How far along are we on potty training??

[Linck]

I have a 12 weeks old who I crate him at night. He goes to bed about 9 pm and get up around 6 am. Up until last week I always carry him to the back door. But he got a little too big for me now so I just walk him out. In the day time, since I stay at home, He follows me around the house and mostly sleeps. He will ring the bell to go outside when he needs to go potty. This last few days I don't go out with him anymore. I just watch him from inside the house to see if he goes potty then he will come back and knock on the door to come back inside. I crate him during the day when I have to go out.

He has gone through one solid week without any accident inside the house.

Question:
1. Since I don't go out to praise him or give him treats while he goes anymore, will that lack of reinforcement ruin his good behavior?
2. Does this mean he is potty trained? How far along are we on the process? If yes, will he ever lose it?
3. I want to install a doggie door. Is this the time yet? I have to leave a gap open when I take a shower or something to make sure that he can go out if I'm not there to open the door when he rings the bell. I want to prevent bugs.

[Mac's Mom]

Wow. I am impressed. At 12 weeks he can go 9 hours at night without going pottie, rings a bell to let you know and knocks to come back in? All I can say is wow.

[Linck]

oh really? So is that mean this is temporary?? I'm scared to let this go lol my friend has a lab and she said her dog was fully 100% potty trained since 10 weeks. I don't know how true that is but that was the information I based off of

[Mac's Mom]

Oh no I didn't mean to imply its temporary. I have no idea. I am just seriously impressed on how smart your puppy is.

[jocoyn]

It should be good. I think the boy GSDs are very easy to train. I would go out with him and "name" it while he goes still and reward him for "on command" for a good time to come. "good poo" "good potty" whatever word you want to use.

Here is my reason. When I take Beau for a walk in the neighborhood he is not usually allowed to even urinate, *but* when I travel or go somewhere, I want him to go onlead. Also with an intact male he would be stopping every 5 feet to pee if I did not have rules about this. He can sniff, but that is all.

With my previous dog Grim he would just as soon die before going potty onlead so I would have to find some place to unclip him. Beau knows when I say "go potty" that it is ok to do his business while onlead and will usually be quick about having a bowel movement when I tell him to.

[GSDLiam]

We are at 4.5 months and he's good at ringing the bell to go out but we do still have accidents in the crate if I over sleep. He's been like this since 3 months as well and is still going strong a month and a half later. I was amazed when he learned this at an early age but I strongly believe he came from a very good gene pool

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[Metro_Mike]

My GSD is also at 4.5 months. This is the first puppy that I didn’t crate train. Trust me it was a chore. But since I work from home I had all the time in the world. From about 8 I took him out hourly (if not sometimes more) and slowly added additional time. Required a lot more vigilance, time and a little more carpet cleaner than crate training. At about 12 weeks he became potty trained. Since 12 weeks he has only had 1 -2 accidents). He can also go the entire night 8+ hours accident free. He sleeps on the floor next to our bed.

I have also hung a bell on each door at about nose height. Although he prefers to scratch or wine at the door he has rung the bell on several occasions. My prior dogs have all eventually learned how to ring a bell with out any training. I use to always reward with treats now I just praise with an occasional treat when he potties. He is on a lead when he goes potty and I generally take him to the same place.

One issue with the bell that I had with my prior dogs is that sometimes they just ring it because they see other dogs outside and want to go out to play.

[Zeeva]

I would also go out with him, give going potty and pee a name and reward. I use 'get busy' for potty and 'shee-shee' for pee. Also helps if they know the command on cold/rainy/snowy weather. It really does make them feel a kind of urgency and helps them 'go'!

I'm impressed as well c: good for you two!

[BUS33]

I think you are good to go. My boy is 13 weeks and has been ringing the bell and doing his thing for about 4 weeks. I stuck with going out and praising until he was about 11 weeks and he has had one accident since. It wasn't really an accident but it was a good sign he knows what to do....he was playing with our Boston terrier and kind of lost track of his bladder but he did stop mid-play and sprint for the door. He ended up peeing a little by the door but not bad. He knew what to do, just got a little too into the wrestling match.


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[trcy]

Riley was potty trained at about 11 to 12 weeks. He hated the potty bells and wasn't whining to go out. When he had an accident is was always by the door to go out. We put up a wireless alert and no more accidents!

He is 20 weeks now and has started to whine if he has to go out at night. He is not crate trained. So, I appreciate the whine to go out. =D