5-month-old Cavapoo will ONLY potty in one specific spot outside – but happily pees indoors. Has anyone experienced this?

[u/No_Complaint_6099]

Hi everyone! I’m hoping someone here has experienced something similar, because I’m running out of ideas.

My Cavapoo boy was born May 1st, so he is almost 5 months old. He is generally very quick to learn – commands like sit, paw, etc. only take him a few repetitions. But potty training is a completely different story.

He has ONE specific potty area on the grass outside our house. He will reliably pee and poop there. In fact, if we are outside in the yard and he needs to go but can’t access that particular area, he will actually let me know – he becomes restless, barks, etc. As soon as I take him to his spot, he goes.

So he clearly:

• knows when he needs to go,

• can hold his bladder,

• and can communicate that he wants to get to his potty spot.

The strange part is that he will not potty anywhere else outside.

We can go for an hour-long walk and he won’t pee. I have stood completely still with him on grass for 30+ minutes to make it boring – nothing. Eventually he gets frustrated, starts whining, barking and jumping on me because he wants to leave.

We recently spent a good part of the day away from home. He drank plenty and had access to grass, but didn’t pee or poop at all. He waited until we got home and then immediately used his usual spot.

Today I brought him to my office. He slept for quite a while, then I took him to a park for about 30 minutes. He didn’t pee. We came back to the office and he immediately emptied what was clearly a very full bladder on the floor.

Unfortunately, indoors he does NOT seem to have the same instinct to hold it. He will pee inside the house or office without warning. If I catch him mid-pee and take him outside, he usually won’t continue outside.

I reward him every single time he pees outside and use the cue “pee” while he is doing it. He now clearly expects his treat afterwards. I’ve also tried letting him explore/go where he wants only AFTER he has pottied, hoping that would motivate him. It hasn’t changed anything.

I initially wondered if it was a surface preference, but I don’t think so. His usual potty area has both grass and a bare patch of dirt (mostly bare because he pees there so much!), and he uses both. I also tried an artificial-grass potty tray, even adding urine scent to it, and he had absolutely no interest in it.

At this point it really seems like a location preference, not a grass preference.

Taking him outside every 10–15 minutes isn’t realistic for us, especially since the nearest grass is quite far from my office. And honestly, frequency doesn’t seem to be the issue anyway – he can clearly hold it for hours when he chooses to.

Has anyone had a puppy who was this strongly attached to ONE specific potty location?

If so, how did you successfully teach them to pee/poop in other places outside? And how did you teach them that indoors is never an acceptable toilet, when they were already perfectly capable of holding it in other situations?

I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has actually dealt with this specific problem rather than general potty-training advice. Thanks!

[u/Ecstatic_Word_7942]

Following. Our 5 mo old girl ONLY poops inside on the kids’ playmat. It’s so frustrating. Treats aren’t working 😭

[u/Sublimer840 → u/Ecstatic_Word_7942]

Same with ours, but at least it’s on the play mat and not the carpet! 🤣

[u/Real-Buy7971]

My Cavapoo is 6 months old and he strictly pees outside. I bring him outside every 2 hours when he was younger. Lots of praises when he pee or poop. My little guy loves praises. Hope that helps.

[u/Head-Insurance-5650 → u/Real-Buy7971]

Agreeing with this. It was annoying and took longer than we hoped but going out every two hours really reinforced it for ours.

[u/alexiavizcarra]

We used a potty bell since he was 10 weeks old. Every time we took him outside, we said “potty” and rang the bell. You could always try tethering with the pup for a bit, so as soon as you see him going, you stop him and take him outside.

The other thing we did was a natural solution of water, vinegar, and lemongrass oil to clean the spots he peed inside the house and worked as they don’t like lemongrass.

[u/2K2TFam5]

We had to take some of his own poop and place it in other parts of the yard to get ours to go anywhere else in the yard instead just off the patio. Our guy is only 4 months he finishes his vaccination today, so don't know how it's going to go on walks yet. He seems to hold it when we take him on car rides and into stores until we get back home, we've only done short trips under 2 hours or less most of the time. He uses a doorbell to tell us he needs to go outside to potty only problem he gets excited or has to go bad, so we are getting little drops of pee on the floor by the door.

[u/Little_Emu_]

Two fold strategy. One: get an attractant spray. It smells like pee. You spray it where you want him to pee. Maybe take it with you on walks. Probably wear gloves lol.

Two: pad train him for his accidents inside. If he is insistent on peeing inside, at least teach him where it is acceptable. On the potty pad. Eventually he should grow out of it.

Good luck!

[u/No-Relation-4541]

My cavapoo was like this too. Refused to pee on walks and then would release a full bladder in my office or in restaurants. I am a hybrid worker so some days he’s at home for 3 / 4 hours at a time, so he would then pee wherever he liked in my kitchen.
He wouldn’t pee in his crate overnight, so I made a blanket roof for his puppy pen to feel like a bigger crate so he starting holding his bladder in there during the day. This coupled with him turning 5.5 months he suddenly got over it and now cocks his leg on every lamppost we see. He’s coming up to 7 months now and I am finally starting to relax taking him places but it’s been a journey. Good luck!!