# How to do both Indoor and Outdoor potty training?



## autumnleung

Hi everyone, 
I want to train my 8 week old puppy to eliminate outside when I am home to take him out, and she needs to do it indoor when she is home by herself. Is there any way I can do that?
Thank you very much


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## Howard

How long do you leave her? I trained my pup to toilet outside, and when I go out I keep him in one room and then he waits until I get home to go outside. If i gave him the run of the house then he would have accidents. I think its similar to crate training but instead of a crate you're using a certain room in the house.


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## Pacheco

I have always trained my dogs to go outside, I even had a 5lb morkie and she only went outside, but we were in a house and it is much easier. Things got a bit rough 2 yrs ago so we are in an apartment and we will have to go down 2 flights of stairs to do outdoor training. It is freezing here in Southwestern Ontario, I rather not go out, but I keep reading that they will get confused if you pee pad train them and then later on when weather gets nicer to train them outdoors. I also heard and read that pee pad training is ok, but if they see laundry on the floor, a tshirt anything like that they will pee on it especially if it is white....so all of you that have pee pad trained and outdoor trained can you clarify this for me? Can I train her onto pee pads for the remainder of the winter and then go outside when weather gets better? will she pee on a towel or tshirt that one of us forgot on the floor??

Thanks


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## My babies

I have 2 toy poodles and both are pad trained and outdoor trained. I started with just the indoor pad and once they got that concept then we started going outdoors for potty breaks. It took my boy 2 days to be fully potty trained on the pad but he didnt eliminate outdoors for a few months. He would hold it in till we went home and he would use his pad. Now we have no problems with him going inside or out. Although he would only pee outside. He refuses to poop outdoors. My girl had the run of the house from day 1 so her indoor potty training took longer. It was about 1 month before she was accident free. Then we went outdoors. Now we use both indoor pads when it's too cold and for nights, outdoors for during the day.


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## autumnleung

My babies said:


> I have 2 toy poodles and both are pad trained and outdoor trained. I started with just the indoor pad and once they got that concept then we started going outdoors for potty breaks. It took my boy 2 days to be fully potty trained on the pad but he didnt eliminate outdoors for a few months. He would hold it in till we went home and he would use his pad. Now we have no problems with him going inside or out. Although he would only pee outside. He refuses to poop outdoors. My girl had the run of the house from day 1 so her indoor potty training took longer. It was about 1 month before she was accident free. Then we went outdoors. Now we use both indoor pads when it's too cold and for nights, outdoors for during the day.


It only took you two days to indoor potty train your dog? It has been a week and my puppy still makes big messes all over my house. Can you please tell me how did you train your dog? And I have the same problem training my girl to go outdoor too, she never wants to go outside, how could you make your dog go outside? I can't train my girl to go either indoor or outdoor, I am going crazy with her..please help me..thank you very much


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## lily cd re

Check out the two threads that I have links to below. There are extensive discussions about housebreaking training there. If you pup is going all over in your home you are probably not keeping a close enough eye on her. Until you are sure she is 100% reliable she hasn't earned the privilege of freedom without supervision.

Please stop the bells!!!!! - Poodle Forum - Standard Poodle, Toy Poodle, Miniature Poodle Forum ALL Poodle owners too!

HELP.....Housebreaking AGAIN after spaying our Spoo! - Poodle Forum - Standard Poodle, Toy Poodle, Miniature Poodle Forum ALL Poodle owners too!


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## mamato3

*Inside and out.*

My standard poodle puppy is 8 weeks old and she potties on pads when it is icy outside and outside when possible. This is working well and I am sure that once winter is over she will be strictly outside to potty. My miniature was trained the same way and he NEVER goes potty inside.


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## autumnleung

mamato3 said:


> My standard poodle puppy is 8 weeks old and she potties on pads when it is icy outside and outside when possible. This is working well and I am sure that once winter is over she will be strictly outside to potty. My miniature was trained the same way and he NEVER goes potty inside.


How long did it take you to train them? did you do both at the same time or inside first then outside?


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## autumnleung

lily cd re said:


> Check out the two threads that I have links to below. There are extensive discussions about housebreaking training there. If you pup is going all over in your home you are probably not keeping a close enough eye on her. Until you are sure she is 100% reliable she hasn't earned the privilege of freedom without supervision.
> 
> Please stop the bells!!!!! - Poodle Forum - Standard Poodle, Toy Poodle, Miniature Poodle Forum ALL Poodle owners too!
> 
> HELP.....Housebreaking AGAIN after spaying our Spoo! - Poodle Forum - Standard Poodle, Toy Poodle, Miniature Poodle Forum ALL Poodle owners too!


I am with her all the time, and she never leaves my side. But when I took her outside she just sit there and didn't know what to do, and then she started eating the grass instead of doing her business, and when I gave up and took her inside she started eliminating and it's out of my control


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## My babies

autumnleung said:


> It only took you two days to indoor potty train your dog? It has been a week and my puppy still makes big messes all over my house. Can you please tell me how did you train your dog? And I have the same problem training my girl to go outdoor too, she never wants to go outside, how could you make your dog go outside? I can't train my girl to go either indoor or outdoor, I am going crazy with her..please help me..thank you very much


I took 2 weeks off work to be home with him. I took him over to his pad every 2 hours. If he doesn't go then I take him every 30 minutes until he does his business. When he does I jumped up and down, praised, kissed, and gave him treats. Then repeat in 2 hours. Eventually I added the command "go potty". Now he goes on command even if its just a small squirt. He was in a playpen for nights for about 2 weeks then he learned to climb out. Lol

He didnt pee outside for months. He'll hold in till he got home. Now he pees outside but still never pooped outside. 

Miu Miu was never in a playpen. She slept in bed with us from day 1. So it took her longer to potty train. It took a month. She often got lost in the house and forgot where her pad was


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## mamato3

I get my puppy up in the night to potty on the pads. She is in a little bathroom and she immediately understood to go on the pad. Now she will use the pad if she has an emergency during the day and I don't realize she wants out. It didn't take more than twice in the bathroom at night for her to connect.


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## lily cd re

You need to put potty on command. This is way too important for the quality of your life with her.

Don't leave her out of her crate too much. If you aren't using a crate to housebreak you should be. You are teaching her (inadvertently) that it is ok to go inside. Most young puppies are really likely to go right after they eat and right after they wake up. When you take her out of the crate after a nap or first thing in the morning, carry her outside and put her on the ground (use a leash). Make her walk and start telling her nicely whatever word(s) you want to use as the command. Repeat it in a firm but nice tone until she starts to go, then add some happiness to your voice to help her associate the word(s) with the action. When she finishes be really excited and have a potty party. Yeah you did such good your command word(s).


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## McStargazer2

lily cd re said:


> You need to put potty on command. This is way too important for the quality of your life with her.
> 
> Most young puppies are really likely to go right after they eat and right after they wake up. When you take her out of the crate after a nap or first thing in the morning, carry her outside and put her on the ground (use a leash). Make her walk and start telling her nicely whatever word(s) you want to use as the command. Repeat it in a firm but nice tone until she starts to go, then add some happiness to your voice to help her associate the word(s) with the action. When she finishes be really excited and have a potty party. Yeah you did such good your command word(s).


:adore:

This is exactly what I was trained to do with new pets! It helped since there were 8 kids around...but when there was an accident inside all of us were called to do clean up not just one!! 


I have to laugh about the "potty party" -- isn't this what everyone does for potty training for children!


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## lily cd re

McStargazer2 said:


> :adore:
> 
> I have to laugh about the "potty party" -- isn't this what everyone does for potty training for children!


That's exactly the idea, of course. You can't really train it the way you train sit and down. You have to help them learn the association of the word to the act.


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## Grandma's Boys

I have been having real good luck with my puppy. She will urinate almost immediately after I take her out. She will use her puppy pad to urinate on while I'm at work, but holds her BM until I get her home and take her out. The key is to contain them to a small area when you are not there to supervise, like a small bathroom or even a shower stall, like I have been using. There is room for her open crate, food and water bowls, toys and a puppy pad. She has used that pad when ever she has not been able to get outside. Other than that when I'm home it stays dry. I supervise play with her on the area rug in the living room and my bed only. She is never left free in the house until I know she is trained. When she is old enough to hold her urine and not use the puppy pad for over 8 hours, I will consider her trained and then she will have free roam of the house.


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## Howard

If you want to teach her a command to make her go to the toilet, wait until she has relieved herself to say the command. If you say the command before she goes to the toilet she wont understand you and wont directly link the command to the action as easily. Try to only say the command once as well, so that she learns she has to toilet when you say the command, and that you shouldn't have to say it more than once for her to do as you ask


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## lily cd re

I actually think for this it is fine to repeat your word as long as you know you are using it at a time you know the puppy really should have to go. You say it very nicely with a happy tone that increases as they squat and start to go. Keep saying while they are peeing/pooing. Then right as they finish you say hooray, good________ (fill in your word). This helps make the association between the word and the act very concrete. I think for this if you say the word after there won't be a strong learned association, since a puppy will have moved on to wondering what comes next. For formal obedience an instant response to one order is essential. That kind of instant 100% reliable response is also essential for your life skills/life saving orders like sit or down for a loose dog. I don't think (and Ian Dunbar would say the same thing) that you have to be strict about getting a response to a single order when you are teaching a puppy something new.


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## Howard

Yes I agree you shouldn't wait till the puppy has moved on to say the command, but also saying it before the puppy has started to relieve will also lack effect because they'll be interested in other things. I'm not sure who Ian Dunbar is, but at our training centre we always just like to use commands once so the effect of the command is not lost, the same with name calling, some of the owners that come in to training say their dogs names so many times that the dog just starts ignoring it haha, I suppose it's just best to do whatever suits you and your dog


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## Grandma's Boys

When I see Margot squat I will say potty and as soon as she's done I say good potty and pet her. She knows what's coming because when she's done, she will look up at me and wag her tail. She knows she's going to get a pat and praise.


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## lily cd re

Howard said:


> Yes I agree you shouldn't wait till the puppy has moved on to say the command, but also saying it before the puppy has started to relieve will also lack effect because they'll be interested in other things. I'm not sure who Ian Dunbar is, but at our training centre we always just like to use commands once so the effect of the command is not lost, the same with name calling, some of the owners that come in to training say their dogs names so many times that the dog just starts ignoring it haha, I suppose it's just best to do whatever suits you and your dog


There is a big difference between training a puppy and an adult dog as I noted above. Also I never suggested to start saying the word randomly, but only when you are sure the puppy really will have to go fairly quickly. Ian Dunbar is the founder of the APDT, a vet who also has a Ph.D. in psychology earned studying sexual behavior in dogs. He is also a Brit by upbringing and a Californian by later life. You can see his blog and other information about him at Dog Star Daily.


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