My puppy was potty trained, now having accidents. What went wrong?

Question

My dog is currently house training and he manages to have no accidents for one week but unfortunately after that week he starts to having this accidents again? What can I do I am starting to get upset? What can I do to let him know that I don't like what he's doing I don't want to hit him. Should I put him in his crate for a time out and just ignore him? Pet's info: Dog | Shih Tzu | Male | 3 months and 22 days old

Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA · Accepted Answer

I see that Murphy is still very young, only about 3-4 months old - this is much too young to expect him to be reliably housetrained. Most small-breed puppies like Shih Tzus are not reliable until at least 6-8 months of age or even older, so it's very normal and expected that he is still having accidents. You will need to be patient with him while he learns. Take Murphy outside frequently (every 20-30 minutes while he's awake and active) - go out with him so that you can watch, and reward with a treat as soon as he pees or poops. Inside, he needs to be supervised at all times to prevent accidents. If you aren't able to watch him, or when you're not home, he should be confined to a crate or a puppy-proofed room where accidents will be easy to clean up. If you see him start to have an accident, just hurry him outside to finish up there - then praise and reward as usual. It's actually not recommended to use any type of punishment for accidents in the house, as it usually doesn't help and just makes your puppy afraid of you. If he has an accident, clean it up without comment and focus on supervising him better next time.

My puppy was potty trained, now having accidents. What went wrong?

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