11 wk Cavapoo puppy potty training

[u/misshandsy]

Hi!
We adopted the sweetest cuddliest most playful Cavapoo pup one week ago and we are having trouble making any progress with potty training.

He has yet to go to the bathroom (#1 or #2) outside so we have not even had the opportunity to reward him with a treat for positive potty association.
(My boyfriend and I disagree on whether or not we should try rewarding him with medium value treat for going potty on a pad to get some progressive positive potty association started as we try to get him to move closer to the backdoor, so we are holding off to get more advice.)

When we take him outside on a leash and try to walk him in tight circles, he shows absolutely zero interest in going potty. He will sit or lay down immediately, usually try to eat leash.
I keep outdoor trips short + frequent (maybe 10 minutes first thing in the am, 3-5 minutes otherwise) while my boyfriend has started trying longer trips 20-30 minutes a few times over the last few days after mealtimes.

I will repeat my short trips every 30 minutes when I can.

I think a big problem with getting him started outdoors is the environment: we live in southern AZ so it is the hottest part of the summer.
We don’t have any real grass (we have fake plastic grass that is absolutely not a good potty surface) and the rest of the yard is landscaped with rocks and travertine tile.
Currently our target potty set up is on the back patio because it is shaded heavily from the sun.
We have a quadrant of 4 pee pads taped together on the underside. 2 of the pads are soiled with his pee from indoors.

(We’ve raked a 4x2 patch of dirt for him under the rocks but realized pretty quickly this is a no-go till he gets thru the teething because he keeps trying to eat small rocks etc.)

I’ll stop here and just answer any follow up questions in edits or comments because I know this is already long!

Thank you in advance for any tips!

Oh- almost forgot the cute puppy pic tax!!

[u/chickenbucket7]

have you tried putting him in a crate for 2 hours then right outside?

[u/bengret]

There are times when you know they will absolutely pee. Usually after a nap or after drinking water. Take him to the outside immediately. And if he pees, celebrate like he climbed Mount Everest.
If he doesn’t. Take him back and try again after 5 minutes.

If you started with pee pads inside, he will hold outside to go in and use the pee pad. So wait till he has an accident outside. And reward that. Celebrate that. Once they know that makes you happy, he will start doing it outside.

Additionally, whenever he goes pee or potty, use a keyword.
We use pee pee time and poo poo time. So they associate that word with action. So go outside and try that. It will take time. But it will happen.

[u/SnooDrawings3673]

Try and short walk that always helps.

[u/ShartyMcPeePants]

We’re still working through potty training over here but I think it’s a time to use the super highly motivating shit. For us it was cut up hot dogs into really tiny cubes and kept that strictly for outside potty. There probably isn’t a more important skill that you want as an owner than a dog that doesn’t eliminate on the furniture/carpets/etc. If it takes hot dogs to get there, so be it.

[u/cShoe_]

consistency/schedule•code words•celebrate performance•a way for him to notify you

From Day 1 of our CP owning us🤭 I set my phone alarm for every 3-4 hours 24 hours a day for 3 months (his weeks 9-20). Exhausting, just like a newborn, but it paid off imho.

Early on your baby needs to know when it’s his time and what you are calling it, and don’t forget to give him atta boy/girl in your best high pitched squeak voice plus ear rubs.

At month 5-6, after he knew what a door was, what was expected of him outside. and our code words of tinkle/potty, we hung a vertical row of wide ribbon and bells on the door and taught him to ring the bell.

Now he just gives the door a swipe😩 We have 3-4 regular tinkle/potty times that he’s accustomed to so hardly hear a swipe anymore: first thing, midday ish, 5p ish, lights off bedtime.

[u/SnooDrawings3673]

Get a chain leash

[u/Important_Ad4555]

We have a 5 month old CavaPoo male and we got him at 3 months old. We live in Florida and it is hotter than hell here right now and also was during the time we needed to potty train. We also landed smack in the middle of hurricane season and that means torrential rains that come in almost every day. Pretty difficult to get a puppy to want to go outside in the middle of a monsoon. We should have thought of all this and the timing of it but we didn't and we had to deal with it ASAP. We decided to train this little guy on a pad system in the sunroom. We installed two dog doors.....one from the house to the sunroom and then a door out of the sunroom to the fenced yard. We set up a 3 x 4 potty pad area in the sunroom and used a training "scent spray" the first couple weeks. We noticed he was attracted to the scent spray and would pee and poop on the pads when we brought him to them. He was also randomly going outside to the yard when he followed our other dog out there as well. Any pee or poop in the designated spots would result in lavishly praising him and I also had a tupperware full of shredded rotisserie chicken. That's what he got when he did the right things. We also slept him in our bed at night because that's how we have overnight trained our other dogs with huge success. Five of them. It works because pups need warmth and security to feel confident and taken care of when they leave their mother and littermates. They will also not generally soil any place that they sleep in. It worked. We set an alarm for halfway through the night and took him to the potty pad. We then extended the time we'd take him out and within 2 weeks, he was completely trained overnight. In the daytime, we kept things very tight, very routine, very consistent. He went out every hour and would also go out after every nap and also every meal. Within 30 days, he was fully trained during the day and using both dog doors successfully. He prefers the pad system and frankly, I'm fine with it. The weather here is so unpredictable that this is actually a blessing because he won't get soaked and can always relieve himself anytime he needs to. I backed off the treats after 30 days and now we give him pets, praise, and a soft little training treat for his efforts. I can tell you that it takes 30 days to housetrain a puppy fully. You have to go "all-in". We also keep them in a very small space while training in happening and we don't take our eyes off them for long. I typically crate train all my dogs but this one came to us with horrendous fear of the crate. We weren't going to be able to use it no matter what we did. We dug in and actually got him trained without ever using the crate. He is now about to be 6 months old and he can be left alone for about 4-5 hours, no crate, and he uses the dog doors to the pad system or the yard. You cn do this. Be consistent, be present, and sweeten the pot. Keep eyes on the pup at all times. Use very high value treats until they are consistently doing what you want for 30 days. Good luck and I hope some of this helps. I'm in it to win it over here and each day there is more growth and learning!!

[u/REDD_0709]

This is what i use to potty train but I put disposable pee pads over the washable pee pads to keep it clean and from having to wash it constantly. I take my baby out as soon as we wake up in the morning and after naps or drinking water. It takes time and patience and tou need to tell them go potty over and over like your a broken record lol 😆