When is it ok to let them use the bathroom alone?
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I would wait until you're 100% sure he's housebroken, so that would be at least a month or two after his last accident in the house and he's consistent about telling you he needs to go out. I'd still go out with him from time to time to reinforce it (I gave my pups treats for pottying outdoors for months, and even now I still sometimes tell them "good dog!", at over 5 years old and 2 years old) for awhile, just to be sure he really gets it.
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Yeah, puppies do that, lol! Mine all grew out of it.
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If he's to remain intact? Never. Even the best of dogs can be tempted out of their own yard by a bitch in heat.
Leaving dogs in the yard unsupervised is how all manner of very heartbreaking posts on forums begin. My dog was attacked... my dog was poisoned... etc.
When my bitch is out of season, I watch her from the window when she goes out. I'm lucky that she has a particular spot that she uses as "her latrine", that is viewable from our kitchen window and back door. When she is in season, she is of course always on a long-line with myself or my girlfriend at the other end.
As others have said, for now, I would continue to accompany him so that you can lavish him with praise when he goes outside appropriately. In a couple of months when he's older, the weather is milder [working dogs or not, some dogs just don't like to be cold/wet, and will go outside, decided against it, and come right back in without having gone], and his recall is a bit more reliable, you can start letting him out and watching from the patio door.
I personally wouldn't ever get in the habit of not watching my dog in the yard- it only takes that one "he's never done that before" for a completely avoidable tragedy to occur, and if you are consistent from the beginning, you can have a dog that goes straight out and comes straight back in, making it no trouble at all to wait and watch from the door.
Leaving dogs in the yard unsupervised is how all manner of very heartbreaking posts on forums begin. My dog was attacked... my dog was poisoned... etc.
When my bitch is out of season, I watch her from the window when she goes out. I'm lucky that she has a particular spot that she uses as "her latrine", that is viewable from our kitchen window and back door. When she is in season, she is of course always on a long-line with myself or my girlfriend at the other end.
As others have said, for now, I would continue to accompany him so that you can lavish him with praise when he goes outside appropriately. In a couple of months when he's older, the weather is milder [working dogs or not, some dogs just don't like to be cold/wet, and will go outside, decided against it, and come right back in without having gone], and his recall is a bit more reliable, you can start letting him out and watching from the patio door.
I personally wouldn't ever get in the habit of not watching my dog in the yard- it only takes that one "he's never done that before" for a completely avoidable tragedy to occur, and if you are consistent from the beginning, you can have a dog that goes straight out and comes straight back in, making it no trouble at all to wait and watch from the door.
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"When is it ok to use the bathroom alone"
I have been wondering this myself. I feel like I'm old enough to go potty alone, but my dogs don't seem to think so.
ROFL
Didn't you know there is a secret portal in the bathroom that sometimes whisks humans away, never to be seen again? The best defense against Bathroom Portal Abduction [or BPA] is companion animal supervision. The portal operators are deathly allergic to both canine and feline dander, and will not open the portal in the presence of our dogs and cats.
Or so my animals seem to believe.
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Hey, me TOO! :wild: :wub: :wild:"When is it ok to use the bathroom alone"
I have been wondering this myself. I feel like I'm old enough to go potty alone, but my dogs don't seem to think so.
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I still go out with almost all of my dogs. Mostly because it's just faster. If I go out with them, they get their business done, I know they got their business done, and we can all go back inside. Often times people will see a regression in potty behavior around 5-6 months and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that people stop treating their dogs like puppies and more like adult dogs. They move too fast on the schedule thinking that their dog "knows" to go outside.
If I do NOT go out with them, they hang around the back door for awhile wondering why the heck I'm not coming out, then when they finally decide to wander into the yard, I'm never really sure if they went, because they'll come back to the door at the slightest sound from the house. And what's NOT fun is coming home from work to discover the 10 month old pooped in the house because he was having WAY to much fun playing in the yard in the morning and forgot what he was out there to do.
I can trust my adult dogs (older than 2yrs) to know why they are out there and/or hold it if they forget. Cade is notorious now for playing outside and when you go to call him in...refusing to come and running to a corner of the yard to poop before he has to come in. Sort of like "WAIT a sec Mom! I'll do it NOW!".
If I do NOT go out with them, they hang around the back door for awhile wondering why the heck I'm not coming out, then when they finally decide to wander into the yard, I'm never really sure if they went, because they'll come back to the door at the slightest sound from the house. And what's NOT fun is coming home from work to discover the 10 month old pooped in the house because he was having WAY to much fun playing in the yard in the morning and forgot what he was out there to do.
I can trust my adult dogs (older than 2yrs) to know why they are out there and/or hold it if they forget. Cade is notorious now for playing outside and when you go to call him in...refusing to come and running to a corner of the yard to poop before he has to come in. Sort of like "WAIT a sec Mom! I'll do it NOW!".
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All ours adults know the backyard is potty time, and although I don't still go outside with Dante for potty breaks our back windows overlook the entire backyard. He potties in the same spot every time (can't wait to see that patch of grass in the summer), and I can send him out and watch from the window by the backdoor. He'll run around the corner, potty, then run back to the door if he's by himself (vs having the others out there to play with). This works well when it's FREEZING, snowing, sleeting, etc and I don't feel like getting al bundled up for a 10 second pee break mid big dog potty breaks. Since he's still young, I send him out much more regularly than the adults to ensure there are no accidents.
But the point here is that he's supevised to make sure he goes out and potties.
But the point here is that he's supevised to make sure he goes out and potties.
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Stark and I live in an apartment building so he has NEVER been outside by himself to potty.
I would suggest going out with him for another month or two, atleast until you know
1. He will potty
2. He will not eat/chew anything he isn't suppose too
3. He will not get hurt/take off
4. He is able to come back to you when he is called
I would suggest going out with him for another month or two, atleast until you know
1. He will potty
2. He will not eat/chew anything he isn't suppose too
3. He will not get hurt/take off
4. He is able to come back to you when he is called
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That's amazing that your puppy is so well potty trained already! Did you also train with a cue word so you can have your dog potty on command? That comes in really handy lots of times if you can have your dog eliminate on cue, that way you know your dog is "empty" before you go in to puppy class or a similar situation.
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And next comes digging holes and chasing bugs...if you're really lucky.
I just say potty time. The thing I want him to learn next, is how to signal when he needs to go out. Right now i take him out after every meal/ drink, or when i catch him sniffing the carpet...
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Other advantage of going out with our dogs alot of the time, is we are much more aware of their health and WHEN a problem came up. Diahrea may never go into a bloody EXPENSIVE bout of colitis if you know it's started and stop all for right away (yes, I learned this the hard way).
What is everyone's opinion on dog doors?
I have a very securely fenced backyard, set back from the road quite a bit, and if/when I get a dog door, it will open into a smaller, even more securely fenced area within that one.
Obviously, a puppy needs to be taken out on a leash for some time to teach potty training. But at what point are they ok to use the dog door? It seems to me that this might actually help with house training, because instead of trying to tell me he needs to go out (and my possibly not correctly reading the signals), he could just go out whenever he thought he needed to.
I know there are pros/cons to this. Arguments either way?
I have a very securely fenced backyard, set back from the road quite a bit, and if/when I get a dog door, it will open into a smaller, even more securely fenced area within that one.
Obviously, a puppy needs to be taken out on a leash for some time to teach potty training. But at what point are they ok to use the dog door? It seems to me that this might actually help with house training, because instead of trying to tell me he needs to go out (and my possibly not correctly reading the signals), he could just go out whenever he thought he needed to.
I know there are pros/cons to this. Arguments either way?
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