How long without accidents, before you consider puppy housebroken??

[Stevenzachsmom]

Is there a period of time that passes accident free where you feel you have accomplished housebreaking? I always thought if we made it to a month we would be good.

My new pup is a hound mix. He is somewhere between 6 and 7 months old. I expected him to be tougher, because he is a hound and came from a shelter. Honestly, he has not been that bad. Got him Oct. 3rd. One poo accident in the house ever. Pee? Well every time I think we are there - OOPS! He made it 2 weeks this time. I was so proud. Went to a party Saturday. I fed him early, before I left. He did not poo before it was time for me to leave. He was in his crate for about 6 hours. I expected an accident. There was none. He went outside, when I got home. My buttons were bursting.

Next day - Sunday, I took puppy out to the bathroom. Put him in the crate while I went downstairs to watch the football game. Came back to a wet crate. I know he can hold it. He can hold it all night from 10PM - 7AM. Never goes in his crate overnight. I'm just thinking he wasn't happy knowing I was home and he was crated. Or maybe he was mad, because he wanted to watch the game. LOL!

So, now we are starting ALL over again. Two days. No accidents. Is there a magic number where I can say, "Yes! We made it! He is housebroken!"?

[stealthq]

For me, it is not a time limit.

I say my dog is housebroken when he does not have any accidents in the house and I no longer have to anticipate when he needs to go. When he will come get me when he needs to go, won't stop telling me he needs to go if I misunderstand, and will hold it while I untangle myself from whatever I'm doing to go take him out. Anything less is to me not truly housebroken, it's me getting the jump on him before he has an accident.

My current dog was house trained at about 8 mos. old. My last dog never quite made it there - either you came the first time he stared at you slightly more intently than his usual stare, or there was a mess on the floor. But, by most people's definitions he was house trained. He never had an accident if kept on a schedule.

[sjackson310]

When I first realized my dog was housebroken, it was an accident. I am a firm believer that if you cannot watch your pup, they should be in the crate. Well, I was watching him very intently one day when he was 4 months old, then I passed out on the couch. What awoke me an hour later was the sound of a door opening to the outside (the alarm system "beep beep beep" sound) and I popped up and realized my front door was wide open. At the time, we had lever handles, not knobs, so he just jumped on the door and opened it and went outside in the front yard. I ran outside and saw him peeing, and I sat there staring at him in awe and he just trotted back in the house like nothing happened.
About a month later, I was too into watching a movie on the couch and he was blatantly telling me he had to go potty but I was "in the zone" and he went to the garage, opened the door, and pooped in the garage. He has an aversion to soiling the carpet, but I am not complaining

[Stevenzachsmom]

That is hilarious! What a smart boy. I just feel every accident is a minor set back. SIGH!

[Bear GSD]

I think everyone's definition is different. I, like you would go two weeks and think "Great we're completely potty trained" and then he would have an accident (most likely my fault).
I think for me it was when he didn't have an accident for entire month before I was convinced, Bear was about 5 months old at the time.
So hopefully Boh will be there soon! (fingers crossed)

[Stevenzachsmom]

Thanks Bear! I was much happier when I was thinking 14 DAYS AND COUNTING! And now we're back to day 2. Just 2 days. UGH!

[EJQ]

IMHO I don't think you can set a time limit. Their young bodies take time to mature. Your puppy is pretty much a baby. Don't be too surprised by the fact that just when you think they are there, you discover that they are not quite!!

[Jack9211]

We've had Ben just over 3 weeks......he was not housebroken when we got him. We took him out often to give him the idea. he had a couple accidents that I caught him in the act. took him out with prise when he finished. He totally surprised me the other day by coming to get me to go out. Amazing to catch on that quickly. I am not saying it's complete yet, but I couldn't be happier. No accidents for 1 1/2 weeks so far. Feeling very lucky. Oh, he just turned 5 mths old, so I know that's different than a 8 week old

[AngieW]

I figured we were doing pretty well when Kylie had gone 1 week with no accidents.

Actually, she has only had one accident (aside from diarrhea in her crate two times when she was sick) and that was when she was telling me that she needed to go by ringing the bells hanging from the back door, but I was in the bathroom myself and didn't make it to the door fast enough. That was right about the point when she had been 7 days with no accidents.

She hasn't had any accidents since then. We got her at 10.5 weeks. She figured out the bells at 11.5 weeks. After figuring out the bells, she was accident-free after just a few days. I don't count the two times she had diarrhea in her crate while she was sick. I'm pretty sure she tried to wake me up during the night, but I was just too wiped out to hear her from letting her out every 2 hours the night before (because of diarrhea).

[EJQ]

Originally Posted by AngieW

I figured we were doing pretty well when Kylie had gone 1 week with no accidents.

Actually, she has only had one accident (aside from diarrhea in her crate two times when she was sick) and that was when she was telling me that she needed to go by ringing the bells hanging from the back door, but I was in the bathroom myself and didn't make it to the door fast enough. That was right about the point when she had been 7 days with no accidents.

She hasn't had any accidents since then. We got her at 10.5 weeks. She figured out the bells at 11.5 weeks. After figuring out the bells, she was accident-free after just a few days. I don't count the two times she had diarrhea in her crate while she was sick. I'm pretty sure she tried to wake me up during the night, but I was just too wiped out to hear her from letting her out every 2 hours the night before (because of diarrhea).

Congrats to you - the bell system is the only way to go!