Full sphincter control can take a while, so you might be unable to guarantee a longer hold until about 6 months. My guy was 'trained' at 3 months, but with the occasional accident until about 6 months.
There was a notable increase in pee size at about 4 months though. So. Much. Liquid.
Seems like the consensus is 6 months for full control. That is helpful to know a general timeline! We are very vigilant with her and doing our best so hopefully that works for us too! Thanks for your response!
We have a 10 week old, had him for a little over 2 weeks and we're past morning of day 4 without any accidents. Keep going she'll quickly get it. I still need all eyes on my landshark though.
House training was a breeze with our girl - I was really surprised. She got it by 3 months old and hasn’t had an accident since. She barks at us to go potty or looks at her harness /leash. I also WFH and stayed super ontop of it. For the early days, accidents inside I just didn’t make any sort of reaction or deal out of. Simply cleaned with enzyme spray and went outside with pup. When she pottied outside, it was a party with pets and treats. I think that helped a lot.
Ok perfect that’s exactly what I’m doing too. We have only had her for 10 days so I know it’s still so new but with 5 kids too I’m like “how can we hurry this up😅”. Thank you!!
That’s perfect! I deleted my other comment because I was mixing it up with another post lol. Yes if you’re consistent, she will get it right away. I’m sure it’s extra hard with 5 kids
Mine got it, and only had the rare accident starting at around 6 months. I worked from home so was able to stay pretty on top of it. He ended up having a UTI and once that cleared up it got so much easier.
So funny because my girl is getting treated for a uti right now. Her urine smelled horrible and I took her in thinking she had one, sure enough she does. She’s definitely done better since that has been treated. Thanks for your response! Seems like 6 months is the consensus on when they really get it and have control.
Typically around 6 months of age is when you’ll eye the most progress. Don’t get discouraged. It takes time.
My berners had minimal accidents when they were very young because I kept tabs on them everywhere. I also taught them to ring bell to go out. Crate training helped a lot and by 6 months of age, they got more unsupervised outings in the house (with puppy proofing included). By 9 months, they had full free roam.
Every dog is different. I also train dogs professionally so it comes easy to me to train the behaviors. :)
Thank you so much! This is really helpful. I of course know she is a puppy and accidents will happen, but wanted to get a general idea when things start to get better so this response has helped a lot. We just hired a trainer too because I want to invest in this dog and truly enjoy her for all she can bring to our family! Thanks again
Crate training with the divider helped a lot. He was pretty good at about 4 - 5 months. Just be sure that in the mornings when you let her out, you bring her back inside after she goes so that she knows it’s not play time and that it’s potty (and not party - haha) time. He only had two major poop accidents but they’re really smart and with patience and consistency they’ll learn quickly. Don’t forget to adjust the divider in the crate periodically because they grow so quickly.
Side note: after he was trained, we left the crate door open all the time and that became one of his little hangout spots. Hang in there!
Yes we are crate training and have the divider in! Good tip to keep an eye on her growth and adjust the divider. She’s already grown since we got her less than 2 weeks ago! Love the tip of taking her out and making her know it’s business time, not party time. Thanks!
Both of mine trained very quickly but I still had to pay super close attention to them. My boy we trained to a bell on the back door and my girl is just loud as hell and comes and barks in my face when she needs something. But a puppy requires constant supervision regardless of house training as they can’t be allowed to get into shoes or chew on furniture and the like. If they can’t be supervised closely they should be put in an exercise pen or crate where they can’t get into trouble.
My girl got it super quickly. Within 2-3 weeks of bringing her home (so before she turned 3 months). We had bells on the front and back door and took her out every 30 minutes. It helps that I only work part-time so I was able to take her out often (and we got her over Christmas break so we could give her lots of attention). We got rid of the bells because she would use them to go outside to play, but now we just let her out several times a day (she’s seven months) and she’s great at just going when she needs to.
What's your current approach? In my experience a lot of people just watch the dog and hope to catch them before they go.
Start writing down everytime your pup pees and poops (even accidents) eventually you will realize they are on a schedule. Our most recent puppy took about 3 weeks to train completely and only 1 to go to one accident every other day. She was 1:20 pee 3:00 poop. We would just take her out a little before each time and be a little more conscious of her right after she ate.
Works like a charm and I've ben potty training dogs with this method my whole life. Worth noting the only time you punish them is if you catch them in the act, some quick, sharp, words are usually more than enough. I try not to hit my dogs.
Good tip to write down when they go! I’ll start doing that. Right now we are taking her out when she wakes in the morning. Then she will come in and eat in her crate. 20-30 min later we take her out again and she usually poops. Then she comes in to play or we stay outside with her to play. If she is awake we take her out every hour, but if she is asleep, we take her out when she wakes or starts moving around. She is only having 1-2 accidents a day and we have had her for about 10 days. So she is still new to us and was previously roaming on a farm so she has some learning to do. I know she will get there and we are being as vigilant as possible. Just hoping to know a general timeline and any extra tips! I grew up with labs, but never trained one myself so this part is new to me. Thank you!!!
Sounds like you’re well on your way and she’ll probably have it figured out soon. A good rule of thumb is to only expect them to be able to hold it for their age in months plus one, so at 4 months old, don’t expect her to be able to hold it past 5 hrs, even if she’s sleeping. My BMD had a medical issue that meant he wasn’t fully potty trained without accidents till he was about 6 or 7 months old, but once the medical issue cleared up, he got it really quick.
\~6 months old until consistently no accidents for us, though he did have a couple after that in new situations - last one was peeing on the Christmas tree at \~15 months old, lol. It also gets better with time before full control.
Another thing that helped was to stop watching for signs that he's going to pee, and just always take him outside after every meal, nap and water break.
Full sphincter control can take a while, so you might be unable to guarantee a longer hold until about 6 months. My guy was 'trained' at 3 months, but with the occasional accident until about 6 months. There was a notable increase in pee size at about 4 months though. So. Much. Liquid.
Seems like the consensus is 6 months for full control. That is helpful to know a general timeline! We are very vigilant with her and doing our best so hopefully that works for us too! Thanks for your response!
We have a 10 week old, had him for a little over 2 weeks and we're past morning of day 4 without any accidents. Keep going she'll quickly get it. I still need all eyes on my landshark though.
House training was a breeze with our girl - I was really surprised. She got it by 3 months old and hasn’t had an accident since. She barks at us to go potty or looks at her harness /leash. I also WFH and stayed super ontop of it. For the early days, accidents inside I just didn’t make any sort of reaction or deal out of. Simply cleaned with enzyme spray and went outside with pup. When she pottied outside, it was a party with pets and treats. I think that helped a lot.
Ok perfect that’s exactly what I’m doing too. We have only had her for 10 days so I know it’s still so new but with 5 kids too I’m like “how can we hurry this up😅”. Thank you!!
That’s perfect! I deleted my other comment because I was mixing it up with another post lol. Yes if you’re consistent, she will get it right away. I’m sure it’s extra hard with 5 kids
Sennenhunds are slow to house train, put your patience cap on!
Mine got it, and only had the rare accident starting at around 6 months. I worked from home so was able to stay pretty on top of it. He ended up having a UTI and once that cleared up it got so much easier.
So funny because my girl is getting treated for a uti right now. Her urine smelled horrible and I took her in thinking she had one, sure enough she does. She’s definitely done better since that has been treated. Thanks for your response! Seems like 6 months is the consensus on when they really get it and have control.
Typically around 6 months of age is when you’ll eye the most progress. Don’t get discouraged. It takes time. My berners had minimal accidents when they were very young because I kept tabs on them everywhere. I also taught them to ring bell to go out. Crate training helped a lot and by 6 months of age, they got more unsupervised outings in the house (with puppy proofing included). By 9 months, they had full free roam. Every dog is different. I also train dogs professionally so it comes easy to me to train the behaviors. :)
Thank you so much! This is really helpful. I of course know she is a puppy and accidents will happen, but wanted to get a general idea when things start to get better so this response has helped a lot. We just hired a trainer too because I want to invest in this dog and truly enjoy her for all she can bring to our family! Thanks again
Crate training with the divider helped a lot. He was pretty good at about 4 - 5 months. Just be sure that in the mornings when you let her out, you bring her back inside after she goes so that she knows it’s not play time and that it’s potty (and not party - haha) time. He only had two major poop accidents but they’re really smart and with patience and consistency they’ll learn quickly. Don’t forget to adjust the divider in the crate periodically because they grow so quickly. Side note: after he was trained, we left the crate door open all the time and that became one of his little hangout spots. Hang in there!
Yes we are crate training and have the divider in! Good tip to keep an eye on her growth and adjust the divider. She’s already grown since we got her less than 2 weeks ago! Love the tip of taking her out and making her know it’s business time, not party time. Thanks!
Both of mine trained very quickly but I still had to pay super close attention to them. My boy we trained to a bell on the back door and my girl is just loud as hell and comes and barks in my face when she needs something. But a puppy requires constant supervision regardless of house training as they can’t be allowed to get into shoes or chew on furniture and the like. If they can’t be supervised closely they should be put in an exercise pen or crate where they can’t get into trouble.
My girl got it super quickly. Within 2-3 weeks of bringing her home (so before she turned 3 months). We had bells on the front and back door and took her out every 30 minutes. It helps that I only work part-time so I was able to take her out often (and we got her over Christmas break so we could give her lots of attention). We got rid of the bells because she would use them to go outside to play, but now we just let her out several times a day (she’s seven months) and she’s great at just going when she needs to.
What's your current approach? In my experience a lot of people just watch the dog and hope to catch them before they go. Start writing down everytime your pup pees and poops (even accidents) eventually you will realize they are on a schedule. Our most recent puppy took about 3 weeks to train completely and only 1 to go to one accident every other day. She was 1:20 pee 3:00 poop. We would just take her out a little before each time and be a little more conscious of her right after she ate. Works like a charm and I've ben potty training dogs with this method my whole life. Worth noting the only time you punish them is if you catch them in the act, some quick, sharp, words are usually more than enough. I try not to hit my dogs.
Good tip to write down when they go! I’ll start doing that. Right now we are taking her out when she wakes in the morning. Then she will come in and eat in her crate. 20-30 min later we take her out again and she usually poops. Then she comes in to play or we stay outside with her to play. If she is awake we take her out every hour, but if she is asleep, we take her out when she wakes or starts moving around. She is only having 1-2 accidents a day and we have had her for about 10 days. So she is still new to us and was previously roaming on a farm so she has some learning to do. I know she will get there and we are being as vigilant as possible. Just hoping to know a general timeline and any extra tips! I grew up with labs, but never trained one myself so this part is new to me. Thank you!!!
They always figure it out! Your diligence will pay off. They won’t be puppies forever so enjoy 😊
Sounds like you’re well on your way and she’ll probably have it figured out soon. A good rule of thumb is to only expect them to be able to hold it for their age in months plus one, so at 4 months old, don’t expect her to be able to hold it past 5 hrs, even if she’s sleeping. My BMD had a medical issue that meant he wasn’t fully potty trained without accidents till he was about 6 or 7 months old, but once the medical issue cleared up, he got it really quick.
Thank you so much! Yes, I think now it’s just LOTS of consistency. I know she will get there, just have to be real vigilant! Which I will do🙏🏽
\~6 months old until consistently no accidents for us, though he did have a couple after that in new situations - last one was peeing on the Christmas tree at \~15 months old, lol. It also gets better with time before full control. Another thing that helped was to stop watching for signs that he's going to pee, and just always take him outside after every meal, nap and water break.