Why won't my puppy potty outside and keeps having accidents inside?

Related Answers from Veterinarians

• Answered By Lauren Jones VMD

  Veterinarian

  Published on April 9th, 2017

  Since Daisy is so young, I'm assuming that she is not yet house trained. Work on taking her outside to eliminate after eating, drinking, playing, napping, at least every 2 hours during the day, and every 3-4 hours at night. Praise her and give her a small treat as a reward when she eliminates outside. Do not punish Daisy if you find accidents in the house, as she will not associate this with appropriate potty behavior after the fact.

  

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• Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

  Veterinarian

  Published on February 3rd, 2018

  Great question! Start by keeping Mixie on a regular feeding schedule, and taking away her food between meals. Take her out to potty first thing every morning, and once every couple of hours. If it seems like she can't hold her bladder for very long, take her out every hour. Always make sure she goes out after meals, first thing when she wakes up from a nap, last thing before bedtime at night, and right before you leave the house. Take her to the same spot each time to go potty. Her scent there will encourage her to go. Stay with her outside each time she goes to potty, at least until she is fully house trained. When she goes outside, praise her and give her a treat. You might want to consider crate training as part of her house training. It allows you to keep an eye on her for signs that she has to go potty, and will teach her to hold it until you put her outdoors. The crate needs to be big enough for her to stand up, turn around, and lie down, but it should not be big enough for her to go potty in. Good luck, I hope this helps!

  

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• Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

  Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

  Published on April 29th, 2017

  I'm sorry to hear that you're having this problem! In my experience, it's quite a bit more difficult to reliably paper-train a dog than it is to teach them to go outside to potty, so I don't recommend this unless you really have no other options. But if you feel that she is too afraid to go outside, then you can certainly give it a try.
  
  Since it sounds like things are not going well at the moment, I would go back to basics and start all over again, as if she had never been trained at all - just like a new puppy. Pick a room with hard floors, like a kitchen or bathroom, and cover the floor completely with paper (or pee pads, if you prefer). This will be her potty area. Place her in this area frequently (every 20-30 minutes, at first), and praise and reward her with a treat if she pees or poops. In between, she needs to be either in a crate, or under your direct supervision to prevent any accidents. If you see her starting to sniff or circle, pick her up right away and put her in her potty room, then praise and reward her for doing her business there.
  
  Over time, she should start to go to the potty area on her own when she needs to go. Make sure to praise and reward her every time she does this, and continue to supervise her closely at all times to prevent any opportunity for accidents. When she has gone at least two weeks with no accidents at all, you can gradually begin to give her more freedom in the house. It will take a great deal of time and patience to train her, so you will need to be very diligent and consistent in order for this to work.
  
  Once she is reliably going to her pads or paper every time to potty, you can start to pick some of them up to make her "target area" smaller. You can also place pads in some other parts of the house for her to use, if you wish.

  

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