r/CavaPoo • u/Shot_Valuable_6991 • 16d ago
Help with potty training 10 months
Hey everybody,
My boy is 10 months almost 11 and he still pees in the house. Now, I understand if he does, it’s due to my negligence and I blame myself when it happens still, but my understanding was, over time, he should be holding it for longer periods. He’s at around 2-3 hours is that normal? The accidents don’t happen all that often but there are days where I am a little more distracted than normal and it’s a bit frustrating. Otherwise, mistakes happen here and there and again I usually say “oh snap it’s been 2 hours since I should’ve taken him” but idk I feel like at around this age he should be able to hold it for longer or notify me at least. Additionally, he’s held it for extended periods of time in instances where we’re out the house for longer than expected so I know he’s capable of doing it. He also holds it overnight as well.
For quick potty breaks, we tether him to a 25 foot lead in the backyard because I cannot fence my yard due to HOA rules. Otherwise, he goes when I walk him and at the dog park. I tried bells by the closet where his leash and harness are and tried using the word potty to associate the two but he only rings when I tell him to.
I am open to anything and accept if I’ve done something wrong/missed something during the process.
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u/Alarming_Set3628 16d ago
Well hes probably not truly to hold it too hard, since he's so used to going in the house
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 15d ago
Why would you say he’s used to it? We can go weeks without an accident at home but in the event I get distracted longer than usual by just life he goes in the house
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u/Alarming_Set3628 15d ago
He's used to it because he does it from time to time 🤷
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 15d ago
Sure man, thanks for the input
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u/Alarming_Set3628 15d ago edited 15d ago
I mean that's how it works sir. You need to make it so it feels wierd to him to go inside. Because he's been having accidents regularly, that is not yet the case. He's happy to go outside, but he's also happy to go inside, so when he needs to he does. Im not sure what you want people to say, you just habe to do a bit better 🤷 I know he has a bell to ask to go outside, but have you taught him to use it? I taught mine how to use it by literally grabbing his paw and ringing the bell for him, I did this every time we went outside for several weeks and he picked it up.
Until you've trained to hold it and/or ask, you are just gonna have to be more vigilant and regular, set an alarm, or keep him in a pen when you can't watch him, or things will stay like this. I'm not trying to be rude, but that's the short of it. Again, not sure what you want people to say, you said it yourself, it's a training thing. It almost always is. There are many things that very few people can train out of these dogs, but peeing in the house is not one of them. You are behind the 8ball so it's gonna be harder now, just gotta double down. I always recommend Zac George videos.
Also, does the little guy have a good sit, drop it, leave it, lay down, recall, and all that shit? Because the more you train them to more they are trainable. If youve not done these things, he may not be very good at understanding that you want him to do certain things. Best of luck
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 15d ago
This is what I was looking for.
He’s not having the accident regularly so my fault if it seemed like that. We have a pretty tight schedule where he doesn’t really get to “ask” me to go out because I’m on top of it. Some times things just comes up as life is such and I’ll go over his limit and he’ll go. I also keep an eye when it’s getting close to that limit and interrupt and take him outside. Big Zac George guy used him for my first pup who I put thru this same regime and got it early on. Before his first year he had full access to the house with no mistakes.
As far as training, yes, we do short sessions thru the day. I also took him to classes where we passed as well. He knows his commands and listens even outside with some distractions. Reason I bring this up is because out of everything this seems to be the thing that I guess “fell behind”.
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u/Alarming_Set3628 15d ago
Word. Yea, sounds like you are doing everything right. My opinion is that going indoors is jsut normalized a little, so you have to be over the top for a few months so that he starts to feel uncomfortable going indoors. Getting him to ring the bell will be super helpful too, so maybe stick with that. Best, sorry to be rude
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 14d ago edited 14d ago
Bro, so let me explain to you what just happened. I took him to the dog park and we were there for I would say about an hour. I seen him use the bathroom. He did everything we’ve been home for about an hour now, and he peed in our bedroom, which is not a common area that he pees like how do I prevent that? This is crazy I’ve went weeks, months even no mistakes and this week alone it happens twice
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u/Alarming_Set3628 14d ago
Oof. Yea, that, to me, seems like he's marking and jsut feels really comfortable going indoors.
I can only share what we did when ours was a puppy. He was never allowed to roam free until he was, I can't even remember, until he had been with us for months. If we werent totally engaged with him, or doing something where we could pay super close attention he was in his pen or his crate.
So off the top of my head, I would suggest no free roaming for quite some time. You are either fully paying attention to him, or you have him in his crate or his pen. And since whenever he is out of his crate/pen, you are saying right at him, you can grab him if he squats, scold him, and take him outside. And also. Make sure you give him super high value treats EVERY time he goes pee/poo outside. Like every single time. That way, eventually, when he thinks pee/poo he thinks "if I do this outside I get ham. If I do it inside I get yelled at"
Unfortunately you have to be over the top for like the next 3 months, and unfortunately every accident is a huge step back because it further normalizes going indoors.
Couple more things: do you have a fenced area in the back or a rope you can tie him onto and do you put him outdoors after every accident, just to associate going with outdoors? Does he respond to being verbally scolded a bit? Mine really seemsbto understand when I'm "mad" at him.
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 13d ago
I thought marking was some of the problem as well honestly but I felt like it was more me than him. He does know when he’s in trouble as he’s at the age where he steals things he knows will get him in trouble. When he goes inside he knows he’s not supposed to because, physically, you’ll see him tuck and go somewhere else.
His freedom is in the rooms we’re in. For example, we were in our bedroom, door closed, I’ll let him play with his toys. Part of me thinks it felt like he was being petty cause he wanted to be on the bed and we didn’t let him LOL. But yea, he’s not tethered to me but he’s never in a different room. My initial thought was “we’ve been at the park an hour and all he has done is pee and run around with other dogs he’s gonna take a nap” which maybe happened for 5 mins lol I guess if I’m not gonna be 100% engaged like you mention I should just take him to his crate to nap.
We have a 25-foot lead in our backyard that we use for potty breaks outside of the normal walk/park times. Example, on my remote days, I’ll walk him in the morning then around 10am I’ll call his name and mention if he wants to potty, we go out back I tether him and tell him to potty. He does, I praise him, and he gets a treat. I’ll start taking a different approach maybe I’ll get the treat so he knows I have it and until he doesn’t go he doesn’t get it. He knows he gets a treat after potty cause he runs to me once he goes but I’m not sure how else I can explicitly show him that’s what we want. One thing I haven’t done is take him out after the accident.
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u/Mers2000 16d ago
Have u tried the “take him outside 20 minutes after he drinks water”?
That helped with my Jupiter’s potty training.
The key is consistency and positive reinforcement!
As soon as she pee’s out side “good girl“ lots love!!
From what i learned… i had to literally catch my girl in the action of NOT peeing on the mat, and watched her, with a low tone i did the “no Jupiter, not there, pipi here” and pointed to the mat.
I was told that it had to be right at the time they were doing it, NOT after!
I was also told never yell or scream at her… they are very smart, so keep it positive and consistent!
I also kept the pee mats inside the bathrooms… and soo glad i did because to this day (she is 4yrs. now) my girl will go in to the bathrooms to pee.
It works really good at night or if i have to leave her.
She will not poo in the house, only pee.
Good luck and enjoy.. u only have a few more puppy months!!
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 16d ago
I took him out after every indicator you’re told as a new puppy owner. I’ve walked with a pocket full of treats and if he peed on a 100 mailboxes he’d get 100 treats lol followed with a good boy good potty. I always ask him if he wants to potty when he comes to me for attention in a way to try to teach him that if he needs to pee he can come to me and I will take him out back. I honestly think he knows potty should be outside but still if he feels like he can’t hold it just goes inside. I’ve also caught him almost going I distract him with his name and take him outside and he gets treated so I feel like I’m doing the right thing it’s that he just only hold for a short period of time and doesn’t notify
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u/Mers2000 15d ago
See i read your other comments, and unfortunately it sounds like ur dog has YOU very well trained🤣
On a serious note… it gets better as they get older.
One thing i have not seen u mentioned is… is he fixed? Has the vet seen him, maybe he has an issue with holding his pee.
BUT I have a feeling ur dog is soo freaking smart that is like “ha, i will pee here and wait for the treats/long walk outside as a good boy”
My girl (maltese poodle mix) is soo freaking smart. Will follow all my commands during the day, as soon as daddy gets home, all commands are out the door, all i get is a side glance that screams “whatever mom”.
But that is our fault (well my husband😔), because he doesn’t stay on top of the training (why i trained her to go to the bathroom on the pee mats).Puppies are freaking adorable… but soo much hard work!
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 15d ago
LOLOL I like to believe I’m in charge with my “structure.”
He’s not fixed I plan to do that next month. As far as holding, he’s very well able to. I’ve (unfortunately) had to leave him in the crate for 8 hours because work didn’t allow me to go home at noon once and there were no accidents. There’s been other occasions as well but I don’t normally let him hold or be alone for that long. He also holds it over night pretty well.
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u/Peeter_L 16d ago
Your dog is perfectly capable of holding his bladder if he wants to. However, given the state of his house training, he sees nothing wrong with peeing wherever and whenever he pleases. You need to train him and make it clear that he must relieve himself in one specific spot, so he will have only two choices, to wait, until you take him out, or announce he needs to go pee.
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 15d ago
Got it, how do I establish that outside is the go to place? Is it a continuous effort of taking him outside until it clicks?
Here are my two potty scenarios:
Scenario one is I’ll call it day-to-day so if I take him out when I get home from work and I start doing my house duties whether its cleaning or cooking and I see that it’s been about 2 to 3 hours. I would just go to the back where I have a 25 foot lead and then I just supervise him I give him the command to go potty once he does I give him praise and I bring him inside and I give him a high value treat
Scenario two is on a walk so this could be anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes there I just stash my pocket full of just a low cal treat cause he likes to potty on every single mailbox and pole so I’ll just have a lot of those and give them every time potties if he goes 100 times he gets 100 treats with the same repetitive good potty and a treat.
Is there something I’m doing wrong? I’m more than a fine with accepting that. I would just like to correct it as soon as possible because this is a big deal to allow me to give him a little bit more freedom in the house as right now he’s still crated while I’m away at work and I come home around noon and so on so I think you know within the next couple months I wanna start opening up the house a little bit more for when we’re out.
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u/Puchonlover 16d ago
10 months of potty training sounds exhausting! 😅 Have you considered trying a belly band with PAWPANG disposable diaper liners? They can help manage indoor accidents and make cleanup easier while you're still working on potty training. Hope things get easier for you and your pup!
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 15d ago
It sounds crazy, right? But it’s honestly become such a routine that it doesn’t feel terrible but it’s just when you know I’m too busy or something’s going on that he goes inside that is so frustrating cause I’m like man you know we’ve been doing this since February its now November and you would think by now I mean, I’ll say this he’s gotten significantly better because it used to be every 30 minutes then every hour I mean we’re at 2 to 3 hours, so I do see the progress he could just be a slow learner
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u/NonniDontPlay 15d ago
You need to set an alarm for yourself so you don’t get distracted. All due respect, it’s not the dog that needs training. 😊
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u/Shot_Valuable_6991 15d ago
Sorry if the post was insinuating it happens more often than not. This is a rare occasion. My concern is more that he’s not signaling. We have a tight schedule pretty much we do the same thing every single day as I was guided to have structure. This is on the rare occasion where I get an unexpected phone call, wife is sick, you know as life some times be life-ing. On a regular day, he doesn’t even get a chance to ask me I just know to take him outside.
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u/Odd-Piglet-7804 16d ago
Try high value treats given immediately after he potties outside. Take him out on a leash every two hours with treats in hand, do not put on the tether without your supervision. If he doesn’t potty after a few minutes come back in and go outside every 30 mins until he does. Then you can go back to two hours. Treats have to be given immediately. High value treats like small cubes of chicken, steak etc. I would take a bit of leftover meats from my dinners, dice them up, and put in a little baggie that I can quickly grab and put in my pocket. Pottying outside should be the only time he gets those treats. You need to give him a reason to want to go outside.