# Should I Do It?



## Diann

I have serious concerns about this potty training issue Havanese dogs/puppies seem to have. I have been researching them and they seem ideal; they I find this forum and it's post after post about not being able to potty train them. Are there any success stories or do they all take forever to train?


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## Lizzie'sMom

Lizzie is a year old and she is quite reliable with me. Now, my family does not always recognize her signals. She is poochie bell trained but lately has just been giving me this cute look when she has to go. So I have started ringing the bells again every time we go out. She knows to do it, but I think since I am home all day with her I have learned how to read her. She also hardly pees throughout the day. She goes about 4 times. We have had a few poops in the house, but they are when I am not home and hubby and the kids are (19, 17, &11-not little) or I am busy and think her jumping on my leg means "hi". I have never trained another dog and did not think she was that difficult-but then again I am home all day and took her out every hour for a few weeks, then 2 hours, etc. AND I always rang the bells and said "ring the potty bells" every time we went out to potty.


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## inlovewithhav

I am going to jump in on this becuase I am potty training right now. My puppy Kipper is doing well IMO but still has quite a few accidents. This is mainly becuase I have another larger dog that has free access to water and he drinks whenever he is out of his x-pen. He does know that he needs to go outside to potty (he is about 15 weeks old now) BUT if you are not paying attention he will go by the door. An important thing to remember is that they do not bark often (Kipper really only barks when he thinks something/someone is outside, I mean really what can a 6 lb ball of fluff protect me from  that is why I have my other dog). That being said I still think Kipper is doing a very good job but did not expect him to be house trained at 4 months, they are little and just can't hold it as long as larger dogs can. If you are interested in a Havanese seriously consider dual training them so that they have a spot to potty in the house when they can not go out (for whatever reason) as well as outside, you could also litter train them (which I am also in the process of trying to do). I hope this helps.


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## Jplatthy

I think the larger breeds are easier to train because they can hold it longer....Sissy my female was born in Feb..I got her in April and she was trained by June...Smokey my male was born in Jan..I got him in April and he was trained by July.....I'm currently working on training a 17 week old female and in the 2 weeks I've had her she has had 3 accidents in the house which were all my fault because I didn't have her confined when I knew she had to potty........we still have a few accidents with the older ones but ONLY when they are having tummy issues.....I think there are more success stories than failures on here and there are alot of useful articles and/or advice..I particularly like an article that Dave posted.......the keys are feeding schedules, taking them out frequently, watching them closely or keeping them confined and praising when they do go potty...I agree with the earlier post if you are getting a young puppy and going to be gone for more than an hour or two at a time then you will have to consider an alternative method than outdoors only...ie potty patch...pads....litter box......


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## sprorchid

ok, so until Ollie who's 1.5 yrs old now, 1/2 hav 1/2 shih tzu, I've only had super big dogs, anatolians 120 lbs+.

Ollie is house trained, he was quite smart about it, but I have a lingering issue with the igit... when it rains, he doesn't like to go outside to relieve himself. stinker. so if I'm not right over him, he'll leave a tootsie roll right next to the always open sliding glass door to the backyard. I have to catch him, but really, when it's sunny, he is fine. today it was drizzling, and the stinker peed on the hardwood floors in the living room b/c he didn't want to go outside.

I'm not home enough to crack on him or reward him... anyway that's my only glitch with him. btw he's never had an accident any anyone else's house, he actually scratches on the door (usually to the backyard) to go outside.

as a contrast, I have a 9 month old anatolian pup. I never used pads with him, or show him where to go, he made 1 mistake when I first got him at 9 wks, and since that 1 accident in the house, he's been perfect. seriously. 

I think in part the little dogs a harder to train b/c they do have tiny bladders as babies, but when Ollie break his leg at 9 months, 10 lbs, and the vet kept him in a crate before surgery for like 7 hours... he held it. no accidents.

I really think that potty training in general is more about consistency.

my personal theory is that bigger dogs get it that the whole house is their residence, and hence don't dirty it... I think little dogs, they view things a little differently. Ollie has never pee'd or pooped in my room, he only goes where I never am, corners of the house and such.

anyway, a puppy is a lot of work period. toilet training is only one small piece of the pie. For me I was more concerned about my pup being balance and social-ble with all dogs and all people.

The great thing is, it's a lot of fun having a puppy! good luck.


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## ShirleyH

*What it Takes*

Hi Diann,

Like any other puppy, it just takes attention. Our vet kids that 'you don't take your eyes off of them until they are 5 months old' and that's about it.
Luckily our breeder began potty pad training immediately and since the pups are with the older dogs when they are about 8 weeks old, they get the picture pretty quickly. Then it depends on what you want. I am so grateful for the potty pad when it's raining heavily or 20 degrees outside in the morning, but Keeper prefers outside. He was reliable at 6 months and is now 17 months old and perfect. We laughed the other day at around noon when it was just pouring and we opened the door to let Keeper see the rain which he hates. He looked at me and marched over to his potty pad to do his thing.
I think the key, Diann, is strict attention to the job when he/she is brought home.

Shirley H.


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## krandall

Diann said:


> I have serious concerns about this potty training issue Havanese dogs/puppies seem to have. I have been researching them and they seem ideal; they I find this forum and it's post after post about not being able to potty train them. Are there any success stories or do they all take forever to train?


It depends on what you mean by "forever". If you want a dog who is reliable by 3 or 4 months, don't get ANY small breed. This isn't a "Havanese" issue, it's a "small dog" issue. OTOH, if you are willing to put in the time and effort, almost all of them can be reliable by about a year, give or take a bit. And when I say "reliable", I DON'T mean that you will have pee and poop all over your house till then. I mean that you may have to monitor them closely and restrict their movement somewhat to avoid accidents.

Most of the people who post are in the midst of potty training, and many are feeling a bit overwhelmed. The biggest problem BY FAR is giving the puppy too much freedom too soon. The other big problem is buying from a breeder who doesn't give the puppies a good start on potty training, or worse, buying a pet store/puppy mill puppy who has been raised on a metal grate floor and learned that it's OK to "let go" where ever and when ever they want.

Havs can DEFINITELY be trained to have reliable potty habits and house manners. But like most small breeds, it may take a little longer than a large breed dog.


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## littlebuddy

we got our dog when he was 12 weeks old. from the get go, we were consistent in our training. i would keep a log by the back door which helped me keep track of how often we would go out, how long he could actually hold it etc.. we used que words, go potty every time we took him out, he got a treat when he came back in the house and we always made sure we gave him enough time outside for each potty break. he was house trained in 6 months with no accidents in the house.

keep in mind, small dog need more time for the connection between their brain and bladders to happen. if you are consistent, your pup will be house trained. also, remember, accidents do happen but don't get frustrated. i'd get a pup now vs. in the fall/winter. 

one last thing, you need to watch your dog everytime you let him outside to do his business, every time. my friend would alwasy complain that her dog has accidents in the house yet when she lets him out, she never watched him so she never knew if he peeped or pooped.


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## Kirby

Please don't think I am bragging...I'm not....Kirby has had lots of little "problems"...like walking on leash like a gentleman...no way...BUT it took me only one day to potty train this pup and I mean it. He came to us at 13 weeks old, and that just may be part of the success of this...I did train him on pee pads (I order medical underpads for this). The first day he was with us he peed on the floor almost immediately. I took out a pad, soaked a bit of his first "accident" on the pad and then placed the pad where we wanted him to go. He proceeded to go there and still does 8 years later. He never has an accident in the house since. If he is outside he goes there, and I'm sure he'd rather always go outside. Since we live on the edge of the forest I don't like taking him out at night so that is why he's trained inside as well. Potty training with this boy has been easier than with any other dog we have ever had. Best of luck Diann! ~ Reenie


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## HavaneseSoon

Are you home all the time? 

Dexter # 1 was a constant watch, he is my first, so I really......watched him like a HAWK! I trained using the bell system and he was trained by 6 months. 

Jack #2 ....I would think he was reliable by 11 months..and this is with an occasional stool here and there after 7-8 months....especially with dh watching him...dh misses the signals sometimes. Jack was not interested in the bell system.

How much patience do you have? How calm are you?


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## ls-indy

We brought Daisy (3 yrs) and Beau (2 yrs) home when they were around 11 weeks old. Their breeder had introduced them to K-9 grass potties. Each of them had MAYBE 4-6 accidents in the house within the first few weeks - OUR fault for not watching them closely enough! By 4-6 months they were reliable and given the run of the house. We keep a dog litter box in the sunroom for emergency use..... but they prefer to go out and ring a bell to let us know.

We have a small iron bell hanging about 8" off the ground that they bat with their paws when they want to go out. We keep a dog litter box available for them in the sunroom in case they can't wait until we return home. They use it MAYBE once every month or two since they prefer to go outside.

When we first brought them home, we kept them in an ex-pen with their dog little box when we weren't teaching or playing with them. Within a few weeks, we expanded their area to the entire sunroom - with the litter box in it. By time they were 4 - 6 months old we began letting them have the run of the house for short periods of time. Beau got "whole house" privileges sooner than Daisy - because she was our first havie and we didn't want to give her so much space that she could have an accident - and because Beau followed Daisy's example. She taught him to ring the bell and where it was acceptable to go - so he was reliable by close to 4 months while Daisy was closer to 6 months before we decided to let her loose when we're out. (Actually - she was able to climb over gates and fences - and we were afraid she'd hurt herself....so we gave up on containing her!!)

They have been the EASIEST to train of any dogs we've ever had! VERY SMART! We would take Daisy's paw and ring the bell every time we went through the back door. She caught on within a few days..... Beau learned from Daisy. When Beau is outside on the deck, and Daisy is inside....she will ring the bell for us to open the sliding glass door to let Beau back in!

We could probably eliminate the litter-box - but why would we want to?? Its a great back-up solution for them! We don't have to rush home from dinner or when out with friends, and I don't fret about accidents around the house. Here's the link:

http://www.rascaldoglitterbox.com/


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## Rita Nelson

Diann, I hope I can encourage you somewhat with my experience with Tucker. By 4 mos. he never used the pee pad again nor had an accident in the house. He was totally trained to go outside. Both my DH and I are retired and together we were available to take Tucker outside every 30 - 45 min. to potty when he was awake. I don't know if that made the difference or if it was just him. When he was 6 mos. old we went on vacation with him and he never had an accident in the house we rented either. He is now 2 yrs. old and no problems whether at home or visiting. I was reprimanded on this forum for sharing my experience with Tucker being potty trained at 4 mos. because "I was misleading others" even though I stated this was my experience with my dog. I fully understand my experience is the exception, but I believe with diligence and consistency it can be accomplished earlier than usual. It does make it easier if more than one person is aways available to take the puppy outside every 30 - 45 min. as I stated before. I hope potty training doesn't deter you from getting a Havanese. They're the best little dogs in the world, IMHO.


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## ls-indy

Rita Nelson said:


> Diann, I hope I can encourage you somewhat with my experience with Tucker. By 4 mos. he never used the pee pad again nor had an accident in the house. He was totally trained to go outside. Both my DH and I are retired and together we were available to take Tucker outside every 30 - 45 min. to potty when he was awake. I don't know if that made the difference or if it was just him. When he was 6 mos. old we went on vacation with him and he never had an accident in the house we rented either. He is now 2 yrs. old and no problems whether at home or visiting. I was reprimanded on this forum for sharing my experience with Tucker being potty trained at 4 mos. because "I was misleading others" even though I stated this was my experience with my dog. I fully understand my experience is the exception, but I believe with diligence and consistency it can be accomplished earlier than usual. It does make it easier if more than one person is aways available to take the puppy outside every 30 - 45 min. as I stated before. I hope potty training doesn't deter you from getting a Havanese. They're the best little dogs in the world, IMHO.


Rita - we worked from home and also were able to work with Daisy and Beau when they were very young.... They were also reliable at very young ages....so we share your experience with our havies!


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## clare

Ours were both reliable by 7/8 months {Dizzie}and 8/9 months {Nellie}.When I leave them alone I always place a pee pad down, just in case they need to go, and that works a treat.I think Havs are worth a little extra effort, for the love they bring.


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## mckennasedona

Not all Havs should be lumped into the "hard to house train" bucket. It all depends upon the individual dog, how much early house training they had with their breeder, and how dilligent YOU are. My girls' breeder started them off on potty pads, and then the doggy door. We use a doggy door as well so they did very well when we brought them home. I think each dog only pooped in the house a couple of times. McKenna was totally reliable at about 7 months. Sedona was totally reliable a bit sooner, at about 6 months. We pretty much never let them out of our sight unless they were put in thier expen with access to the doggy door. I often wondered if a doggy door was "cheating" and they weren't actually house trained until we visited my sister. At her house, they went to the back door every time they had to go out, just like champs! 
Don't let the fear of potty training scare you away but understand that it IS more work than training a larger dog.


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## motherslittlehelper

Diann, you have gotten some good responses to your question. I just wanted to add that I did not think potty training was a big deal in our case. Never having trained another dog to compare with Augie, I had no expectations or prior experience. Augie's breeder had started potty training him to newspaper. We transitioned him to a UgoDog tray when I learned about it on the forum. He wasn't trained to outside until around 8-9 months old, and he much prefers to go there and seems to hold it until he can go out. But when he was small, when he had to go he would race to his UgoDog tray and go; at night he was gated in the kitchen area (only place with vinyl), with his crate and his UgoDog. I hate getting up at night, so this worked well for us. Others have mentioned watching them closely, consistency and restricting the area they have to roam. When Augie was around 8-9 months old, I thought he was well trained and let him have run of the whole downstairs. He went in and pooped under the dining room table. I realized he was not ready to have unsupervised run of the house and again gated off the living room and dining room so that he could not go there unsupervised. As long as he was in the family room and kitchen area, he would get to his UgoDog for his 'business'. I don't think he has had any accidents in the house after about 9-10 months of age. We take him out to potty on a leash on a schedule. If he has to go sooner than his scheduled time, he will sit in front of me and stare intently until I get the message!


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## Tony & Milo

I will chime in since we are in the middle of house breaking my two pups. They are 8 months old at the end of this month. Even though there are frustrations and lots of hard work I would do it all over in a heartbeat! It is like having a new born baby. It is a lot of work and you have to be prepared for that. Consistency and patience is the key – two things we did not always do. I think it is harder when a whole family is trying to help out opposed to just one person being in command of the house breaking. Also I do agree that an indoor potty pad type of a thing along with going outside would be good. Unfortunately I have a DH that will absolutely won’t stand for that. It makes it a bit harder when the two adults in the house are not on the same dog wave length!!! I think it is great that you are asking the questions and preparing yourself should you decide to get a wonderful Havanese puppy! They are so worth it.


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## morriscsps

I will admit that probably 85% of Jack's oops have been our fault. We didn't see the signals, waited until the commercial  or the kids didn't take him out for a long enough walk.

As for the small dogs-tiny bladder school of thought - I don't get it. So what if their bladders are small, the whole dog is small. Everything should be portional. 

I think I am with the 'big dogs think the whole house is their kennel while little dogs think just a room/area is' people. 

Meh... whatever. Jack is worth buying the BIG package of paper towels and the HUGE container of white vinegar from BJs.


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## luv3havs

You've heard it all, but I'll add a short postscript.
My dogs are 3, 4, and 7. None of them "go" in the house.
If they do take longer to house train as puppies, it is still worth it to live with a Havanese.They are wonderful companion dogs.


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## Diann

Oh such good news. I feel a lot better after reading yours posts. Thank you for sharing. It's been a long time since I had a puppy to train; our choc. lab died this last October at 12 years old. I do remember, though, that moment when I realized he and I were "talking" in body language and that's how he always let me/us know he had to go out. He never did bark or go to the door...he just had this expression, tilt of the head or something that we learned meant it was time to go outside. 

You've helped me to remember that relationship with a dog is all about non-verbal communication and consistency! Thank you.


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## ls-indy

Diann - I was also afraid about smaller dogs being more difficult to potty-train - but it hasn't been that way at all! (I'm the one who posted the link to the Rascal Dog Litter Box)

I TOTALLY agree with Susan and Linda about having a breeder who works with the puppies at an early age. Daisy and Beau were exposed to a dog litter box with K-9 grass and she also has a "doggie door" and they were exposed to outdoor grass surfaces. I think that made all the difference in my experiences with potty training. I would suggest you choose your breeder carefully. Ask LOTS of questions about their puppy training procedures and VISIT them. I used to go up to see Daisy and Beau every week or so until they were old enough to bring home.

Another example of something our breeder does: I am able to easily cut Daisy and Beau's nails - because their breeder makes a point of handling each puppies paws every day and applies slight pressure to their toes so they are accustom to having their toes held to cut nails! That has saved me a ton of trouble!!


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## HavAPuppy1

Amelia is 7 months and potty trained. She has been that way for awhile now ::knock on wood::. We use a pee pad with her, and she will run all around the apartment and then quickly run to the pee pad, pee and then right back to playing. We continue to praise her even though she is consistent. At night she sleeps in her crate and typically does not have to go during the night. But if she does she will whine and wake me up - i take her to the pee pad, she goes, and then its back to bed. Actually just the other night she woke me up for a drink at 2 in the morning. I gave her a drink and proceeded to tell her that waking me up to pee - not a problem, waking me up for a drink - not going to happen. She hasn't done that since then. haha.


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## Laura Millard Ross

*Tony and Milo--Question!*



Tony & Milo said:


> I will chime in since we are in the middle of house breaking my two pups. They are 8 months old at the end of this month. Even though there are frustrations and lots of hard work I would do it all over in a heartbeat! It is like having a new born baby. It is a lot of work and you have to be prepared for that. Consistency and patience is the key - two things we did not always do. I think it is harder when a whole family is trying to help out opposed to just one person being in command of the house breaking. Also I do agree that an indoor potty pad type of a thing along with going outside would be good. Unfortunately I have a DH that will absolutely won't stand for that. It makes it a bit harder when the two adults in the house are not on the same dog wave length!!! I think it is great that you are asking the questions and preparing yourself should you decide to get a wonderful Havanese puppy! They are so worth it.


I know this is an old post and you may not even be on the forum anymore, but I have some questions  We are getting our puppy from VanCorts in July (same place you did, right?) I know the breeder uses pee pads, but my husband, like yours, is just not into that. Can you tell me how you transitioned and potty trained your pups? Thank you so much!


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## RonniB

Having had a chocolate lab as well, we were a little concerned at first about our ability to get Melo trained. But, he was litter box trained at his breeders, and made the transition to our pad system quite quickly. He's 17 months old now, and is reliable in the house and has been for quite some time. The only time he isn't is when my boys (ages 12 and 13) are with him alone. They don't pay attention to his signal.

He's a small dog, so he needed to go out more frequently and couldn't hold as much as the larger dog could. And, everyone in the house needs to be on alert because even at almost 2 years old, if he has to go and no one is watching him, he will have an accident. That I blame on my 2-legged kids and not the 4-legged kid. :smile2:


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## krandall

RonniB said:


> Having had a chocolate lab as well, we were a little concerned at first about our ability to get Melo trained. But, he was litter box trained at his breeders, and made the transition to our pad system quite quickly. He's 17 months old now, and is reliable in the house and has been for quite some time. The only time he isn't is when my boys (ages 12 and 13) are with him alone. They don't pay attention to his signal.
> 
> He's a small dog, so he needed to go out more frequently and couldn't hold as much as the larger dog could. And, everyone in the house needs to be on alert because even at almost 2 years old, if he has to go and no one is watching him, he will have an accident. That I blame on my 2-legged kids and not the 4-legged kid. :smile2:


This has been a problem in our house too. With each of them while they were being house trained, if I am home with them, they never have an accident. If I leave ANY of the guys in charge... Husband or sons, I come home and hear that the puppy had an "accident". (Read... "I was paying absolutely NO attention to the puppy sitting patiently at the door until they finally couldn't hold it any more." ) worst have been a few times that I've returned to hear about an accident when they have locked said puppy AWAY from access to their litter box! Oy Vey!

I think it's a credit to the dogs that they DO eventually figure it out in spite of these inconsistencies.


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## Tony & Milo

Laura Millard Ross said:


> I know this is an old post and you may not even be on the forum anymore, but I have some questions  We are getting our puppy from VanCorts in July (same place you did, right?) I know the breeder uses pee pads, but my husband, like yours, is just not into that. Can you tell me how you transitioned and potty trained your pups? Thank you so much!


Yes we got our pups from Van Corts in 2010. They are litter mates. They will be 6 in August of this year and we have learned so much about these little dogs. We may have had a little bit of an extra hard time potty training them because of having two of them at the same time but I don't know. Just a hunch. It is doable but I would say it will take upwards of closer to a year. I wish someone would have told me that and then I would not have had to wonder what we were doing wrong every few months when they were making progress but not fully potty trained. I think little dogs just take longer to train. The dog litter and puppy pads did not work for us. We also tried diapers, poochie bells by the back door and watching for them to give us ques that they had to go that did not work either. Bottom line - we took them out every two hours during the day when they were not in their crates. In the first month or so they are just like babies and I got up with them every three hours at night. But that night part was only for a month. Their bladders are so small. During this time we kept them mostly to the tile part of our house. We got a training clicker that you can get from the pet stores and liver treats. The holy grail of dog treats. We reserved the liver treats for potty only. We put them on a leash and walked them out - did not carry them out. Directed them to the potty place in the lawn, gave the command and clicked the training clicker the minute they started to squat to go potty. After they were all done then they got the liver treat. Even if they would only piddle they got the click and then the treat. We would cut off their water after dinner time so they would have time to empty a few times before crating at bed time. Consistency is the key and it helped when I took the potty training over. Same routine, same command, etc&#8230;. Once they were on their way after a few months I trained the humans to let them out!!! We all had the same routine and same command. It was right around the 1 year mark that there were week stretches of no accidents in the house. Even now - at almost 6 years old - they don't give very obvious clues of when they need to go out. Like one pup may stare at me for a little longer and when I ask if they need to go they go towards the door. No ringing poochie bells or barking by the back door. But most of the time we still take them out every 3-4 hours. It is just habit now. When I was waiting for them to give me a signal I got so frustrated because they would never really do that. I thought I was doing something wrong but I think it is just the small dog thing. I am no dog trainer I just know what finally worked for us. Good luck with it all and let me know if you have any other questions. If I can help someone from the frustration of potty training - it is a good thing!! And I must add that all the frustration you may have during the first year is so worth it in the long run. These Havanese are fantastic dogs. I would do it all over in a heart beat!


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## krandall

Everyone has a different experience, of course, but all three of mine (from two different breeders, and one not related to the other two at all) ALL slept through the night within a week of getting home. And during that whole first week, I think I got up with them no more than once or twice. When I say they slept through the night, I mean from 10PM to 7AM. I was pleasantly surprised with all three that way.

And spas far as a signal, both my older ones have very clear (if different) signals when they need to go out. kodi's is a single, deep bark, Pixel's is by scratching on the door. We'll just have to see what Panda develops. What I have noticed with her is she tends to go out when they other ones do. So it may be that like a younger child, she is slower to come up with a way to "tell" us she needs to go, simply because she doesn't have to... She just follows the other ones out.


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## PaulineMi

We've had our 12 week old puppy for 2 1/2 weeks now. Luckily she's slept through the night from 10 P.M. til 6 A.M. since day one. She was trained on pee pads so we're currently continuing with that method. I watch her like a hawk and have the pads in her x-pens and by the sliders out to the deck and patio. 

Lola is unbelievably responsive to my encouragement to use the designated areas when I notice her sniffing around. She gets tons of praise and treats. She'll even run to her pee pad, look at me, do her business then run with me to the fridge for her treat. 

My experience in this short time with my puppy is that she LOVES praise and treat rewards. She's a devil on wheels and we don't have a fenced yard as we live on a lake. Transitioning her to going outdoors consists of a pee pad outside near the door with me taking her out on a fine cotton long line downstairs. Upstairs we can let her out to run free on the raised deck where we also have a pee pad. We want to keep her used to using a pad for visits to family with unfenced yards and hotel stays.


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## Boogs

Boogie was pretty much fully housetrained at around 6 months. Bell training seemed to help a lot with housetraining him. The only accidents he seems to have now are if his tummy is upset (he loves to eat snails and other yucky things), and when we come home from work he will "happy pee" a little bit which is just a dribble while he is jumping around saying hi.

We have had ups and downs where we think he is housetrained and then he starts having accidents again. But those periods of time where he seems to forget his housetraining are becoming shorter and shorter.

If you are a persone who will be leaving your dog alone for big stretches of time you will have a lot more accidents with a small dog... Boogie still can't hold it for more than 5 or mayyyybe 6 hours, tops.


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## krandall

Boogs said:


> If you are a person who will be leaving your dog alone for big stretches of time you will have a lot more accidents with a small dog... Boogie still can't hold it for more than 5 or mayyyybe 6 hours, tops.


Except that's no excuse for accidents... If you need to leave your dog for longer than they can hold it, they should have an indoor potty option. And I honestly don't think ANY dog of ANY size or breed should be made to hold it for more than 5 or 6 hours (during the day...nights, while they are asleep is different). Even if they can, it's not good for them to have to.


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## Boogs

krandall said:


> Except that's no excuse for accidents... If you need to leave your dog for longer than they can hold it, they should have an indoor potty option. And I honestly don't think ANY dog of ANY size or breed should be made to hold it for more than 5 or 6 hours (during the day...nights, while they are asleep is different). Even if they can, it's not good for them to have to.


Boogie does have an indoor option, he only has indoor accidents there if he's been alone for 5 or 6 hours or so; he seems to really hate going inside but at the 6-hour mark it's kind of inevitable.

I agree with you that it's not good to make a dog hold it for a long time; I was only making that comparison because I was thinking about the golden retriever I had as a child; she was so afraid of rain that she would hold it all day for a total of about 8-12 hours just to avoid going to the bathroom in the rain. It wasn't good for her but we couldn't force her to potty outside or inside. But I agree, if someone is leaving your dog alone all day then they have to consider that it may have to potty indoors at times - I just think it's easier for a bigger dog to hold it for long periods of time voluntarily, if they ever need to.


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## krandall

Boogs said:


> Boogie does have an indoor option, he only has indoor accidents there if he's been alone for 5 or 6 hours or so; he seems to really hate going inside but at the 6-hour mark it's kind of inevitable.
> 
> I agree with you that it's not good to make a dog hold it for a long time; I was only making that comparison because I was thinking about the golden retriever I had as a child; she was so afraid of rain that she would hold it all day for a total of about 8-12 hours just to avoid going to the bathroom in the rain. It wasn't good for her but we couldn't force her to potty outside or inside. But I agree, if someone is leaving your dog alone all day then they have to consider that it may have to potty indoors at times - I just think it's easier for a bigger dog to hold it for long periods of time voluntarily, if they ever need to.


But if he has an indoor potty, it's certainly not an "accident" if he uses it? He is appropriately using the potty provided for that purpose, right?


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## Boogs

krandall said:


> But if he has an indoor potty, it's certainly not an "accident" if he uses it? He is appropriately using the potty provided for that purpose, right?


Good point, you're right - we shouldn't be calling that an accident.


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## AbrilsMama

Well we have decided that Abril is going to be a big sister. Hopefully I will bringing the puppy home the beginning of September. Her name will be Gabriela, will probably call her Gabby as we call Abril Sweet Pea. This has been such a wonderful thread to learn from. We bought Abril when she was 4 from a breeder and she was already potty trained. What a wealth of suggestions. I am not as stressed about this issue and I know that these little ones pick up the stress level of the one who works with them. Thank you all for such a wonderful site...


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## bmshoaf

*Housebreaking takes time and perserverance, but it is achievable.*



Diann said:


> I have serious concerns about this potty training issue Havanese dogs/puppies seem to have. I have been researching them and they seem ideal; they I find this forum and it's post after post about not being able to potty train them. Are there any success stories or do they all take forever to train?


Yes, I can assure you that there are success stories in Havanese housebreaking. We brought our little girl home when she was twelve weeks old. By eleven months of age, Bailey was totally and completely reliably housebroken. She uses the doggie door when the weather is nice and a pee pad when the weather is awful. She is reliable even when we stay in hotels. I always provide a pee pad but to date she waits until I take her outside to do her work! That's the good news.

Now for the "bad news." For months, I literally had to watch her like a hawk, take her to her "spot" and reward her with happpppy praise coupled with treats. The nights were the hardest. She would wake me up three or four times scratching on her kennel wanting to go outside. We live where there are bears, cougars, raccoons, bobcats, etc.--I had to go out with her every time she needed to go potty; hence, she is pee pad trained, too.

Bailey, is our first Havanese. Our five previous dogs were a Brittany, collie, Springer spaniel, keeshond & sheltie. Housebreaking was so easy that it didn't even register on an "issue" scale. But, as much as I loved my other dogs for their breed temperaments, characteristics, and beauty, I love our little Bailey the Havanese! Every breed has it's own set of challenges, just like us humans, we just have to decide on the tradeoffs that fit our lifestyle.


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## Laura Millard Ross

Thanks so much! You're making me nervous...I had no idea it would take so long to train them! Oh well! We'll figure it out


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## Autumn

Da Vinci is 9months and goes out 99% of the time also has wiz dog indoor potty he will use if we don't get message to take him out. Good luck!


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## krandall

Laura Millard Ross said:


> Thanks so much! You're making me nervous...I had no idea it would take so long to train them! Oh well! We'll figure it out


It doesn't take that long with all of them... Each one is an individual. Kodi was reliable by 6 months, Pixel trained so quickly and easily that I barely remember it.

Panda is being more of a challenge in the pee department (she's 7 months now) but for her, it has been complicated by two UTI's. I have this strong feeling that there has been some "superstitious learning" with her regarding the discomfort of the UTI and her litter box. For several days, she was uncomfortable enough that she was peeing ALL the time. We were camping, and couldn't take a chance on her peeing all over the camper, so we had to keep her either in her crate or outside or on our laps. Even since she's been feeling better (she just finished her last dose of ABX this morning), she is refusing to use her litter box. If I get her out often enough, we're OK, but if I let her go even SLIGHTLY too long, she pees on the kitchen floor. But I'm not concerned... I'll stay on top of it, and I'm sure she will become reliable eventually.

The really important thing is that if you want a reliable dog (and this is true of most toy breeds) you MUST confine them to only as large a space as they can be successful in, and you MUST be consistent in their training. If you do those things, you will be successful... whether it takes a longer or shorter time. If you don't, you can end up with a life-long unreliable dog. Oh, and with small breed dogs, I am totally convinced that giving them an indoor potty option is one of the BEST things you can do to avoid accidents. It gives them an acceptable alternative for those times when you might not notice they need to go out or might just not be home.


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## Ollie"s Mom

Housebreaking my two has not been an issue. I admit I am at home all the time which makes it much easier. Oliver our oldest, he is now two, was totally reliable by 5 months and little Hershey, who just turned 5 months seems to be following in his big brothers footsteps. He goes to the door and knows his command word and goes in his designated area. He has had one accident in the last little while and it was not his fault it was my sons fault. The accident was at the door when I was not in the house and he was "watching" him. The dog had obviously been waiting at the door and he didn't notice. I don't blame the dog for that one. I have not had an issue with him for a long time. Since he was 14 weeks he has been very consistant with me.


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## krandall

Ollie"s Mom said:


> Housebreaking my two has not been an issue. I admit I am at home all the time which makes it much easier. Oliver our oldest, he is now two, was totally reliable by 5 months and little Hershey, who just turned 5 months seems to be following in his big brothers footsteps. He goes to the door and knows his command word and goes in his designated area. He has had one accident in the last little while and it was not his fault it was my sons fault. The accident was at the door when I was not in the house and he was "watching" him. The dog had obviously been waiting at the door and he didn't notice. I don't blame the dog for that one. I have not had an issue with him for a long time. Since he was 14 weeks he has been very consistant with me.


Can't tell you how many "accidents" in our house have been caused by male family members not paying attention to a dog needing to go out... In some cases, locking them AWAY from litter boxes at the same time!!!


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## Ollie"s Mom

Yep, I agree, I will go out to the garage or the yard and say, watch the puppy like a hawk you don't have a huge window if he is signaling. I get a yeah, yeah, we know and what do you think happens. My son is 31, not like he is a child, no excuses. My husband is actually worse.


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## sesa70

Maybe we have been extremely lucky, but Romeo is now 6 months old and 100% reliable in the house. it took A LOT of work on my part, I was taking him outside to potty in the middle of our cold midwestern winters every half hour, but it paid off. I kept him tethered when I wasn't immediately by his side watching him like a hawk. By the time he was 4 months old he didn't have any more accidents in the house.


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## Chocdiva1

My Ava was doing well until i got sick in Oct.
Ava is 9months, got her at 12 weeks
She/WE were doing well until I went away to Mexico, caught a bug got sick and was in bed 19 days, she stayed with sitter who allows her to do whatever she wanted...
So I have had to start allover again.
going out every 2-3 hours
My problem is my house is rather large and it takes some time to get to front door, where she sees everyone and barks and wants to play, but the potty area is closer.
Or I have to let her out back where it is fenced but she must run down steps, past the pool-she likes to stop and sniff if, then to grass area.
Sometime she runs straight to grassy area out back does her business and is fine other times I catch her playing and not going unless I walk her out there and stand with her.

We have also discovered that she has been going potty in the outdoor kitchen area, so must take her outback and walk down to area where I want her to potty in the dark, rainy and cold.
Can anyone suggest some success stories about potty litter and training dogs-yes ,No, litter brand, litter box.?

i keep her in an ex-pen with puppy pads at one end when we are not home, but she shreds the pads!!
I am seriously considering other solutions for training, litterbox, my light blue colored puppy pad holder allows her to remove the pads and shred them, there is no grate for the top?!


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