The muscles that hold back urine in a puppy do not start to mature until they are 16 weeks old. You can teach a pup where they are supposed to potty before that but if the pup is too far away from the potty area it is not going to be able to hold it.
It's your job to take the pup out at frequent regular intervals in order for him go in the right place at the right time. It is frustrating there is no doubt but it's not the pups fault. He doesn't understand yet and if he did he does not yet understand how to get to the right place.
I used pulpy pads with my girl and she was by far the easiest pup I ever trained. Some people use puppy pens in order to confine the pup but that can really work against you if you are not still taking him out regularly and often. Sometimes walking the puppy around while outside will help stimulate it do the business.
Tethering the pup to you is a great way to know exactly what the pup is doing at all times and learn to recognise the signals that he gives when he is going to go.
Your pup should not be given unsupervised run of the home until he is at least 6 months or older. They can easily get distracted and forget if no one is reinforcing the training. I know you don't like puppy pads but they do make all this so much easier. They must be locked into a secure lockdown frame though. You can get them on Amazon. We never caged Gracie. We did tether her though. She loved going everywhere with whoever was on duty.
When she was several months older we started taking her for at least two walks a day which she needed badly to get rid of excess energy. She started going potty outside just by taking her on walks. We keep the puppy pads for bad weather or when we have to be away for several hours. |