Most 8-12 week old puppies won’t make it through the night without at least one potty trip. This should be as uneventful as possible. Just let your puppy potty and then put her right back in the crate, with no treats or playtime.
During the day, most puppies can be crated for about an hour for every month they are old. You may need to enlist the help of a friend, neighbor, or dog walker to make sure your puppy gets out often enough if you work outside of the home. Physical control comes in leaps, not steps. You’ll just notice one day that your puppy can wait until after breakfast to go out that first time, or suddenly can wake up from a nap and not have to pee immediately. Adjust the schedule as your puppy physically matures.
Adolescent/Adult Dog Schedule
By the time they’re seven or eight months old, most dogs can be pretty much housetrained, which means that except in the case of illness or extreme disruption of their normal schedules, they don’t have accidents. None. Nada. Zip. The lack of accidents isn’t because the dogs are perfect. It’s perfect prevention building a habit of perfect housebreaking.
Healthy adolescent and adult dogs usually have the physical ability to hold it for six to eight hours, although some of them may not know they can or understand why they should. They learn those skills from their owners, who, through excellent management, set their dogs up for success.
You can prevent your puppy from learning to “hold it” by taking him out too frequently. After he’s 12 weeks old, try to stick to scheduled potty times, and crate him or tether him to you in between scheduled trips to prevent mistakes.
Weaning Off the Extra Trips
After seven months, most dogs will be eating twice a day, and will need to eliminate three to five times a day. If you’ve been using your “Go out” phrase for a while, you should notice some response from your dog – getting excited, running to the door, etc. when you ask.
Experiment with your schedule as your dog gets the idea of holding it and asking to go out. If someone is around to supervise, skip the midmorning and mid afternoon potty breaks, and see if your dog can get by on three or four potty trips per day.
Toy breeds can take longer to get physical control, and therefore to house-break. It takes patience and careful supervision to prevent accidents (which with toy dogs are easy to miss until the evidence is found), but it can be done. You may have to use some creativity, including the possibility of some indoor alternatives.
