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At what age did you consider your dog fully housebroken? Also at that point, how long had YOU personally owned the dog (given that you adopted them after they were born)?
I got my dog at 4 months. She is currently 9 months. She still doesnt fully connect the fact that she HAS to go outside. She will go outside when we take her. She usually holds herself for around 4 or 5 hours when around the house, but if not brought out around that time will go where I cant see her and pee (rarely poop). I know she can hold it longer but chooses not to when out of her crate. In her crate she holds it all night. As a 9 month old, the general rule of thumb is that she should be able to hold it for approx. 10 hours, which has proven true in her crate, but out of her crate she does the "when you gotta go you gotta go"
Its frustrating b/c I took extra care to train her the correct way. Its hard b/c we live in an apt and cant always see our front door (that is if she were to start going to the door to let us know she has to go like most dogs do). But I did a lot of research before hand, and in 5 months of taking her out and usually going outside, I dont see why she hasnt made the connection that she cant do it inside. The other day it was only 3 hours from when I took her out in the morning where she peed and pooped until she had an accident and peed on our carpet. Is this normal? A couple of my friends said within a month their dogs were fully housebroken.
Oh and for reference, I have gone through about 10 full bottles of Natures Miracle Stain/Odor Remover from petsmart. Maybe I have to steamclean my carpet b/c even though I make 110% effort to clean accidents fully, they may leave just enough that she thinks its ok...
My last dog was housebroken in 1 day at the age of 6 weeks. Never had an accident until she was geriatric and became incontinent. She was a Doberman/Rottweiller cross.
Dog I have now I got at 8 weeks and it took 8 incredibly long, frustrating months to housebreak. She is a Golden Retriever/???? This dog would go out, go for a walk, pee, then come in the house & pee again. We would take a longer walk next time to see if she would pee some more. Nope. Needed to be indoors to pee the second time. She knew better, and was able to hold it over night. One day I walked around a corner & she was squatting in the kitchen. I lost it. I kicked her in the butt one time and SCREAMED at the top of my lungs "NO! You stupid puppy!" I had no shoes on and broke 2 toes, but she got the message. She never made another mistake. I do not condone kicking your dog, and if I had stopped to think about it I never would have done it. I felt horrible afterwards (broken toes notwithstanding).
Then there was teaching her not to steal food off of the counter and the even longer process of learning to stay out of the garbage......Only dog I ever had who could open a bi-fold door.
I agree that some breeds are tougher to housebreak. Apparently Golden Retriever/???? mixes are one of them.
Unfortunately, some dogs "get it" easier than others. I thought that 6 weeks was supposed to be too young for them to be considered housebroken? (I'm not saying that your dog wasn't that good, Evey, I just thought I'd read that it was too young to expect them to have full control of their bladder and bowel functions?) I fostered a chow mix puppy who was about 8 weeks old and she didn't have a single accident in the house so I know that it's possible that they not have accidents.
Jadedsoul, one thing you might try when home and your dog is loose in the apt, is to put it on a leash and keep it near you. That way you can see the dog at all times and see when she is about to squat. I wonder if she would do it even if she couldn't go hide somewhere and do it? That's one way to find out.
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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You might want to look into potty bells (google them). Basically, bells that hang from the door and you train your dog to nose the bells to let you know she needs out. I haven't tried them, but I was thinking about it. We haven't had problems with her letting us know, so I haven't tried them yet.
Zoe is a German Shepherd Dog mix, we got her at 5 months from the pound, and she came fully housebroken. We have had a couple of accidents, but more from our lack of training than her's.
It all depends on the dog's breed and size. I will go so far as to say that Pugs are the hardest to housetrain, not impossible, but the hardest
My pug wasn't difficult to housetrain. However, she figured out that once she did her business, the walk was basically over. So she would hold it in or maybe it was also because being a girl dog, she didn't have any territory to mark. So we would make her run a little to help force her to go.
My lab mix was about 1-1/2 years old when we adopted him from the shelter. He was kept in an outside run, and forgot his housebreaking training. Crate training helped until he figured it out again.
I think that it helped to have another dog around during the housebreaking training. Especially when you are trying to train them to go outside. The older dog becomes the leader by peeing first. Even my female dog will pee on top of the other two dog's pee spots. So can you borrow another dog for a day or two? Or walk your dog the same time as a neighbor's dog. And praise your dog when does what you want.
Unfortunately, some dogs "get it" easier than others. I thought that 6 weeks was supposed to be too young for them to be considered housebroken? (I'm not saying that your dog wasn't that good, Evey, I just thought I'd read that it was too young to expect them to have full control of their bladder and bowel functions?) I fostered a chow mix puppy who was about 8 weeks old and she didn't have a single accident in the house so I know that it's possible that they not have accidents.
I have had dogs my whole life and never came across a creature quite like Bailey. I never expected her to figure it out that fast. In all honesty I was working with horses full time back then, and she was outside most of the day. She mostly came in and crashed at the end of the day. That may have had something to do with it.
We got Brooklyn when he was 8 weeks and it only took a couple days and then he was completely housebroken! He was also very easy to train. I think we got pretty lucky with Brooklyn! lol! He won't even throw up in the house, he will wait until I let him out!
With Destiny it took a little longer. When we got her she was about 6 weeks old, and I can't remember exactly how long it took to fully house break her, but it wasn't too long. It took longer than it did with Brooklyn, but it wasn't more than a couple weeks. I would say a week and a half, two weeks at the most.
Now, Jayda was a whole different story! lol! When we got her she was already 7 1/2 months and no one had ever trained her or house broken her. She didn't even know her name when we first got her! The basic training didn't take too long with her, but house breaking Jayda took quite a while! Again, I'm not sure exactly how long it took, but we got her when she was 7 1/2 months old, now she's 11 months and we haven't had an accident in about a month or so. So I guess it took a few months to fully house break her.
My pug wasn't difficult to housetrain. However, she figured out that once she did her business, the walk was basically over. So she would hold it in or maybe it was also because being a girl dog, she didn't have any territory to mark. So we would make her run a little to help force her to go.
You were lucky Also depend on how much of your day you can devote to the cause. If one is home that is a major asset.
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He won't even throw up in the house, he will wait until I let him out!
Again, I'm not sure exactly how long it took, but we got her when she was 7 1/2 months old, now she's 11 months and we haven't had an accident in about a month or so. So I guess it took a few months to fully house break her. 
Also depend on how much of your day you can devote to the cause. If one is home that is a major asset.
