Hi all. We need some help with potty training. Charlie is now 9.5 weeks old. Most of the time, Charlie gives us a signal (going to the door) when he has to potty. But last night while at my fiancé 's parent's house, he had FOUR accidents inside in about 2 hours. He was put outside twice during this time, but didnt go, probably because we were too late putting him out. He was playing with their dog, Maggie, and had access to her water (which I didn't realize, and it was after 8 PM). Usually at home, the water bowls are put away by 8 PM.

Then today at home, he had an accident. I immediately picked him up and took him out. Not 30 minutes later, Charlie had another accident! AHHH!

I should note that he never pees inside his crate, and he can hold it for up to 8-9 hours overnight (Charlie loves to sleep in!) Is his behavior normal and our expectations are just a little high, or is there anything we can do differently? At what age did your pup stop having accidents? We love Charlie so much, but this is so frustrating!


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The rule of thumb I've heard is your pup needs to be 11 months old and has not had an accident in two months in order to be called house trained.

On that note, I've noticed if Bear had one accident in the house, he was more likely to have another in a short time frame. So after every accident we always started back at step one. We would progress faster (time between potty breaks) but we always started back at every 20 mins.

I think Bear's last accident was around Thanksgiving *knocks on wood* but were still very vigilant looking for signs and rushing him outside if we think he needs to go.

I cannot say if your expectations are too high. Ifs heard of 10 week olds being house trained. And I've heard of 1 yr olds still struggling with house training.


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At 9.5 weeks, it's too soon to rely solely on the pup giving you a signal. It's great that he's offering it right now - but you have to have a battle plan and a schedule that you stick to.

With Berts - he is 14 weeks old and only had 1 bad evening where he had a few accidents in a short period of time. That does not mean we regard him as potty trained. We assume he will have an accident if he plays/drinks/sleeps/eats and isn't taken outside within 10 minutes. That's whether he lets us know or not.

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Thanks so much for your feedback. I can totally relate to the accidents seeming to come in groups - I'll try that approach of starting back at step one with each accident.


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Hello and welcome to puppyhood! Charlie sounds pretty normal. When you take Charlie to a new environment, he is going to be a bit out of sorts, excited and curious and not stay on task. Go easy on him, remember, he is just a baby. I think it's around 3 - 6 months when they are much more mature and more inclined to be totally "trained." Even after that, if they get gastrointestinal upset, you may come home after work one day to poop on the floor. Do not expect perfection at this point in time. I do not get myself upset over Maggie having an accident. If my son was playing his video game when Maggie was a puppy and she peed on the floor, because he wasn't paying attention to her, then that was his fault. If I give Maggie a raw bone and on occassion it gives her loose stools, if she had an accident, I deal with it and do not make a fuss. I never want my dog to feel bad or get punished for something that is so minor. Maggie never has accidents, but if she does, then something, somewhere isn't quite right..., something she ate more than likely. She did have a urinary tract infection once. Best wishes.

I think your expectations are a little high. 9 1/2 weeks is very young to expect a puppy to be 100% potty trained. Plus, I agree with the others expecting him to be perfect in a strange environment is asking a lot. Be patient. You are the right track, just give it some more time.

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Dave

I agree, our expectations probably are high. We're first time puppy owners, and it seems like all we heard from friends and family was that so-and-so's dog was housebroken in a week, etc. Maybe the folks who took a more realistic and longer time didnt want to speak up or perhaps people were remembering puppyhood with rose colored glasses. Either way, we don't mind putting in the work for house training, just wanted to make sure Charlie's progress is normal!


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I was just like you .. I came on the forum asking why my 11 week old pup was poop trained but not pee trained. She had BAD diarrhea at 10 weeks old and asked to be let out every 10 mins but she would just pee freely inside. Her last accident was at 14 weeks. Hang in there!


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Bentley was easy to potty train because Ky mostly trained him but my brother has a 5 month old Boxer and he still has accidents.
I think they're all different, they end up in the same place just at different times.
Hang in there ♥

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We are first time puppy owners too and our pup is about the same age as yours. I didn't think it would take that long either. My husbands family used to breed shih tzu's. He said they never had this many issues with them potting in the house at this age.

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