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My puppy still pees inside. How long until she's fully house trained?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Female | unspayed | 2 months and 28 days old

My puppy has been with us for about a month now and is still peeing on the floor. She goes out a lot and when she goes out she goes potty. But sometimes she will just come in and go on the floor. How long do you think it will be until she stops? Any tips to help us along?

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on April 4th, 2017

I see that Mabel is only about three months old - it's completely normal for her to still be having accidents. Remember, she's just a baby. It will take quite a while for her to be reliable in the house. Most dogs are at least 6-8 months old before they can be trusted without supervision in the house. At this age, you should be taking her outside every 20-30 minutes if she is awake and active. Make sure that you go out with her for potty breaks, and reward her with a rest as soon as she potties outside. This will help to ensure that she goes to the bathroom every time you take her out, which will help to keep her bladder empty and prevent accidents. She should also be supervised at all times in the house, and confined to a crate or puppy-proofed room when you're not home or unable to watch her. We have an article in our database with more details about how to house train puppies that you may also find helpful. You can read it here: https://www.petcoach.co/article/7-rules-for-effective-housetraining

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on April 14th, 2017

    I see that Julia is only about three months old - this is far too young to expect her to be housetrained, so accidents in the house are completely normal right now. She does not "know it's wrong" to pee in the house, as dogs don't understand concepts like this. She likely knows that you get angry and punish her sometimes when she pees, but doesn't understand where she is supposed to potty or what you want her to do. You need to take her out for potty breaks very frequently (every 20-30 minutes when she is awake and active). When she pees outside, praise and reward her with a treat from your pocket. This will give her lots of practice at peeing outside and being rewarded for it, and will also help to keep her bladder empty which helps to prevent accidents in the house. When she is inside, she needs to be supervised at all times - if you see her starting to sniff or acting like she needs to pee, quickly pick her up and hurry her outside, then praise and reward her for finishing up out there. When you're not home or if you're busy and not able to watch her, she should be confined to a crate or a puppy-proofed room where accidents will be easy to clean up. If she does have an accident in the house, simply clean it up and resolve to watch Julia more closely next time. It is not recommended to punish her for this, as it will only confuse and frighten her, and may make her afraid to pee in front of you when you take her outside. Most pups are at least 6-8 months old before they are fully reliable in the house without close supervision, so you will need to be patient and consistent with Julia while she learns.

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on February 25th, 2018

    Hi there! If Annie is still having accidents in the house when you're with her, this is an indication that you aren't taking her out often enough :) For a puppy this age who's still learning where to potty, you should be taking her out every 20 minutes or so unless she's sleeping. Praise and reward her with a treat for peeing outside, and supervise her at all times in the house. If she starts to squat, quickly scoop her up and run her outside to finish up there - then praise and reward as usual. Feel free to have a look at our housetraining article here, for more information: https://www.petcoach.co/article/7-rules-for-effective-housetraining/

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