Housetraining Pugs - FAQ

Are Pugs easy to housetrain? Pugs are neither easy nor hard to housetrain, making them someplace in the middle when it comes to ease of housetraining. They’re intelligent little dogs, but also have a stubborn side which can show itself in the housetraining process.

My Pug is 10 weeks old and I’ve had him for two weeks but he isn’t catching on to housetraining at all. What am I doing wrong? Nothing! Pugs don’t develop the muscular ability to hold their movements until they are around 12 weeks old. Until then, when they need to go, they’re going to go.

OK, does this mean I shouldn’t bother trying to housetrain my Pug yet? Not at all! One of the keys to successful housetraining is to praise your Pug when he makes outside, and you should do this each and every time he does no matter how old he is. If you start this praising with your 9-week-old Pug puppy, you’ll be showing him that making outside yields benefits and this will absolutely help your housetraining process. They may be too young to hold their urges at this age, but they’re old enough to know a good thing, and to a Pug, praise is a great thing!

I take my Pug outside, she does nothing, and then the moment she gets inside she makes on the floor! What’s going on? Usually, when this happens it’s the result of your Pug being preoccupied outside. If she’s outside and playing, that play will cause her urge to subside. In the process, the play makes her excited. Once you go inside, the preoccupation wears off almost instantly, and she’ll make inside usually only a few seconds or a minute after she gets in.

Should I keep her outside longer then? Well, that depends. If your goal when taking her outside is for her to make, then you’d be better off not playing at all until after she makes. Then you can play! If you must play first though, then yes, settle her down after the play and stay outside with her for a while until she does make.

My Pug seems to make inside in the same places, but I clean those spots each time. How do I stop this? Chances are your Pug still picks up a scent around that spot. Remember, a dogs’ sense of smell is far more powerful than ours so when you use household cleaners on a carpet, you may not be able to smell any leftover scent, but your dog can. Your best bet is to use an odor neutralizer (following the directions on the label) and cleaning that area thoroughly.