just to protect the carpet, not really as a 'go here' signal.