Any tips for potty training a 6 month old puppy?

coolbrosquid

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So my family got a lab boy puppy at about 5 weeks old from someone giving away the puppies. (I learned now that they shouldn't have given him away until 8 weeks). He's 6 months old now, and still refuses to poop outside. He will pee outside ever so often, but mostly in the house, on towels, because he chews up puppy pads. He also poops on towels too. He gets taken on plenty of walks, but still isn't getting the hang of it. Any advice?
 
Stubborn unfortunately has to be met with stubborn.

Stay outside until he poops and bring a high value treat to reward with. Put him on regularly timed meals, if not already, will make it easier to predict when.
 
At 6 months it isn't unusual for them to have not quite mastered going outside, especially for urinating. IMO, this is one of the situations where a crate can be handy as the pup can be taken out, then crated for a bit while people do things, then released and immediately taken outside and don't forget the praise and treats when they do the right thing.

Limit access to food/water when they aren't expected to be closely monitored, increase the number of outings, and set the pup up to do the right thing.
 
At 6 months it isn't unusual for them to have not quite mastered going outside, especially for urinating. IMO, this is one of the situations where a crate can be handy as the pup can be taken out, then crated for a bit while people do things, then released and immediately taken outside and don't forget the praise and treats when they do the right thing.

Limit access to food/water when they aren't expected to be closely monitored, increase the number of outings, and set the pup up to do the right thing.
Hmm we don't crate him but that might not be such a bad idea until we can get him to associate outside with pooping
 
Hmm we don't crate him but that might not be such a bad idea until we can get him to associate outside with pooping

Just make sure you intorduce him to the crate in a positive manner and he'll be comfortable. So often I see people use it like a jail and the dog unsurprisingly hates it and the people don't seem to understand why.

I never know who knows what for training, so apologies if this is all old-hat...
I introduce them to it by tossing treats in and letting them go in and get the treat. When they go in reliably I start waiting a few seconds to deliver the treat, just a few seconds at first, but slowly increasing time and also rewarding them for laying down. When I have them comfortably laying in the crate a few minutes, I start closing the door, then reward through the door, then open it. Increase time with the door closed much the same to increase duration. All this time I will randomly throw treats in the back of the crate when they aren't in it for them to wander in and find on their own. If I see them in the crate at any time unprompted, treat. Mine are very comfortable in their crates, we leave doors open and they go in and lay down when they don't want to be bothered. When we need them secured, we close the doors and they are unfazed as it's a normal thing to them.

Good bedding, perhaps a comfortable pad that fits the crate well will make it a much more pleasant experience.
 
I worked 3rd shift when my boy was a puppy. Crating overnight while I was at work was the magic bullet that got him fully house trained. Prior to that, during the day I built a "pen" for him right beside my bed, and every 2 hours or so he'd put his paws up on the side of the bed and whine to wake me up to take him out.

Haven't crated him since.
 
Also clean a lot.

They will usually per or poo in a place that already has the smell, so you need to throughfully clean any spot he poops in.

Not just wipping some water, use someting strong that destroys the smell, like an spray with water+bleach if the surface will resist it.

Other than that, they naturally try to go outside. Six months is quite sime time, but still nothing unseen.

And do not get angry or shout at him for it. Just act normally. An scared nervous dog will naturally hold his things less.

*edit* separating too early can have some behaviour issues, but I don't think it is specially relevant to your problem.
 
Also clean a lot.

They will usually per or poo in a place that already has the smell, so you need to throughfully clean any spot he poops in.

Not just wipping some water, use someting strong that destroys the smell, like an spray with water+bleach if the surface will resist it.

Other than that, they naturally try to go outside. Six months is quite sime time, but still nothing unseen.

And do not get angry or shout at him for it. Just act normally. An scared nervous dog will naturally hold his things less.

*edit* separating too early can have some behaviour issues, but I don't think it is specially relevant to your problem.
If they go on carpet you'll need an enzyme cleaner, and may have to pull up the carpet to clean the pad and subfloor as well. Their noses can detect the minutest traces of urine, and if they chosen that as "the spot" to go it can be very hard to break.
 
you have a lot of training example using positive reinforcement on youtube from the show "it's me or the dog"
 
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