How old is normal for a puppy to be housebroken?

[katdog5911]

My 18 week female has had several accidents in the house. I am wondering if this is normal. She pees outside 99% of the time but for some reason still has a pee every now and then in the house. My husband thinks old school and thinks I should discipline her...nose rubbing etc....but I do not agree. I figure it is probably my fault for not having watched her closely at those times. She still has excitement pees too. Does it ever end? She has never peed in her crate or bed.

[BlackGSD]

Siren never had an accident in the house from the time I got her at 8 weeks. She was reliable about going to the for when she needed to "go" at 10 weeks old. (Though I will say I have NEVER had another puppy of any breed that "got it" that young.)

[Emoore]

Kopper was housebroken at 13 weeks. Excitement peeing is not a housebreaking issue and should not be treated like one. She gets so excited she literally loses control of her bladder, it's not a conscious thing, so you need to work on staying calm and not over-stimulating her. The excitement peeing *should* fade with maturity.

The disciplining and nose-rubbing doesn't work, period. What does work is constant supervision. If she's not reliably housebroken, she needs to be either crated or tethered to a person. No exceptions. Make a big happy deal of it every time she potties outside-- really, throw a party and give her treats. If she goes inside the house, clean it with an enzyme cleaner so the smell doesn't trigger her to use that spot again. Regular household cleaners will make it so you can't smell it, but she can still smell it and will be inclined to use the same spot again.

[AddieGirl]

Originally Posted by BlackGSD

Siren never had an accident in the house from the time I got her at 8 weeks. She was reliable about going to the for when she needed to "go" at 10 weeks old. (Though I will say I have NEVER had another puppy of any breed that "got it" that young.)

Same here. Addie was 10 weeks when we got her and within a week she "got it" and would wait by the door.

OP have you had your pup for 8 to 10 weeks? What are you doing to prevent accidents?

[Josh's mom]

Josh was housebroken by 12-16 weeks, he started "excitement peeing" when he was older, and that just stopped about 2 mo ago. He's 14 mo old now and is really starting to show us what he's going to be as an adult.
Jenna was a rescue, not sure when potty trained, when she came to us at 10 mo she was totally trained, a little "excitement peeing" with her every now and then, some fear peeing when anyone raises their voice (something from her other home?). She's 12 mo.

[chelle]

Originally Posted by katdog5911

My 18 week female has had several accidents in the house. I am wondering if this is normal. She pees outside 99% of the time but for some reason still has a pee every now and then in the house. My husband thinks old school and thinks I should discipline her...nose rubbing etc....but I do not agree. I figure it is probably my fault for not having watched her closely at those times. She still has excitement pees too. Does it ever end? She has never peed in her crate or bed.

Accidents aren't that "un" normal. If you're at 99% at 18 weeks, that's not so bad.

Your hubby needs his own nose rubbed in his own pee. But seriously, he's just dead wrong.

And yeah, it's your fault for the mistakes. (I say that in humor because I recognize every housebreaking accident that happened was my fault -- took my eyes off for a second too long, etc.)

Excitement pee is not your fault at all. Some just do that. My oldest had issues with submissive peeing. I had to train the people that came around her to do certain things (and NOT do certain things.) She eventually outgrew it. They should *never* be punished for excitement/submissive peeing.

Hang in there, mama... you're almost there! But please don't let hubby rub your baby's nose in her mistakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cassidy's Mom]

I don't think there is a "normal" as far as housebreaking goes. Some of what's going to affect how long it takes is the dog itself and a lot is going to be the owner - how skilled they are and how well they manage and supervise their puppy.

We got Dena & Keefer at 9 weeks old (not at the same time, they were a little less than a year apart), and Halo at 10 weeks old several years later. Dena took about a month to housebreak, Keefer about two months, and Halo about three months. We should be getting better at this, but it seems like we're getting worse, lol!

Do NOT listen to your hubby's advice about housebreaking. If you scare her she'll just get better at peeing when you're not around, she won't be learning that WHERE she peed is wrong. Take her out very often, watch her like a hawk when she's indoors, and reinforce the heck out of potties outdoors. Lots of happy praise and a yummy treat every single time.

Are you using an enzyme cleaner on her accidents? If not, she can still smell it and will be attracted back to those spots, even if you can't smell it.

[Dooney's Mom]

Dooney was housebroken by the time she was 3-4 months old. She also has the submissive pee thing going on (it comes and goes-its weird). she is just shy of 9 months old.

she will go to the door and sit and make eye contact with me if she has to go out, otherwise I know she is just looking out the door. I started her off almost immediately at sitting down at doors to be let out.

Definately don't rub their noses in it- With my first dog that is what I did (i didn't know any better) and i NEVER did it with Dooney- it was harder to housetrain my first dog that way.

[robk]

My boy is 5 months and is pretty well house broken..I can't remember the last time he had an "accident". However, we never put a time table on him nor made a big deal when he did go in the house. We just cleaned it up and made a point to let him out more often. However when he went out side we made a very big deal out of praising him and he seamed to train him self very smoothly. He did go through a peeing while excited time for about a month and he also took a fall once that was very scary and he let his bladder go then but it was completely not his fault it happend. Over all I think his success was due in large part to my wife and I's patience and care not to ever put too much pressure on him.

[Stella's Mom]

I am thinking I gave away some pee pee pads to my chihauhau friends by the time Stella was 16 weeks old more or less. I remember around Easter she was no longer peeing in her crate at night or having any accidents in the house.