My 2-month puppy won't signal before potty. How can I train him?

I will give you the method I suggest to help potty train puppies. I find it to be effective in house breaking them: Start by keeping your puppy on a regular feeding schedule, and taking away her food between meals. Take her out to potty first thing every morning, and once every 30 minutes to an 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.

Small breed dogs can be very stubborn with house training. If you haven't tried the method of crate training it may be time to switch methods and try this. Crate training is where she is in a crate when y'all aren't at home and during the night the crate only needs to be big enough for her to stand up and turn around. MOST dogs do not want to pee or poop where they sleep so this teaches them to hold it. I usually do not put puppy pads in there unless you will be gone for several hours and unable to let her out. I also do not put water in there because they tend to drink then they inevitably have to urinate. You will likely need to get up once in the middle of the night to let her out as she is too small to hold it all night. When you get up or get home you will immediately pick her up and take her outside to the designated potty area. If she doesn't pee put her back in the crate for 5 minutes and try again. If you ever catch her peeing in the house in an unwanted area, you can tell her a firm no and then take her to the designated potty area outside to help her with the association. If crate training isn't something you want to do they yes, you may have to be more patient. Pee pads can take longer to house train and sometimes they never become 100% potty trained a lot of people recommend to move the pads closer to the door. You can also try to train her to use a bell to signal that she wants to go outside. You place a small bell hanging from the door and every time you go outside you ring the door bell. Be patient with this little munchkin. She will eventually become more potty trained. The key is consistency.

Soil and feces can carry viruses for a long period of time, so trying to find an area Blakely can go where other dogs don't frequent is best until he has had at least 2-3 sets of shots (or the OK from your vet). If you don't have a spot like that, but have a patio area, you could try making your own "potty" area with a piece of sod or a litter box filled with dirt to get him used to going outside and on that substrate without as much confusion when you do transition to outside. Making sure you're taking him out often enough (every 1-2 hours for a 2 month old puppy, or after waking, eating, drinking, or playing) can also help reduce accidents since his bladder can't hold it very long at this point.

2 months is extremely young, and Harley likely doesn't know what you expect from her. As for not sniffing, that is pretty normal for this age. Training to go on a puppy potty pad uses the same techniques as regular potty training, so it is best to work on a regular potty schedule like you would if you were taking her outside. Crate training can also help, however a 2 month old puppy likely can't hold it more than 1-2 hours at most. Check out some of the articles below on potty training as they may help you get her going on the pad a bit easier: https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-crate-train-your-dog/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/top-5-tips-to-potty-train-your-dog-young-and-old/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/5-common-housetraining-mistakes/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/housetraining-tips-and-tricks/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/6-common-reasons-for-potty-accidents-in-dogs/

Yes, you can certainly start housetraining Peaches now :) Most dogs will start to give a signal on their own as they get older, but this won't happen until she has developed a strong preference for doing her business outside - usually not until 6-8 months of age, or even older. Until then, you just have to take her out frequently to help prevent accidents. Here is an article with more information on how to housetrain your puppy: https://www.petcoach.co/article/7-rules-for-effective-housetraining

It's very normal for a 16 week old puppy to still be having accidents in the house - most puppies are not reliably housetrained until 8-10 months of age, or older. It sounds like you're on the right track by taking your puppy out frequently, and praising and rewarding him when he goes - but if he's still having accidents in between potty breaks, I would recommend taking him even more often. I take my puppies out every 20-30 minutes while they are being housetrained, unless they are sleeping. There is no need to cage him after he has an accident, or use any other type of punishment, as this won't help - focus on getting him out more often to prevent accidents in the future, if this is happening. Don't wait for some type of signal that he needs to go - just take him every 20-30 minutes. Once he's gone a full 14 days with no accidents at all, you can start to give him a bit more freedom and space out his potty breaks a bit more. Just be patient and consistent, and give it time - he's still just a baby. He will get the hang of things as he gets older :)

[Housetraining](https://www.petcoach.co/article/7-rules-for-effective-housetraining/) a puppy can be frustrating, but with a little patience and consistency, it can be accomplished. Puppies will typically need to use the bathroom about 10-15 minutes after eating/drinking, waking up or playing. You can use these times to reinforce [training](https://www.petcoach.co/article/housetraining) by bringing the puppy to your designated potty area (such as outside or a puppy pad) and giving them a chance to go. It may take up to 10-20 minutes before your puppy settles enough to actually go. Expect accidents and [mistakes](https://www.petcoach.co/article/5-common-housetraining-mistakes). Be sure to praise and treat if the puppy goes in the right spot. If you catch puppy going in a spot other than the recommended area, do not punish him or her, simply pick the puppy up and move them to the right spot, then praise and reward profusely once they finish there.