Picking up 8 week old pup this weekend. Should I be letting out during the night/ how often?

Absolutely you should be letting them out often in the beginning. I'm not a professional, but this has worked with all of my dogs. We go outside at least every two hours during the day and as soon as they pee or poop you bring the enthusiasm and treats.

Also work up to a phrase like "go potty," or "bathroom." So they start to learn when it's time to pee and when it's ok to hangout and play outside.

At night I would stretch it to 4 hours, and keep them in their crate. Make sure in the beginning that the crate is small enough where they can't go pee in a corner and still have plenty of room to relax and sleep.

my pup learned best from watching me......neighbors were not to happy though.

jokes aside, i agree with tacorex

Yes, let it out. After the first week or two it should be able to hold it through the night. As soon as you hear the thing move in the morning you'd better get it outside quickly.

Biggest mistake we made with our most recent was not confining him to a room or a couple of rooms when out of the kennel during the day. We kennel him at night and at times during the day when he can't be at least halfway supervised. We let him outside to potty as soon as we let him out of the kennel. Puppies sleep a lot and he doesn't mind the kennel at all which is good. Like was mentioned above, we also praised him a lot for his successful potty missions.

Initially, we let him out about 11:00 or 11:30 at night and he was good until about 5:00 or 5:30 in the morning. Within a few weeks he was good until 6:30 or even later. One thing I learned early on is just because he went potty right before he ate, doesn't mean he doesn't have to go again right after he eats.

TacosaurusRex said:

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Absolutely you should be letting them out often in the beginning. I'm not a professional, but this has worked with all of my dogs. We go outside at least every two hours during the day and as soon as they pee or poop you bring the enthusiasm and treats.

Also work up to a phrase like "go potty," or "bathroom." So they start to learn when it's time to pee and when it's ok to hangout and play outside.

At night I would stretch it to 4 hours, and keep them in their crate. Make sure in the beginning that the crate is small enough where they can't go pee in a corner and still have plenty of room to relax and sleep.

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All of this. Hopefully you work from home because that makes it so much better for the potty training phase. I took mine out every 2hrs. The rule of thumb I was told is the bladder grows an hour with each month of age. Now both of mine tell me when they need to go out. They'll come and nudge me and then go to the door and wait for me to open it. If I don't come within a minute or so, they'll come bark at me

The big wire crates come with a divider. Use it so the pup can't pee in the far corner and sleep in the front, as mentioned. I don't know about the big plastic ones, but I am sure you could rig something up for one.

Roll up any rugs you have if the puppy will be in that room and keep them that way until the puppy is just about potty trained. Granted my chocolate lab stood on top of the rolled up rug and peed, but it saved a ton of clean up time on my end for both our lab puppies.

Beckdiesel03 said:

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Roll up any rugs you have if the puppy will be in that room and keep them that way until the puppy is just about potty trained. Granted my chocolate lab stood on top of the rolled up rug and peed, but it saved a ton of clean up time on my end for both our lab puppies.

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Good tip here. Butthead cost me a rug real quick.

We foster nursing moms and freshly weaned puppies all the time and it is amazing how well they system described by TRex works if you stick to it. We have used it with puppies younger than 5 weeks and older dogs that have never been housebroken. The key is consistency and getting them outside before they need to go. Dogs are so smart, it only takes a couple of days for them to understand what you're asking.

I would add try not to end the outdoor fun as soon as they do what you want. We have had pups that hold it because they know as soon as they go they just go back inside and fun is over. We try to play a bit after so they don't associate going with the end of play time. Sometimes you have to because you have things to do (and a two hour window to do it in).

If you don't have someone home during the day or to relieve them at night that is more tricky. We have used puppy pads. You can't crate them longer than they can hold it, because if they go in the crate and sit in it, it breaks the taboo and they do it again. You confine them to a space that can be cleaned (tile floor best). At first you cover the entire space they are confined to with puppy pads and then you gradually take away pads until they pee/poop just on the pads. We haven't had as great of luck with that system, sometimes it works, sometimes they just have fun tearing up the puppy pads and go on the floor. Go overboard at first, like two or three layers deep covering every inch. Fortunately we haven't had to use that system very often.

They key is diligence. Every time we have an accident it has been because we forgot and left them for longer than 2 hours. Then it takes extra work to get them back on track.

Lastly know that this doesn't last very long. It will feel like a long time when you're waking at 2 am, but especially with a Lab, they catch on quick.

Not helping unless you post pics of the new puppy soon!

I was always told to let them out every number of hours as they are old in months. If the pup is 2 months old, let them out every 2 hours. Extend an hour every month until they can make it through the night and/or day if you keep them inside.

Like others have said, keep the kennel space small enough so they can't live on one end and use the other end as a bathroom.

Here's Cooper

ought1ag said:

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my pup learned best from watching me......neighbors were not to happy though.

jokes aside, i agree with tacorex

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I am sure it was the pooping that was over the top.

Putting them outside often. very often, combined with high praise for going outside and scolding for going inside. Labs want to please their owners so much, that consistent application of this approach should get them potty trained quick. Mine only took a month.

He is three years old and still does not bark to go out. He will stand by the back door waiting. I would like to have done that part of the training differently.

We are having the same fun this weekend.

Been doing the roughly every 2 hrs. Hardest one is she also realizes in the middle of the night if she whines she gets to go out. Not sure what the best way to handle that is though.

When they first wake up - go outside
When they eat or drink water - go outside
When they finish playing hard - go outside
If they have an accident - go outside (if you catch them in the act)



Just be consistent and they'll figure it out.