how long should house breaking actually take?

[mstudy]

I have 4 dogs, two of them i acquired after housebreaking was done, the other two i got when they were 7 and 10 weeks old. I have never actually had to housebreak a dog before and was wondering if we were doing ok. they are now about 17 weeks old and they make it through the night most of the time but we seem to have a bit of a problem during the day. they never "poop" in the house but we do seem to have a few pee pee acidents still. I think it seems to be when all four dogs get to playing the puppies seem to forget until its too late. also one of them will go and sit at the door when he wants out but makes no noise about it and the other one - well - you just have to watch him cause he starts to get uncomfortable and moves around a lot and you just know its time to go out. Is all of this normal for their age or should they be further along. Maybe i should step things up a little. Neither of them are or have ever been crated but they are limited to one room most of the time

 

[drobinson]

Both of my dogs really took about 5-6 months before I could honestly say that we were accident free.

 

[MK&C]

Depends on their size. Big dogs generally are housebroken quicker than smaller breeds.

What are their breeds?

 

[RD]

Dakota got the idea within a week, but it took 6-7 months for his body to mature and catch up with his mind. We weren't accident free until he was about a year old.

Some dogs, particularly small ones, take ages. Ripley is 2 1/2 and he still isn't house trained.

 

[Debi]

they sound like they are still too little to make the decision to go out, so you still have to be watching closely and timing. it's more about constant routine, where you take them out every couple hours. also about 20 mins. after eating or play. sometimes they may not go, but I found my dogs got used to the routine within 2 weeks. BUT...it was still up to me to keep the routine because they do not have complete bladder control until a few months old. I took my dogs out thru the night, too, for a few weeks until they were older. that isn't fun at all, but soooo worth it. no accidents.

 

[Tobysmom]

I started crate training when Toby was 10 weeks old (cause thats when I got him). His breeder had started him out using pee pads but I decided to use the crate instead. Anyway I was very consistent and kept the accidents to a minimum. He pretty much had the hang of it about four months later.

So for us it took four months. I was very suprised as I know other people with cresteds who are having a very hard time with the training.

He is my first dog so potty training was new to me. I was so afraid of messing it up. Hard work and consistency paid off. YAY!

 

[cowgurl6254]

Crate training has made potty training so much easier with my new puppy! Anytime I can't watch him, he goes into the crate. It's never punishment for him, it just secures him if I need to take a shower, wash dishes, etc. Make sure you never let your puppies out of you sight. You have to catch them in the act in order to scold them. My puppy was accident free in about 2 weeks with this method. Also, you may want to buy some puppy scent spray. Spray it on a bush outside and it encourages them to go. You can get it at petsmart for around $5.