all she wants to do is play

by kelly
(charlotte)

we just got a 5 month old Cavapoo puppy and having a hard time adjusting her to be housetrained.

We take here out every hour and when she goes outside all she wants to do is play. She sniffs around and then starts playing with the grass or leaves but never goes potty.

We can be outside for 20-30 minutes and then as soon as she comes in she squats and go potty inside. what are we doing wrong?



Hi Kelly
You're not doing anything wrong! This is pretty normal puppy behavior, but it's definitely frustrating for you.

If you're not already crate training her, I would strongly suggest getting a crate and starting now. It's absolutely the best, and quickest way to house train a puppy, it also eliminates most of the opportunities a puppy has to make a 'mistake' indoors. You can read all about this method of housebreaking on my Crate Training page.

To deal with the specific problem you're having, you will need to take her out regularly as you're now doing, and if she doesn't eliminate, when you bring her back inside put her right back in her crate. Then take her out again 15 mins later and try again. Once she's done her business outside, then she can have playtime and free time out of her crate in the house (closely supervised of course).

Puppies are creatures of habit, and you need to be very consistent with this so that she becomes accustomed to the routine. It may also help to fence off a small area of your yard, or use a doggie exercise pen, and only put her in that area when you take her outside to potty. If she's confined to a smaller area there will be less to distract her and she'll learn to associate it with elimination only which will speed up the process.

Just for a bit of extra help, you may want to read my Potty Training page too.

Good luck with your little girl.