How do I get my puppy to let me know when he needs to go outside

[nicci24.nb]

I have an 11yr old beagle and a 4 1/2 month old beagle. I have tried bell training but it’s more of a game to him. He is great about going potty outside right away, but doesn’t seem to try and hold it inside the house. Am I expecting to much to soon?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

While bell training can be effective, one important consideration is that it may only start working once puppies are older and have the physiological and cognitive ability to "hold it" for longer and associate going outdoors with going potty. In other words, it works best when puppies are developmentally more mature and have their potty training almost completely pat down with a history of a strict potty training plan in place.

 

When you state that bell training is "more of a game to him" do you mean that he asks to be taken out often but mostly to go play in the yard? Is your puppy crate trained? Where is he kept most of the day? What products do you use to clean indoor messes? Beagles have a rep for not making the easiest dogs to potty train due to their powerful noses, so it's important to use the right products.

 

It is nice to hear that you have an older beagle which may work to your advantage. Often, older dogs can make great teachers in showing youngsters where to go potty. Since your puppy is doing great going potty outside right away, I would suggest taking advantage of that to train him to go potty on command. All you have to do is capture him in the act. You can find out how here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/potty-on-command/

[nicci24.nb]

Thanks for responding! We are using the clicker to teach him to ring the bell.(maybe a bad choice) He is in the crate if we are not home during the day. At night we found better success with him sleeping in bed with us. I use nature’s miracle to clean and have all hardwood and vinyl in the house. I do know beagles can be stubborn but am just wondering if it’s too soon to expect too much from his bladder and control. He has learned to sit, lay down and shake since we started following your clicker training 😊 The potty training is starting to seem impossible.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Using a clicker to train to ring the bell is not a bad choice, it's just that your puppy may not have attained yet enough bladder control to be able to recognize the urge on time enough to go towards the door and think about ringing the bell.

 

Young puppies therefore may be playing in the living room one second and the next thing they know, "nature calls". This means that, the moment puppies realize the need to go, they're often already peeing on the spot. Young puppies are therefore prone to accidents because they don't have enough control. As it happens with children, full control of the bladder and bowels takes some time to develop and each develop at their own pace.

 

When do puppies roughly achieve full control? This tends to vary from one puppy to another based on a variety of factors (breed, size, whether the breeder introduced the puppies to a certain material for elimination, whether a crate or other den-like enclosure is being used, schedule, cleaning products etc.). In general, we expect puppies to attain some level of control when they're about 3-4 months old. By this time, your puppy should show the ability to make an effort to not soil in the house. Full control may only come once the puppy is 5-6 months old, but in some breeds, it may only be attained once the puppy is 8-12 months.

 

Now, your puppy is technically in the right age range to try to make an effort to not soil in the house, but there may be sometimes factors that may interfere with progress. For instance, the door may be too far. Where is your puppy kept during the day, when you are home to supervise? To a small puppy, being in the average living room is like being in a large park so imagine how it must feel for puppies who have the full run of the house! Expecting a young puppy to stop what he's doing to find his way towards a far door in a very large home to communicate a need to potty may be quite a long stretch.

 

Even if the puppy makes an effort towards the door, by the time he gets there and you acknowledge him, he will likely have already soiled. Not to mention the fact that, it may take some time for young puppies to make the association with the door and going potty. Many times, rather than associating the door with going potty, puppies associate the door with exploring and playing in the great outdoors.

 

For sake of comparison, imagine a child facing the gates to Walt Disney World. The child has been to Disney World many times, but what do you think will stick in his mind the most? The fun rides, the cotton candy, meeting his favorite cartoon characters, the music! He likely will therefore care less about using the rest room there, even if at some point he had to go potty! So while it's a good idea to train a puppy to go towards the door and ring a bell, in order for it to work in the way we expect it to work (to communicate a need to potty) we would need to meet 2 important criteria: firstly, the puppy must be able to hold it until getting to the door and thinking about ringing the bell, and secondly, there must be a strong association between the door and going potty (and not mainly going out to have fun in the yard!).

 

So during the day, while inside the home, it would help to do some troubleshooting and finding out why these accidents are happening.

Things to evaluate are:

 

-Frequency: how often is the puppy taken out? There are peak times when puppies are more likely to need to go out and those times are after eating or drinking, after waking up from a nap and after playing. Young puppies may need to be taken out every half hour to an hour.

-Location: is the puppy kept in an area that is close enough to the door? You may need to create a barrier so that your puppy is kept in an area nearby the door. Wandering in a too large area may impair the potty training process.

-Ease of access: can you open the door quickly enough? If safe to do so, keep the door unlocked and the storm door open so that you don't have to go through turning a key or opening a second door that will make you waste precious minutes.

-Recognizing the signs: Watch your puppy for the following signs: abrupt changes in activity, behavior, or play, sniffing, circling, whining, returning to a previously soiled area in the house. These signs mean you will have to rush towards the door and open it enticing your puppy to follow you. By the time you see these signs though, it may be too late!

-Unobstructed views: do you have a clear view of your puppy at all times? Potty training requires always actively supervising the puppy so to guide him towards the door if you notice any signs. If there is furniture blocking your view, you may miss him going potty only to find messes later. By the way, an ultraviolet black light can come handy as it helps to spot urine in a dark room so that no spots are missed being cleaned up. Those powerful beagle noses know though!

-History of punishment: is the puppy corrected when having an accident? Puppies who are punished for going potty in the home (such as saying "bad dog!" putting their noses in their messes, using a rolled newspaper) are likely to hide behind furniture because they are afraid to potty in front of their owners. Now, beagles can be rather "soft" dogs, so even if not punished, making some commotion ( like "oh, no! yikes! noooo!) when they have an accident may cause them to startle and decide to hide to potty from now on. When the puppy has an accident, it is therefore best to just hold any emotional remarks and just clean up taking steps to prevent the accident next time.

-Schedule: are you keeping a schedule? If not, this may be helpful. Establish predetermined times when you will take the puppy out (every hour-hour and a half may be needed initially). Adhering to a schedule is extra helpful as it helps the puppy's body adjust to going potty at certain times. If your puppy ever has an accident, mark it down and consider preventing it by taking your puppy out to potty about 15 minutes earlier the next day. It helps to mark down accidents also so that you can measure how things are going. Are the accidents in the home increasing over the days? Decreasing? or staying about the same?

-Crating: do you crate your puppy when you cannot actively supervise? Let's face it: it is close to impossible to always monitor the puppy. So after your puppy has gone potty outside and a nap is needed (puppies need frequent naps) take a break and keep him in the crate (if you have worked on creating positive associations with it and your puppy enjoys time in there). The crate in this case helps instill the instinct to "hold it." This instinct is based on the fact that puppies in general are naturally inclined to not want to soil where they sleep. In order to work well for this purpose, the crate should be of the correct size, that is, not too big that the puppy can sleep in it and potty in the opposite side and not that snug that it is difficult for the puppy to stand up, walk around and stretch his legs. Puppies who are crate trained, as they develop, learn more and more to control their urge to potty, going potty only once they are let out. Make sure to open the crate and immediately go out the door with your pup to encourage outside elimination. Note: All puppies will soil in the crate if they are kept there for too long. Also, puppies coming from puppy mills and often sold in pet stores are particularly challenging because of their history of soiling in their cages.

-Reinforcement: are you rewarding your puppy for eliminating outside? We want to leave a strong, pleasant impression with eliminating outside. Make sure to stick nearby. Firstly because you want to make sure your puppy goes potty, and secondly, you also want to make the act of going potty very rewarding. Timing is important: right when your puppy is about done going potty, make sure to mark it with a happy "yes!" and then give your puppy a high-value treat. Proximity is important here to get the timing right. Ideally, you should have your puppy on the leash so that you can mark the behavior with "yes" and reward with a treat right away. Once your puppy has gone potty, you can then unleash him and allow him some outdoor time to explore.

-Once again, aim to train to go potty on command if you can!

 

One last thing to consider is whether your puppy is peeing from excitement or submissive urination. This is an important differential. In that case, you'll notice the peeing occurring in specific circumstances. You can read more about this form of peeing here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/submissive-urination/

 

 

I hope this helps! Your beagle is surely smart for learning to sit, lie down and shake so quickly! It just takes some time for those tiny bladders to develop sufficient control, but with some troubleshooting, we can often expedite things a bit.

Let me know if you have more questions or need some clarifications,

Happy Training!

Adrienne

Edited January 20, 2020 by Adrienne Farricelli