My puppy isn't grasping potty training

CRich15

I don't know what to do! She just doesn't seem to understand that every time she needs to use the bathroom to go to the door. We take her to the same door when it's time to go out and we have had her for about 3 weeks now. She just goes everywhere! We catch her in the act, tell her no and place her outside to go potty. Any ideas or clues as to what I could be doing wrong? 

aggiebug

She first has to learn that she is supposed to go potty outside before she can learn to tell you she needs to go outside.  Instead of reacting to her, you need to be proactive.

As soon as she wakes up take her outside and shower her with praises when she goes pee. 

About 5-10 min after she eats take her outside until she goes potty and shower her with praises. 

How old is she?  I would also take her outside every few hours period. The rule of thumb is a puppy can hold it for as many hours as they are old in months.  So a 2 month old need to go outside every 2 hrs, and 4month old every 4 hrs or so.  This means they cannot make it through a whole night!  

Also confining her in a crate when you are away/ cannot watch her closely (showers)/ bedtime will help too.  They do not like to use the restroom in an area they cannot get away from. 

hboo2011

First, it's only been 3 weeks. Some dogs take a lot longer to grasp. Be patient. A puppy should be crated when not eating/playing. That's how they learn to hold it. You need to be proactive, like pp said. Give treats and enthusiastically praise every time they go outside. (which means you need to be out there with the pup so the praise and treat happen immediately). Clean up accidents with a solution that will also dilute the smell, not just get rid of stain. Try Nature's Miracle, available at local pet store like Petsmart. Again, be patient. Housebreaking can sometimes take months.

ArcadianDreams

Ditto the pps. Telling her no is probably just confusing her. In her eyes you are telling her not to pee, not that she is peeing in an inappropriate place. Positive reinforcement works much better in this case...you have to give her opportunities to do the right thing.

The pp gave good times to take her out. But also watch her for signs that she needs to go, like the circling-sniffing routine. That's when you want to call her to the door and make sure she goes out.

When you take her out, you may need to be patient and wait for her to pee. Some dogs get distracted by all the fun things to smell and see outside and don't go until the novelty wears off.

NalasMomma618

PPs are spot on! You may also want to try a cleaner that has vinegar in it, something about that deters dogs from going. I wont say that she wont, because if she just can't hold it she will, but it may help. With our boy it took several months for him to be fully potty trained, but our girl was potty trained by 12 weeks.

aaf10

ditto PPs. I just want to add that we got our puppy at 8 weeks and he wasnt fully potty trained (by this I mean no accidents in the house anymore) until 5 months old. He would go from having 2 accidents/day to 2/week to one every couple weeks until he finally stopped. My friends puppy got potty trained in 4-5 weeks. It just depends and you can't expect the same for each puppy.

scarywife1026

Everyone gave great advice! We also bell-trained our pup, which helped us a lot. It didn't take long, just persistence and positive reinforcement. Good luck! 

Sanderso39

Everyones advice was great...I had a puppy for 6 months and she still went in the house.  If you do everything right and she still isn't getting it get her checked for a UTI.  Once my girl had hers cleared up she was pottying outside within a few days.