Puppy potty training - the advanced course

[UncleEJ]

I have a 14 week old puppy who has mastered potty-training 101, but I am kind of stumped about where to go from here.

 

He is crate trained and never goes potty in his crate. His crate is very much his "den" and I have been trying to extend his "den" to include more and more of the house. Currently, if he is not in his crate, than he is either tethered to me or to an ottoman in the living room. He doesn't have any potty accidents in the living room area he has access to, but if I let him off the leash, he will eventually go down a hallway and piddle. My house is quite big and I can't really gate off any areas.

 

How do I help to him to extend his "den" to include the whole house? All I can think to do is just follow his every move. Is he maybe just not ready for that yet? I know he is still young, and I very well maybe expecting more out of him than he is ready for. I could maybe get a longer leash to tether him with, but that will only help for so long.

[Ellie]

ITA. Keep him tethered as long as he still goes down the hall and piddles.

[matrips]

Our puppy is the same age, and is still tethered to us. If we're outside, she will go to her spot even on her own now, but if we are inside, I'm not sure she'd know how to let us know. We do use the same door for her every time, but am not ready to take chances. Also, I want to keep an eye on what's she interested in to chew etc, so we can redirect.

What if you take the puppy potty first, and then plan to have about an hour safe before he would need to go again? You could let him off leash for short periods of time during that hour, but still keep an eye on him. I only lets ours out of the crate indoors if she has just gone potty outside on her spot.

[Pawz4me]

At 14 weeks old it's much more likely that you're the one who is trained that he is. ;)

 

Puppies are just like human babies -- they have to reach a certain age before they have much at all in the way of bladder or bowel control.  The belief is that for most puppies that starts to occur around four months old.  So you're getting close.  But pushing it too far at this point will more likely set you back than gain you anything.  I'd be patient for a few more weeks.

[ktgrok]

Keep doing what you are doing. Also, take a treat outside with you and give the puppy lots of praise as soon as they start to pee and then throw a "puppy party" when they finish complete with pets and treats. You want them to be so rewarded for going outside that they start doing it on purpose to get the praise and a treat. Mind you, the treat has to be given outside, as soon as they are done going, not once you are back in the house. This will help them want to let you know they need to go outside :)

[UncleEJ]

Thank you everyone! I'll keep doing what I'm doing! He gets lots of praise and treats when he goes outside.

[KatieJ]

We hung a bell on the door we wanted our puppies to use to go outside. As we opened the door we rang the bell. They quickly learned to go ring the bell on their own an d let us know they had to go outside.

 

Keep doing what you are doing. I agree with others to only give him free roam for a short period of time after his outside trip.

At this point he should only be outside of his crate if someone has eyes on him Continuously.