My Dog Won’t Go Potty Without Me – Solved and Explained

Dogs that won’t go potty on their own is a common behavior in dogs?

You can help your dog stop this from happening by developing a routine and training your dog to do it indoors.

The following are some basic tips that may help your dog understand the need to potty on its own.

16 Ways to help train your dog to potty without you

1. Stimulate your dog to do his business

Dogs will often not want to do their business if they feel that it is urgent.

As a result, you can stimulate your dog with a number of commands such as “go pee-pee”, “hurry up” and “let’s go potty”.

In addition, you can also take him on a long walk which will make him feel the urge to go potty.

2. Keep your dog on a schedule

Make sure that you set a specific time for your dog to do his business.

Whether it is once in the morning, once in the afternoon or once at night, it is important to be consistent with this schedule.

When letting your dog out of the crate, use the same words to tell them that they are free to go outside.

As soon as your dog relieves himself outside, provide praise and give him a treat.

You can even play outside with them and get them to interact with other dogs and people.

3. Reward your dog

You can give them food treats when they relieve themselves, but make sure that you do not overdo this.

4. Use puppy pads

If your dog is not yet trained to go potty indoors, you can use puppy pads.

These can be placed inside their crate or in the area where they do their business.

However, these are generally not that effective because dogs can easily remove them or rip them up.

5. Take your dog for a walk

If possible, take your dog for a walk when you first wake up in the morning and before you go to bed at night.

This will help them understand that it is the time to eliminate and that you understand their needs.

6. Practice outside

If your dog is not ready for this yet, try taking your dog outside and letting them relieve themselves and then praise and give them some treats.

7. Reward your dog

If they go on the potty on their own or on a schedule, reward them with treats or some petting.

You can even give them a toy.

8. Give your dog a head start

Before you let your dog out of their crate, give them some time to go potty on their own.

If they relieve themselves, take them outside to do the same thing again.

If they don’t, then take them back into their crate until it is time to go out again.

As long as the dog relieves itself before being taken outside, praise and reward them with treats or petting.

9. Get them to interact with other dogs

Dogs will often not go to the bathroom when other dogs are around because they feel like they need to hold it.

By getting them to interact with other dogs, this can help your dog understand that it is okay to relieve himself because you will be right next to him.

10. Don’t say no

If your dog is taking too long or resisting, don’t push him or say no. Instead, try to encourage him with treats and praise.

11. Remove them from the crate

If you suspect that your dog is not going potty because they are scared to go out of their crate, you can slowly remove them from the crate and give them a chance to do their business before taking them back inside.

12. Make sure that they have plenty of space

You can make sure that your dog has enough space by putting a blanket or pads near the area where they will be going potty.

13. Give them some time to go potty

If your dog is not ready to go outside yet, don’t rush them.

Instead, let them go inside their crate for about 5-10 minutes before taking them out again.

Make sure that you praise and reward them when they do go out.

14. Feed your dog at the same time every day

This will help give your dog a routine and make it easier for them to do their business on time.

As a result, it is important that you create a schedule and a routine for pottying your dog.

If you don’t, your dog will probably not go to the bathroom when you want them to.

You can then use the following tips to help train your dog for this.

15. Establishing regular potty times

Make sure that you create a schedule for when your dog will relieve themselves.

This will avoid accidents and help decide where they should eliminate.

For example, if your dog is very young, you can let them relieve themselves once in the morning and once at night. As they get older, you can increase it to every 2 hours.

16. Creating a schedule for the first week

If your dog is not yet housebroken, you can try creating a schedule for the first week.

This will help them understand what is expected of them.

As you start this routine, make sure that you take your dog out at the same time multiple times in the day to help strengthen the routine.

Before establishing a routine, you can also try making it easy for your dog to relieve themselves.

Take your dog for a walk on a schedule so that they are able to get rid of their built-up energy.

You can also take your dog on longer walks so that you are able to do more errands during the day without having to worry about them having any accidents.

If you take your dog out at the same time every day, they are able to learn that this is potty time.

You can slowly expand this so that they are able to go potty on their own.

Continuously encourage them to go to the bathroom.

If they do, then give them treats and praise. If they don’t, try taking them out again in a couple of hours or when you get home from work or school.

If your dog seems resistant, do not push them too much. Instead, try giving them some time to relax and do their business before taking them outside again.

Other Things to Consider

If you have multiple dogs, give each one a separate crate so that they can get used to going separately from each other.

Just make sure that they are able to do their business separately from each other so that there will be less accidents between them.

To make this happen, try having all of your dogs sleep in one room while you are at work or school.

As your dog gets to be a little older, make sure that you keep encouraging them to do their business outside.

If your dog is still not going outside, then you should take them to a vet.

You should also first try training them inside the house before taking them out for a walk.

If your dog is still resistant after the initial first few weeks, then they should go back to the vet and do some additional training sessions.

It may also be necessary for you to take them out multiple times during the day so that they will be able to relax and get used to pottying on time.

If your dog is still resistant to this, another option is to hire a professional dog trainer.

Make sure that you are able to find someone who can help with housebreaking issues.

Hiring a professional can also give your dog the additional support they need so that they are able to do their business consistently.

Professional trainers may also be able to recommend some additional tools that can help them learn faster and help them relieve themselves more easily.

If your dog still won’t potty without you, then you can try making some modifications to gradually let them relieve themselves when they want.

For example, you can make a schedule for when they will go out.

This way, there will be no accidents and you will not have to wait for your dog to potty before going somewhere.

You can also make a schedule for when they will be able to relieve themselves in the house so that if they do not feel like going outside, then they are able to do it inside.

Keep in mind that appearing stubborn does not necessarily mean your dog is being stubborn.

It may just mean that they are trying their best and that there is something wrong with the training process or with your home environment itself.

There may also be some kind of medical issue going on.

Some dogs may have infections or physical problems that prevent them from being able to go potty when they want.

If your dog is still not going on time after a few weeks, then you should take them to a vet so that they can get tested for any complications or any other issues going on.

If you have tried all of the above and your dog is still resistant, then you can also try finding an alternative solution.

Final Thoughts

For a dog to go potty on its own, you need to be consistent and patient.

If your dog is not yet able to go outside, you’ll need to keep working with them and making small changes so that they will eventually be able to do it on their own.

If your dog is older, you should also focus on a schedule for them so that they will be able to do their business outside during the day.

You should give them time to relax and do their business before letting them outside again.

If your dog is still not going on time, try taking small steps so that they may gradually get used to going at certain times.

Resources

Omaha.com

thatmutt.com

 

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