How long did it take for you to potty train your puppy?

Every puppy I've ever raised, even though they get it quickly, has had potty training setbacks, which I think maybe directly related to the notion that once the puppy "gets it", I've gotten sloppy and let my guard down. You get your puppy, spend 2 weeks or so working diligently at your potty schedule, the puppy starts understanding "You need to got out?" and then you start to think "great! she gets it!". That's when you start slacking and/or trying to stretch out the periods between potties so soon, and uh oh! there's a puddle.

In Albi's case, she did well right at the beginning with crate training and pee pads in her X pen as the breeder had gotten the litter accustomed to that immediately after weaning. But after the first few weeks at home, she started confusing peeing on the pad with it's okay to pee anywhere in the house, and I had to nix the pee pads entirely. After that she did well on a very regular "out" schedule, although there were still occasional accidents both at my apartment, and at my parents' there is a doggy door, all the way up to seven months old. She had to learn that at home she has to ask to go out, and at my mom's she has to take herself out!

So don't get lazy when things seem to be going great right off the bat. No matter what method you use, they're still babies, and it does take quite awhile for them to pin down bladder control, especially during the day when they're active. Just stick to a very regular schedule for a couple of months before you start to expect them to hold it longer.

Leroy picked up bell training quickly at 12 weeks. For potty training, although a dog can pick it up quickly, it's the constant reinforcement that matters. I didn't confidently say Leroy was fully potty-trained until I went a whole MONTH with zero accidents. I always feared he might regress or "forget." Now at over a year old, when I take him to a new place, I watch for signs of marking... so you will be doing some kind of "potty training" for the life of the dog lol. Just different context. Of course as an adult, you aren't shuffling them outside every hour. Leroy is 15 mo. but before I crate him, after I let him out of the crate, before bed, and after waking up in the morning, I insist he potty outside. Other than that, I let my guard down and count on Leroy to alert me when he has to use the bathroom. I always show him where the door is to go outside any place we happen to be. Typically this is the first thing we do at any new place, so he knows where to go. A friend of ours has a dog that is around 2, and another one maybe 5 (both not poodles) and they STILL have accidents! I really don't get it. The 2 year old dog visited my house, after the dog left, I found a big poop near my dining room. Maybe I missed his signs to "go outside" - I'm used to Leroy because he gives very clear signals to eliminate.

Potty training def varies by breed and size. Maybe poodles have the upperhand cause they are smart and can problem solve. Leroy will not always ring the bell. He'll just stand in front of the door till someone opens it. If he knows there's no way for me to see him, he'll ring the bell really LOUD. He's woken
me up from a deep sleep upstairs with his potty bell. This morning he went downstairs and rang the bell really loud cause I was getting ready in the upstairs bathroom. When I didn't come down right away, he came back upstairs to get me. If there are no bells (like at someone else's house), he'll stand in front of the door or scratch it if no one pays attn to him. I can picture other breeds getting impatient with me if I were "unavailable" upstairs and they need to go. With another breed, I may just come downstairs to a puddle of pee or pile of poop cause the dog independently took care of business. Poodles want to please and they naturally seek you out. The friend's dog I mentioned before even have accidents in their own home!

I think Trev was pretty much housebroken by 4 months, 5 at the latest. He has had 2 or 3 accidents since then but they were my fault. Once I had him crated for a while before bed, then took him straight to bed without letting him outside. That was a big mistake...poor guy was sleeping on the floor, then suddenly stood up and just started peeing right where he stood...I don't think he could even control it. The whole time he just looked at me so apologetically, like "I'm really sorry, this just happened...". Of course, no reprimand for him, I just kicked myself and cleaned up the mess. I agree with tokipoke, poodles are one of the really smart breeds and they like to please. Even though Trev is just now learning to let me know when he needs to go out, (even at 3 am, yikes. I guess he drank too much water last night!) he has always just waited for a chance to go out. All that to say, house training is easy with poodles, or has been for me. My first mini hadn't been housebroken (just crate trained...he pretty much lived his life in a crate with potty breaks a few times a day..very sad.) and he was also not neutered, so he marked everything...I scolded him good the first time I caught him marking inside, and he didn't do it again...he always made it outside after that. Poor guy had some real issues though...unfortunately I had to give him back, as he bit several of the kids. Thankfully, one of my groomer friends has him now and he's very happy with her.