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How old was your dog before she was housebroken?

2K views 21 replies 19 participants last post by  Eiros 
#1 · (Edited)
I became Greta's owner when she was 6 months of age. She came to me completely crate trained but not 100% housebroken. She is now 7 months old and although the accidents are rather infrequent, 1-2/week I am getting concerned that her bladder/bowel control is "selective" when outside the crate. She also asks to go out every 2 hours to pee. In her defense her previous owners were able to bring her to work every day so she never had to hold it for extended periods when outside her crate.

By comparison, my Male Golden retriever "Moose" was completely housebroken at 4 months old and the crate was disassembled at 6 months. My husband and I work full time and even when we went into overtime (9 +hours) he would NOT pee or poop in the house (unless he had tummy troubles).

Greta easily goes a full work day in the crate with no accidents but is not showing signs that she is anywhere near ready to be left in our home for even 3 hours without relieving herself.

Was Moose just extremely easy to housebreak? Or is Greta slow to learn that outside is her bathroom. I am now training Greta the same way I did Moose... hopefully she will be able to ditch the crate in a few months.

She also pees 3-5 times when let out in the morning and after work. Moose emptied his bladder all in 1 shot.

How old before your dog was housebroken?
 
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#2 ·
My older male golden was completely trained at 3 months and out of crate completely at 6 months. My female GSD was able to sleep with me at 4 months, but not completely trained until about 6 months and out if crate completely at 7 months. My golden puppy now is almost 7 months old and I still don't trust him, he is just now starting to ask, but he has to go often. They have all been so different.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the post Llombardo :) it's good to know that I'm not the only dog owner that goes into month 7 lol. I'm sure she will eventually "get it" but in the meantime I kinda feel bad about the crate thing. On the brighter side because we decided to keep her, my aunt did drop off Greta' s slightly roomier crate.


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#5 ·
Thanks Michael :)
 
#6 ·
Are you absolutely sure she doesn't have a low grade urinary tract infection? Maybe she is somehow able to hold it when she's in the crate, a whole work day is a long time for a seven month old to be crated. I would want to know for sure that this isn't something more than a housebreaking issue.
 
#9 ·
Delgado had two accidents when he came home at 9 weeks, not one since :)
 
#11 ·
Dexter (our border collie) finally got it at 12 to 16 weeks, he pooped in our antiques room ALOT, we could not figure out why he would not tell us he had to go outside. After lots of stress we bought a bell and it was problem solved, he would ring that bell at 2 am to go outside. Its our faults for not reading his small signs.
 
#12 ·
Part of her issue might be the new location. Our lab was fully house trained in the apartment (though still crated to avoid any chewing mishaps), but when we moved into our house at around 7 or 8 months he started having occasional accidents again. I think it has something to do with the concentration of "family" scent, though I wish I could remember the reference. In any case I wouldn't worry about her having a set timeframe. She'll get it with consistency, and she probably doesn't mind the crate :)


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#13 ·
I'm so happy to hear that I'm not the only one with this issue!

Jericho is perfectly crate trained, but still not house broken. He will cry when he has to go out, but it's every hour. He has proven that he CAN hold it, he just doesn't care to when he's in the house. In fact, if he whines and I take a second too long to get him outside, he will just go.

He is only 4 1/2 months old, though. I assume it will "click" somewhere around 6-7 months, because just last week as we were coming up our stairs, he turned around and asked to be let out again for a 2nd potty before we were even in the house yet. So, that has to mean something, then! He knows he's SUPPOSED to go outside, but I wonder if his baby brain just kinda... forgets sometimes? I know his particular line is full of dogs that were slow growers/maturers, so I wonder if maybe it will even take him nearly 8 or 9 months to get it perfect. Who knows.
 
#14 ·
Thanks everyone for all your responses, (@Katieliz... I just got the results from her urine sample and blood work and everything is ok there. )
I Spoke with her vet and she said Greta's issue seems to be a matter of unlearning her previous habits and settling into her new schedule. It's been 3 weeks since her last accident :) but I don't feel she is ready to be out unsupervised for another few weeks.
 
#17 ·
3 Months.

Tyson was 2 months when we got him, he wouldn't potty or pee in the crate but would sometime pee inside the house but he was completely house broken within next month. he out grew his cage when he was 4 month old (rather small size,fit for Japanese Spitz i guess), he has been living outside crate since then.
No accidents what's so ever.
He had bad stomach when i switched to raw, also then he would whine and bark, but would not potty inside. He has many flaws, and many things to improve upon but in this case he is as trained as he can be. :):) So proud of him.
 
#19 ·
Being house broken is pretty relative. If a pup doesn't have accidents it is because you are vigilant and manage the pup well but I don't consider them house broken at that age.
WD had two pees in the house when he had a re-occuring bladder infection as a 12 week old pup (first sign of his autoimmune issues). Two of my passed-on dogs have never had an accident but they were not house broken yet. I call them house broken when I can leave them alone in the house for a few hours without an accident, give or take some items being chewed up but that's another issue but still my responsibility.
 
#20 ·
Finn was signaling to go out solidly by 11 weeks and we could leave him with no accidents at about 20 weeks. It took about 3 months for solid training. Abi? She's still not completely trained and she's going on ten months old.
 
#22 ·
At 5.5 months Warden was already mostly house trained. I dont leave him out of the crate when he's home alone but he sleeps without it and always alerts us in some way when he's gotta go. He either gets super restless and "in your face" suddenly, or he'll go and hit the doorknob with his nose so it rattles.

Jack, on the other hand, took AGES to potty train. We still had to watch him closely into 7-8 months +. He would never tell us, just pee in the house. He'd tell us when he wanted to go out and play but not potty! :rolleyes:

Every dog is different!
 
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