Potty Training a Pug

[Pumper]

What is the quickest and most effective way to potty train a Pug? Will a 12 week-old Pug be able to hold all night?

[Tinker's mom]

You need to set a schedule and stick to it. Every 3-4 hours during the day, especially after they wake up or eat and 4-5 hours at night. At 12 weeks he is still too little to go all night. Praise and treat lavishly when they do what you want, clean up and ignore when they have an accident. If he is drinking alot you may need to go out more often during the day.Be consistent so they get to know the schedule.

[Hellas]

My first advice is, don't focus too much on it being quick and effective. Puppies are kids, and like kids, they don't have full control of their bodily functions. Most puppies will go on having accidents until they're 6 months at least. Not every day, but once in a while. It's normal and should be taken in stride.

My second advice is, go out often. A puppy should always be taken out immediately after sleeping/napping, playing and eating. If you don't you will inevitably have accidents. We took Winston out really, really often. At 12 weeks, probably once an hour or once every two hours. The idea is to create a situation where the puppy never needs to have an accident. If peeing and pooping always happens outside, the puppy's brain will be programmed that way. Of course we did have a few accidents anyway, but few and far apart once he was 12 weeks or so (perhaps once a week). With this method, he was potty trained at 4 months, even though he did have the very occasional accident until 6 months.

Thirdly, always praise for going potty outside and never, ever scold when accidents happen indoors. The pup is never doing it to spite you. Scolding can create a dog who is fearful of going to the toilet and will damage your relationship.

Be prepared to get up at least once during the night. I think we had to take Winston out at night until he was about 5 months. All puppies are individuals, so you'll have to pay attention to your puppy to decide what it needs in that departement. We had Winnie sleep in our bedroom and I would always wake up when he woke up, so it was simple.

[rachzilla]

I agree with the consistency, Mine is 5 months and he was perfect with me, going out at set times, no accidents. If anyone else was at home with him then he would as no matter how much I stressed what times he was meant to go out, noone paid any attention to me.
Now after having a weekend when we took him away with us (with torrential rain and very high wind which he hates) he refused to go outside and do anything, would cry, bite and bark about being outside. Came back home and since then he has completely forgotten his schedule, so every morning I have to clean up after him, whereas before he would go all night. Now impossible to get him back into his schedule and its hellish as I cant just go out and guarantee he will go when he is due to. Think I am going to be stuck with this now until I drop his meals down to 2 a day.

[Hellas]

I agree with the consistency, Mine is 5 months and he was perfect with me, going out at set times, no accidents. If anyone else was at home with him then he would as no matter how much I stressed what times he was meant to go out, noone paid any attention to me.
Now after having a weekend when we took him away with us (with torrential rain and very high wind which he hates) he refused to go outside and do anything, would cry, bite and bark about being outside. Came back home and since then he has completely forgotten his schedule, so every morning I have to clean up after him, whereas before he would go all night. Now impossible to get him back into his schedule and its hellish as I cant just go out and guarantee he will go when he is due to. Think I am going to be stuck with this now until I drop his meals down to 2 a day.

He's probably just a bit disturbed by the commotion caused by having to go out in the rain etc. Perhaps going outside has become stressful in his mind. I suggest you just stick to your routine of taking him out often. Praise lavishly and reward with treats when he goes potty outside. Positive is the way to go. Patience is key.

Do you make sure that he always pees and poops before bedtime? If not, that could explain why he goes in the night. If he does go potty before bed, why not set the alarm in the middle of the night for a couple of weeks and take him out? That way, he doesn't get a chance to go potty in the house. I think that's what I'd do if I were you.

[Snifter]

You do need consistency but you also need to be prepared to tweak the schedule as they get bigger and can hold longer. And they do seem to go backwards sometimes.

I doubt a 12 week old pup could hold all night; I think mine could do about 6 hours overnight at that age, if I remember right.

[Pumper]

Is crate training most effective? This way they will know by instinct not to go in their crate or indoors. We may hire a professional trainer, as I have never housetrained a dog before.

[Hellas]

Personally I think people make too much fuss over potty training. It's not rocket science ;) some use a crate, I don't. Both methods work. The important thing is to take the puppy out when it needs to go and to praise when puppy does his business outside. There is no magic method. It takes time and all dogs are different. It's like with kids; some stop using a diaper when they're 2, while others will pee the bed until they're 5.

[etceteraism]

Surprisingly, Monty can hold it all night at 13wks. However, he is not a big water drinker-he'll drink a bit if he needs it and the vet said he was hydrated, but he doesn't drink a ton. There have been a couple of nights where he went 9hrs without going, most nights he lasts at least 6. That's as long as he stays asleep though-if I wake up to go to the bathroom or my alarm goes off and he wakes up, he needs to go right away. But if he's sleeping, he'll just keep sleeping.

We have had to train him on pee pads just because we live high up in an apartment building, and we had him trained within a week. Sometimes he goes right BESIDE the pad, but he always makes it into the bathroom to go. We just praised him lots and gave him a treat whenever he went on the pad and he caught on pretty quickly. He will usually go without us now, although sometimes he will stand at the door waiting for us to come watch him (I think because he's hungry and is looking out for a treat!).

[rachzilla]

He always does go right before we all go to bed at night and will stay out there until he goes, but in the morning he wont ever go first thing now because he has gone at some point in the night. I really do want to keep his travel crate upstairs in our bedroom at night so I can hear him if he wants to go. With the alarms - it isnt so reasonable as mine would definitely wake everyone else in the house up, and at 3 or 4 am, I may end up being kicked downstairs to sleep with the dog on the floor. I keep trying to explain to the other half that if he needs to go in the night I will get up and take him, wouldnt be him in bed with us etc but he doesn't want to know. He always takes Bertie out last thing at night as he doesnt do mornings, so I am the unfortunate one up at 6am to sort him out, and clean up after him. Luckily he has a crate but with the puppy pen attached on so he can go out and have a drink, go on his pad during the night. Only reason we have to keep a pad down at night is because he lost his schedule for going and now cant go through the night. Going to back track and go down the treating route again. Just some days even getting up at 6am, I find I get pushed for time to do things and I couldnt stay out there for hours on end till he goes! If he doesnt wanna go he will jump up and chew the life out of my dressing gown, or will just bite at my shoes, he makes it very clear he wants to go inside and have breakfast!