House training a puppy is often one of the things that frazzle puppy parent the most. Figuring out your puppy’s potty habits, ensuring your puppy gets out frequently, and learning your puppy’s potty habits can feel exhausting. Not to mention, who really wants to clean up pee and poop?

What would cause a house trained puppy to have accidents?

The first thing you want to determine is if your puppy is peeing more frequently. If your puppy is urinating more often than usual, they may have a UTI or other underlying medical condition. You can’t house train your puppy out of a medical condition. See your vet for frequent urination to rule out any medical problems.

Ok, great, you don’t have any underlying medical issues that need to be taken care of. So now what?

I often have people contacting me when their puppies are 5, 6, or even 7 months old with concerns of regression in house training.

The number one reason I see for puppies who have previously been house trained but are suddenly having accidents again is a management and scheduling issue.

Here is what is typically happening…

Puppy parents try to be diligent and limit accidents when they bring home their puppy. They have taken their puppy out often, followed their puppy around so they can usher them outside if they need to go, kept a watchful eye for subtle signs their puppy needs to potty and they now finally have a house trained puppy. Phew! What a relief.

This is when puppy parents often start to sit back and relax a little more.

People are no longer keeping as watchful of an eye, they have started to give more house privileges and aren’t using gates as much and feel a sense of relief for not needing to take their puppy out as frequent.

These are all ingredients for a recipe of disaster.

Puppy parents are typically extending the time between potty breaks in larger increments than their puppy is ready for. Couple that with no longer feeling the need to be as watchful and relaxing management, it’s often thought a puppy is regressing. These puppies aren’t regressing. Simply, too much is being asked of them.

What should I do if my puppy is regressing with their house training?

• Remember, this isn’t a puppy problem. This is a management problem.
• Evaluate your management plan
• Use gates so your puppy can stay within your eyesight
• Revisit your potty break times and shorten the time between each time you take your puppy out
• Start a new log to determine your growing puppy’s potty habits to determine when they need to eliminate after eating and how frequent they actually need to go out and urinate

How do I discipline my puppy for having house training accidents?

The answer is… you don’t.

While it can be frustrating to have to clean up “accidents”, it isn’t our puppy’s fault. Any accident my puppies have ever had lay solely on me. I missed their sign telling me they needed to go. A gate was left open while doing things around the house and I wasn’t watching my puppy. I’ve lost track of time and didn’t offer them an opportunity to go out. These are my mistakes.

Punishing puppies for potty accidents can set your house training back. You might find your puppy is sneaking off to potty in the house.

Disciplining a puppy for potty accidents can cause a fracture in your bond. Your puppy can start to look at you as scary.

Punishing your puppy for potty accidents can bleed over into your other training. If your puppy is starting to view you as scary, they can feel you are unpredictable- sometimes you are fun and sometimes you are scary. Your puppy may start to feel reluctant to play training games with you because they don’t know if they are going to be punished.

A puppy doesn’t know pottying in the house was wrong. They had a need to relive themselves and had no other place to go other than inside.

Read our house training blog for more help.

How long does it take to house train a puppy?

The answerer is “it depends”.

It’s been my experience to see puppies house trained by 4-5 months old. Much of this depends on the management you have in place. The better the management and the more a puppy is successful going potty outside, the faster they will be house trained. The less diligent we are in our management strategies, the more a puppy will potty in the house making it harder for them to understand where the appropriate place to eliminate is.

Furthermore, can take 9 months (or maybe longer) depending on the size of your puppy and the management strategies that are in place. Whether can also hinder your house training plan. If you brought your puppy home during a harsh winter or an unusually rainy spring or summer, this can throw a curveball into your house training despite your best efforts. A lot of puppies can find it uncomfortable or hard to potty in the cold, in the snow, and when rain is falling on them (can we really blame them??). It’s much more comfortable to potty in the house, away from these weather conditions.

Puppyhood more than you bargained for? Yes, I could use help navigating puppyhood.

Sometimes people refer to them as pee pads others refer to them as wee wee pads. They are one in the same. For the purpose of this blog, we will refer to them as pee pads.

In my experience, puppy clients who have tried pee pads usually come to me frustrated about their puppy’s potty training progress. This doesn’t come to a surprise at all. Let’s take a ‘wee’ moment to explore the pitfalls of pee pads.

Most people gravitate towards pee pads because they think the pee pads are going to make things easier for them.

Top reasons why people use pee pads for house training:

• If their puppy is going to have an accident, at least they can go on the pee pad- easier clean up
• It’s easier for them to have their puppy use the pee pad early in the morning or late at night
• It’s convenient during bad weather days
• They are used when a puppy parent is going to be gone for an extended time and now their puppy will have to potty while they are gone

These reasons make it easier for us (who doesn’t want to make things easier??), but they make it harder for your puppy.

Top reasons why puppies shouldn’t use pee pads:

• It’s confusing for your puppy- sometimes they are allowed to potty inside
• Puppies don’t instinctively know they should only relieve themselves in certain places
• Your puppy may use other surfaces such as door mats, bathmats, area rugs, hallway runners, and even your bed, as pee pads
• Given the option to potty inside vs. outside, your puppy may choose the comfort of indoors to potty
• Pee pads often delay your puppy being reliable with house training and “accidents” continue
• It can be hard to wean puppies from pee pads to going potty on outdoor surfaces

House training takes time. There are no short cuts. If you are patient and consistent with potty training you will be on the path to a reliably, house trained puppy with less headaches.

Need more help with house training?

Reasons why pee pads might be the better choice for you

Living in an apartment or somewhere without easy access to a backyard can make house training harder. The use of potty pads can make life much easier for both you and your pup.

There is also the occasion where a puppy ends up with a urinary tract infection. You can kiss any house training goodbye while your puppy isn’t feeling well. Putting pee pads down to catch sudden and frequent urination can help keep your sanity until the meds kick in.

A Final Thought on Pee Pads

Whether or not to use pee pads as part of your house training plan is a personal decision that every puppy parent must make based on their own circumstances. There are pros and cons to both approaches. If you decide to use pee pads, be advised you will need to train your puppy how to go to the pee pad. It’s no different than teaching your puppy to potty outside. Puppies need to learn which spot to go for potty whether it is inside on a pee pad, in a certain area of the house, our outside on the grass, in certain area of the yard.

I could use guidance with puppy raising. Get the help I need.