Potty training can be a nuisance with these dog breeds!
Welcoming a puppy into your house is an amazing experience, but any pet parent will know that it can be a difficult thing too.
The first several months of having a dog aren’t just cuddles and playtime—responsible owners will take this time to patiently train their furry companions, and that includes potty training.
This will never be the easiest process to go through—even pups that are easier to housebreak will still need patience from their owners.
How difficult it is to potty train a dog depends on many factors, and breed can surely play into how well a puppy responds to housebreaking, as some breeds are more obedient than others.
According to experts, it usually takes 4-6 months for a dog to be fully house-trained, but some dogs may take up to a year. Moreover, size can be a predictor. For example, smaller breeds have higher metabolisms and smaller bladders and require more frequent trips outside.
Your dog’s previous living conditions are also another predictor. You may find that you have to help your new furry companion break old habits in order to build more desirable ones.
We’ve done some research, and we’ve rounded up some of the most difficult dog breeds to potty train. If you’re thinking of getting a puppy, you’ll want to read this article!
Have you ever had to potty train a puppy? Did you have a hard time with them? Share your stories in the comments down below!
58 Responses
So where’s the article I’m supposed to read??
You completely forgot the dachsaund. They are incredibly hard if not impossible to housebreak.
My shihtzu was extremely easy to housetrain. I was working full time, too. She was 9 weeks old when we got her. I had her in a pen with pee pads which she used. Then after a few months she could be out of the pen and continued to always use the pee pad. And then I finally eliminated the pee pad. She always lets us know when she needs to go out
excellent article, thanks.
My Shih Tze was impossible to train! He must have had a large bladder. Once I figured out that he did not need to pee every 2 hours, but more like 4 hours, he improved. We were given a chiweinie puppy when Simba was 5. He became immediately house broken, and only had issues if it was raining too hard.
I’m on my 4th basset hound and potty training has never been an issue with any of them, they picked up on it right away
Several times, I’ve read your assessments of various qualities regarding a variety of breeds.
I do not agree with the vast majority…having had some of the breeds mentioned here and knowing people who have had others, none of them have had this urinating problem with their pups EXCEPT one man who intentionally trained his terrier to urinate in a captive room — once again, error by a lazy and thoughtless human!
I have a Yorkie and he is excellent about going outside to potty we got him when he was four months and he has done great he just turned one year old in March and he’s done really great and he loves taking baths he’s been excellent
I have had at least 11 Beagles puppies, and older Beagles that were hunters never ha a problem house breaking one. Always had two even three Beagles two brothers at one time.
When I would get a Beagle always had him or her on a dog leash laying near me as I would be on the computer every 15 minutes take the Beagle outside tell the Beagle go Pee Pee, bring the Beagle back in would do this constantly for a week or two following week it would be every 30 minutes then 45 minutes up to one hour.
Never worried about the Beagles doing their business in the house they always let me know when they had to go outside to do their business.
Why did I have Beagles a close elderly man friend of ours belonged to a Beagle club if someone at the club did not want their Beagle I would take the Beagle this friend also raised Beagles when he had puppies he would tell my wife we had to go see the puppies he would tell us that in about 8 weeks we would have to take a puppy as such he would give us a puppy.
Cannot say they (Beagle) can’t seem to nail down housebreaking I never had a problem.
My puli puppy was paper trained indoors in a couple of days. Then we took the newspapers outside where she did her business. Then in a few days we forgot the papers and she went out ever since. It all took a couple of days.
Hungarians say the puli is not a dog, it’s a puli. It’s one of the most intelligent breeds. Unlike other sheepdogs, it herds sheep on its own. No need for the shepherd.
We have two yorkies . They are brothers and are totally different one is five and the other is ten pounds. The small one pees on paper and large one refuses to pee on pads which consists of five pads. They are eight months old and we have them for six. We place pads where he likes to pee and does not help.
What to do if my dog eats grass
What to do if my dog eats grass?
You forgot Italian Greyhounds! When two Iggy moms meet, the first question they ask each other is “Is he housebroken?”
God, I love my Dog (Pitbull/Mastiff). He tells me when he needs to go. He is also more civilized than most human beings, and certainly more than the little furballs listed above.
Couldn’t read article. It disappeared and no way to find it b
What a joke. I looked 3 times and can’t find the 12 breeds.
I had to quit reading! So so wrong! Once I got to Jack Russell I stopped. I have 2 jack Russell since they were pups. 2 months totally potty trained to go outside. Mom had shitzu and so fast was trained to go outside. Your article is so wrong in many ways!!
We have a yorkie and it took us 9 months to get it housebroken. Our dog does not like to be walked and would rather sniff then walk. When our dog was younger it would just lie down when it was tired of walking. To this day and she is 15,she still is not a good walking dog. We love our yorkie but certainly would not get another one.
I’ve had a Chow, and never had a problem with potty training. You just have to be diligent with the training.
i have a pug who omly poops in the house. he pees in the litter box.
I was a Cocker Spaniel owner and mine was very skiddish. He had problems with submissive urination. It was difficult to attach his leash because of this. My Vet advised me to Raise my hand up like I was going to hit him, then bring it down with a treat. That trick is what I used to attach his leash. But once he was house broken, he didn’t have “accidents”, just the submissive urination.
submissive urination is caused by excitement. completely ignore your dog when you come home and when it calms down you can give it attention. don’t make a fuss about leaving the house either. this also helps with dogs that have separation anxiety.
How did you get him to finally be fully housetrained? We have a Spaniel- Terrier. He’s a year old. He is very sensitive like they say spaniels can be. He pees on couches and even BEDS! BEDS that belong to my kids whom are his “people”. He loves the kids SO MUCH. How and why he does this, I’ll never know but I am out of my mind trying to figure out how to break this boy of peeing inside !!!
No vet would ever tell you to raise your hand to a dog you piece of shit.
Great article! And, wouldn’t you know? We live with two Jacks!
I had two Jack Russell’s in my life the last one Lucy lived to be 18 years old. They
were house broken very easy. There was never a problem going in the house!
They are amazing dogs!
I’ve had 4 Schnauzers and all four were easy to train, as a matter of fact they all learned from each other. Out of the 4 only one messed my floor once. All were very smart. I have my last one still alive which is 10 yrs old and has never messed on the floor. Will always wait to go out side.
I have had mix Shih Tzu/poodle puppies and had to take them out six or eight times day and night for the first four weeks and after that the word potty meant something to them and they knew to do it outside where they went each time with me. Very very few accidents after that. A lot of positive rewards verbally helped too.
I took my baby sister’s small Chuawawara after her passing. This dog had been raised with a “doggy door ” which I already had. I THOUGHT she would be easy to potty train. Well, the answer is NO !! I have everything a person could think of to get her potty trained, still after 4yrs of loving this 11-year-old dog she will go out most of the time but still has accidents inside. If it is raining or snowing, I have to keep her in her kennel and I am telling you I truly hate that 😔. I also have a Jack Russell Terier and he was so easily potty trained. I actually had him trained within 3 days of getting him. No he was a outside puppy when I got him,he came from a family that just didn’t want anymore animals. If ANYONE has REAL ANSWERS about how to potty my little old Carrie PLEASE let me know!! I know I spelled her breed wrong LOL but I don’t want to continue with having to keep her in her kennel while my other dog runs free.
Bull! Chows are ridiculously easy to house break! Had mine house broke in less than a week!
WOW! I just knew chihuahua was going to be on the list! We have a rescue chihuahua that was abused because she wouldn’t potty on the pad. 💔😭 Then the lady who got her from the abusive home already had dogs & knew she needed more attention than they could give her & her daughter’s best friend was begging her to give her to her! That was fine, until HER dog killed her grandmother’s dog & then attacked our little dog (before we got her) which took 15 stitches in her neck!!! 😭😭 She was only 10 months old when this happened. Poor baby was traumatized. It just so happens that our anniversary is May 9th & my husband had to go to their house for something & was telling me this when he came home. He said if I wanted her, we could get her that Sunday. I was like Ummmm Nope we’re getting her for our anniversary! He went right back & got her!! She is the sweetest furbaby I have ever met!
I had several pugs and agree they are difficult to house break. My first pug was smaller in size and I was successful in having her litter box trained. Not ideal but a happy compromise as she never wanted to go outside.
I then had a lapses of sanity and adopted three rescue pugs from the same litter-my house wasn’t ever the same! They were in poor health when we got them and I believe we gave them the best life they could have had!
This post/page is so overwhelming with all the ads in the midst of the article. I would never come to this page again because of all the ads, there are more ads than lines fir the article!!!
I had a 13 year old blind, diabetic doxie cocker spaniel mix , who was diagnosed w bladder cancer 6 months and lost her battle 3 weeks ago. She was super sweet, gentle, loveable , and extremely stubborn. She had selective hearing at times.. with lots of love & patience she conquered potty training . It took about 6 months, but I think that had a lot to do with being a diabetic & was abandoned by her previous owners because of it. Yorkie… they are tough for sure!
Excellent information for first time owners
I know all this because in my life I have dogs from the age of 10
Total of 8 dogs that trained and housebroke
Thank you so much 💓 💗 💛 💖 ☺️ ♥️
I love my puppies
lol! I have taken in a breeder rescue. I have a Chinese Crested & Chihuahua. The Yorkshire terrier goes out with the other two most of the time, but at other times she’ll squat right in front of me & pee! I find her very frustrating but I’m sure with the influence of the others she’ll come around.
I had a Puli puppy, you know the dreadlocks dogs. They’re a herding breed. Hungarians consider them the most intelligent dogs. Believe it or not my puli puppy was paper trained in three days. Then we took the newspaper outside where the dog peed. Then took it away. She never made any mistakes henceforth.
Informative article. I have a Mini Bernadoodle, 6 months old. I potty trained him in 3 days. A Doggy door made it so easy. I know a lot of dog owners can’t have a doggy door, but if you can, it’s a Great investment. It eliminated a lot of Stress, both for me & my Fur Baby.
I had a pitbull puppy and in 2 days he learned how to potty. She was amazing.
You are wrong about Chows. I have had 3 chows with all being young when I got them , in fact one was only 5 weeks old. i never had to train any of them as they are such a clean dog they will not potty in their living space . They each seemed to know they were suppose to potty outside.
One of the chows. at a young age spent 12 hours in a crate on an airplane which was much longer than expected due to a mechanical issue. When he finally reached us we took him out of his crate in airport parking lot and he let loose. He had not gone once while penned up but waited until he got out aand he was
ready to burst. Out of all the dogs I had, chows were the easiest.
Some, I agree with, like Afghan. But, I had a Basset, who was house trained and my son has a Shizue who is unless he is sick, then goes to the basement.
The easiest one I had was a Pyrenees mix. She spent her first 3 years as an outdoor dog, coming into the house only when it was very cold outside. She never went in the house and when she became a house dog, it seemed to be instinctual. Never an accident.
Had adopted a Jack Russell, who was very sweet and smart. She was about 10 wks old. I used a crate even though I was always home, just for training, and break for me. We walked outside very often, & she potty trained immediately. No indoor barking, whining, or chewing. NO peeing in house. A sweetheart.
Former owner of Shit Zu who never had accidents.
I had a bichon frises and he was the easiest to potty train. He didn’t mess in the house once from 3 months old to 11 years old. When he started peeing in the house I knew he was sick and took him to the vet, he had diabetes which is common for that breed. He loved being out in the winter. He plowed little paths with his nose and loved to stand on a big pile of snow and bark until he got the neighbor dogs barking. He stand so proud, smiling and wagging his tail like a victory flag. He passed away at 13 from diabetes. I miss him.
So many adds to contend with and such extraordinarily relevant and helpful information, makes it almost labor intensive getting through this article!
Maybe consider your audience and offer some suggestions or work arounds or …..?
I had a puli, the Hungarian dreadlocks sheepdog. Hungarians think this is by far the most intelligent breed. My puli puppy was paper trained inside in no less than THREE DAYS. Then we took her outside, laid the newspaper for her to use. Very quickly she got it that the whole outdoors was OK for her to use.
They mention many hounds and terriers, but I’ve never had troubles with either that I’ve owned. I did have a Chow and he did take awhile, but he was the best dog ever.
I never hear anything about Chinese Crested. How are they about house breaking?
Take this article with a grain of salt. I had a cocker spaniel and never had a problem with her going outside. Also, my sister had a Chow and never a problem. I did have a Min Pin who started going in the house and found out she was diabetic. So make sure you rule out any medical issues.
So bigger dogs are easier to potty train.
Beagle i agree, she was sweet though. Cocker spaniel never a problem. They were both good dogs!
I raised chows for over 30 years. During those years, I didn’t have any problems training the puppies to do their “business”, leashes or commands.
I’ve had 4 Jackson. No problem training the 1st 3. But this 4th one is just like they said pee on the doormat. Even worse is there’s a doggy door she can go literally anytime outside into the fenced yard. Cold nope not going, wet nope not going. This one has been terrible. She’s now 18 months old & will occasionally scratch the door of the rv. Wondering if when we get back to the doggy door if she’ll finally get it? Here’s hoping
I have owned dachshunds for years. Two trained right away while 2 never did. They were so stubborn my last 2 were a little hard but eventually they gave in and finally started going outside. They were 2 yrs old before they gave in.
Nothing said about Chinese Cresteds. Mine was terribly hard to train. I got her very late at 9 months old and she evidently had been very distressed at her previous home. This made it difficult to train her as she was frightened at a raised voice, a raised hand or a raised paper or magazine. Also fly swatters, brooms, etc, etc! I think we need more lessons in things like this for dogs that are adopted and are so frightened from previous households. At 11yrs old she is still a very nervous baby and runs and hides anytime someone new comes into the house. She is a very loving girl to my son and I and we would never replace her for anything! I despise the fact she had to go thru all the garbage before we got her though. How about some help in these areas so the dogs are not taken to the shelter? It’s such a shame there are so many in there.
I have had an American Foxhound, a Chow. They were house trained. We had a Malinois, we got him at from a divorced couple. He was 5 yrs old. And kept outside. We didn’t know he wasn’t housebroken. That took almost 2 years. He was so afraid to come in the house. I’ve had many other dogs and housebroke them all. Some were harder then others.
I had a Beagle/Yellow Lab Mix and she was totally trained in 3 days.