Want to know how to potty train a labradoodle puppy? Then you’re in the right place.
In this post, we’ll show you everything from a Labradoodle puppy’s potty behavior, how often they pee, how long they can hold their bladder, catching potty accidents, potty training cues, and more.
How To Potty Train A Labradoodle Puppy?
The key to potty training your labradoodle puppy is through discipline and consistency. Not only for your beloved pet, but also for you as the owner.
Potty training is a daunting task and could get very challenging on your side if it is not done correctly. Owners should be able to guide their puppies out into the world.
Labradoodles when properly guided, are capable of learning whatever you introduce and teach them. And these lessons should start from the very moment that they would arrive home.
Potty Training Categories
Potty training your Labradoodle puppy can be divided into two categories regardless of its methodology, and this is either praising or ignoring. In layman’s terms, it is when you ignore your dog’s behavior or do otherwise.
Ignoring
For example, when your puppy has an accident inside the living area, you clean up the mess and take it somewhere you want them to use as their spot. You then walk your puppy to the same spot too but do not do any kind of reprimand.
Since dogs have a keen sense of smell, the next thing you would do is to go back and clean the mess using an effective solution that is capable of removing pheromones and urine. If you do not do this, dogs will go back to the same spot wherein they did their business.
Praising
But when your dog does their pottying in the area that you designated, make sure that they will be praised. You can give dog treats as a reward.
This reward method is known as NILIF or nothing in life is free. It teaches your pup that each of their action will either be ignored or rewarded.
And being pack animals, your Labradoodle would not want to be ignored. During this phase, you can offer lots of treats and praise but after a month or so, try to wean your dog off the treats. Through this, praising will mean so much more to your pup.
Bonus: Want to know the best treats for labradoodle puppies? Check out our full guide here!
Potty Training Methods
Crate Training
Another method of potty training is called crate training. A crate signifies a den that your Labradoodle grew up in and dogs by nature do not want to soil the place that they live in.
You can also help inculcate this behavior by keeping your Labradoodle’s den clean and making them understand that their poop does not belong inside their crate and in the house.
Utilizing baby gates work the same way as the crate method does. You can select a room or a specific floor that you can easily clean and preferably a room that grants your Labradoodle to still be aware of the outside environment. You then will cordon the entry point with a baby gate.
Utilizing gates and crates will allow you to easily monitor your dog’s behavior. But do remember that you will only do this for a limited period, thus the need to watch out for signs that your pup is ready to go.
Normally a puppy would start whining, sniffing, walk in circles, head to a corner, or start to bark whenever they feel the need to do their business. Be observant and be ready to take them out otherwise you will end up cleaning their poop.
Ring My Bell Method
Another method for potty training is the ring my bell method. You can hang a bell on the door that your dog would normally use when going outside.
The key is to ring the bell each time you open the door and show your doodle that they can do it too. If your puppy rings the bell with their nose, try to give them all the praises, and eventually, your doodle will be able to associate the bell with opening the door when there is the need to relieve themselves.
Once your pup is outside of the house, make sure that you walk them to the designated area. Carrying your doodle will defeat the purpose of training them.
Make sure that you give out the designated command. Normally dog trainers would use “go potty” but this is entirely up to your preference. Regardless of your choice of command, make sure that this is done consistently.
How Often Do Labradoodle Puppies Pee?
Normally, when Labradoodle puppies that are around a month old are awake, they would be peeing every other hour or in a lesser timeframe. This is a case to case basis though since many factors need to be considered.
How Long Can A Labradoodle Hold Their Bladder?
Young puppies by nature can not hold their pee for a long time. This is because they have not yet learned how to control their bladders.
You as an owner should be mindful of this as well. When you expect your pup to be able to hold their pee for four to five hours is like setting them up for failure.
Age Considerations
As a rule of thumb, you can figure that your Labradoodle puppy can hold their pee for about an hour per month of their age plus an hour. Meaning, if your puppy is about a month old, then you can expect that they would do their business every other hour.
Your puppy’s bladder control improves as they grow older. A three-month-old doodle would be able to hold their pee and potty for around four hours.
This is not always the case though, as they could maybe hold it longer or may feel the need to relieve themselves on a much shorter time frame. Do not take them out at the last minute, but what you can do is to encourage them to relieve themselves at the third-hour mark.
As owners, we should always be mindful of this routine because normally, it would take a doodle around five to six months before it can hold their pee for around eight hours. And also, puppies normally go out to pee within fifteen to thirty minutes after they are fed.
How Hard Can Potty Training A Labradoodle Be?
As discussed earlier in this article, potty training your Labradoodle pup could be quite a challenge since there are many factors involved. And most likely this would be your first time caring for a pup since you are reading this article.
Factors Affecting Potty Training
Nonetheless, even the most experienced dog trainers could encounter difficulties from time to time. There are even cases wherein the factors would be beyond your control. Let us look at some of the challenges that might arise from potty training your Labradoodle.
Medical Condition
The first factor could be an underlying medical condition that you might have overlooked or have not noticed. These factors also influence your dog’s behavioral process.
If you notice that your pup is having accidents that are a bit too frequent, or there might be a change in their behavior, you should immediately consult a veterinarian as this may be a medical condition.
Confinement Strategy
Another reason why your potty training is not working is maybe your confinement strategy. Confining your dog to a specific space is a necessary aspect for the process to work.
Maybe there is a need to adjust the confinement strategy. For example, if your pup is having one too many accidents inside the confinement area, which could be a playpen or a crate, then maybe it is too large.
The key to an effective confinement area is to never use the area for punishment. Feeding your pup’s meals inside the area is also a must as well as hiding doggy treats around the area.
The last aspect and most important key are to never leave your pups for excessive periods. The rule of thumb is to follow the age in months plus one hour.
Missed Accidents
Another challenge is when you are missing accidents too often. That is why confinement and active supervision is very essential during the potty training process.
Every accident that is missed means that you are extending the potty training process. That is why consistency is very important for this to work.
Every time your pup has an accident and would not receive any feedback, it will only confuse the pup with regards to what is needed from them. It will be harder for you and your dog to make a connection at all.
All these processes dictate how hard the potty training process is going to be.
FYI – want to know how to take care of a labradoodle? Learn more here!
How Long Does Potty Training Take?
House training or potty training normally would last four to six months and is about dedication, patience, consistency, and a lot of positive reinforcement. Now you are probably wondering why this process takes very long.
Factors That Affect Potty Training Timeframe
Maturity
That is because the whole process itself is reliant on the maturity of your Labradoodle puppy’s organs. You can say that your puppy is now fully potty trained once they have full control of their bladder and would now stick to the schedule with a little or no occurrence of accidents.
Size
Size is also a factor. Smaller dogs may take up to a year to potty train while medium-size and large dogs will be half of that. That is because smaller breeds have a smaller bladder but with higher metabolism which will require them to take more trips outside.
Other Factors
To reiterate, there is no absolute timeframe on when a puppy finishes its potty training. All the factors that are involved are dependent on your Labradoodle puppy and the consistency of the schedule that you keep.
Evaluating Potty Training
Always try to evaluate your training process because owners tend to become complacent in this aspect. It is a long grueling process but it can only get better.
Importance Of Positive Reinforcement
One important aspect for a faster potty timeframe is that if the owner fully understands the positive reinforcement process. This is quite different from traditional discipline and would take time to get used to.
This process takes a lot of patience and how you act towards your puppy would also dictate the timeframe that would take for the potty training to finish. To reiterate a few points about positive reinforcement, the most important step is to show your puppy what good behavior looks like.
With regards to potty training, this is when you show them over and over that the designated bathroom is outside of the house. Once they would be able to make that connection, they would then start asking to be led outside.
This step here is very critical, and for every drawback, it would sometimes lead to frustrations. Each accident would mean that you need to repeat the process again and again.
But do not worry, the more disciplined and dedicated the owner is to the whole process, the faster the training would be.
When To Seek Professional Help
However, if you feel like your puppy is not making any progress, do visit the veterinarian immediately. Immediate intervention is needed once its condition is medical.
Catching Potty Accidents And How To React
Every time your puppy would get into an accident, do not reprimand. Remember that we only do positive reinforcement.
Keep in mind that reprimand and punishment will only delay the potty training process. As discussed earlier, reprimand will only confuse your doodle into confusion as to what is needed from them.
Establish Restrictions
Let us go back a bit to the beginning of the potty training process. Once we establish the restrictions, you must then follow a strict schedule.
Since you have already established how many times your puppy would need to go outside in a day, you must stick to this schedule religiously. That is because aside from avoiding accidents, you also would need to catch them in the act or would need to clean up immediately if accidents do occur.
This aspect is very critical to the whole training process. That is because you are trying to make your puppy understand that their living areas should be kept clean all the time.
Set Consistent Treatment And Training Schedule
Now let us proceed to how we should act during accidents. During potty training, the occurrence of accidents is inevitable.
That is why we need to be very consistent in our training schedule to avoid this kind of situation. It is also essential that we do the same treatment every time this happens.
But if you do catch your doodle in the act you must immediately run over, clap, or say a keyword that you would use for the interruption process. You then would need to pick up your dog and lead them outside and let them finish in the designated area.
Avoid Reprimanding
Do not reprimand, yell, or physically hit your puppy. Puppies that fear their owners do not learn faster.
They might even start to do the things that we try to avoid. Like doing their business in places that would not catch our attention, like behind a couch or under the bed.
If you do catch your puppy’s accident after the act, immediately clean it up. And again do not reprimand your dog.
Do not react, scream, or hit your dog. They do not understand what is happening if they suddenly get punished and again, they might start fearing you.
Every time your dog will get into an accident, make sure that you clean the spot thoroughly. Use a special formula that you can purchase from pet stores.
These solutions will remove the enzymes and smell and would prevent your dog from going back to the same spot. You also have to restrict your puppy’s freedom until such time that they would earn it.
But do make sure that your puppy does not go into another accident. Mistakes like these should be avoided to prevent any drawbacks in the program. If these accidents happen more frequently our dogs will likely develop some bad habits.
This happens when they are allowed to get away from something that is not ideal. In addition to this aspect, frequent soiling inside the house will become a habitual marking process and your puppy will return to these spots again and again instead of the designated area.
Potty Training Cues And When To Go Outside
Our puppies tend to become very restless when they feel the need to go outside. But before allowing them to do so, always double-check your potty training schedule.
Setting A Regular Training Schedule
Our Labradoodles thrive on having a regular training schedule that we strictly adhere to. This also dictates how fast the training process would be.
A regular potty schedule would teach your puppy when to eat, sleep, play, and go about doing their business outside. This is their whole routine and having one also means that it would be easier for the owner to care for them in the years to come.
Taking Out The Puppy Immediately
Potty schedules normally go like this: The first step is to take your puppy out as soon as they wake up. If in case there are any accidents, clean it up immediately.
Consistent Feeding Schedule
Next is consistently feed your puppy on the same schedule daily and immediately remove the feeding bowl after fifteen minutes. This ensures that your puppy will also adhere to the same schedule.
Make sure that you take your puppy outside after every meal or after they drink water. Allow them a specific playtime as well every day.
Make sure that your puppy has access to water the whole day. You can remove the water around two hours before the puppy’s bedtime.
Crate Training
If you are using a crate, let your puppy sleep in the crate at night. But if in case they wake up, take them out immediately to the designated potty spot and return them to the crate afterward.
Do note that when you are in doubt, always take your puppy out. At this age, they do not have strong bladder control and it may cause them frequent discomfort.
Always remember the rule of thumb and adjust your schedule accordingly. Otherwise, if your puppy will not be given frequent breaks, this will only lead to more accidents.
Many puppies are also capable of going through the whole night without the need to go outside. Just be mindful of your puppy’s capability as it may be different from others.
Creating A Log
Creating a log of your puppy’s behavior is also a great idea. It also helps you in determining the right potty training schedule for your dog.
In doing so, you must log every time your puppy poops, pees, drinks, eats, and even what time they sleep and how long. It might seem to be a bit too much but having this kind of information is vital in determining some of your puppy’s behavioral patterns.
Our pets are somewhat predictable and adjusting your schedule accordingly will greatly assist you towards success. As you and your puppy go through the training process, you will also get more experience in determining when your puppy would need to go to the bathroom.
Knowing The Cues
Sniffing And Circling
Some of these behavioral cues are when your dog is constantly sniffing around and circling. Or when they are deliberately keeping their distance without a clear purpose.
Whining And Whimpering
It could also be when they are whining and whimpering. It could also be when they paw at the door, although this happens in the later stages of the training once they have familiarized themselves with doing their business outside.
Tips
As owners, once you see any sign of anxious behavior, take your puppy out immediately. Younger dogs are not as expressive as adults, and it may be hard to interpret what they are trying to communicate to you.
The unwritten rule is to always bring your puppy outside and spend time with them. Make them feel familiar with the surroundings so that it would be easier for them to adjust.
Puppies tend to be anxious once they are doing their thing and even more so outside wherein everything is not familiar to them. Always stay with them when they are outside playing or at least until they are house trained.
That’s why it is important to reward them every time they potty outside. Giving them a walk around the neighborhood is also a good reward for your puppy.
When it comes to cues and when we are supposed to bring them out, always remember this phrase: When you are in doubt, take your Labradoodle puppy out.
Hope you enjoyed this post about how to potty train a labradoodle puppy.
If you enjoyed this post, then you will love these posts:
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Thanks for reading! You can get many more tips and tricks for your Labradoodle here.
