Pooping in house

Hi. I have a 4.5 mth old male Dobie who will poop in the house. Everyday at least once a day he poops in house. He will poop outside but not all the time. I take him out numerous times but still will do it inside. His poop is solid so no don’t think he’s sick. I’m at a lost. My husband is over it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Is there someone home with him or is he alone in the house? Is he crate trained? Do you have a fenced yard or do you have to walk him on leash for pee & poop times? Lots of different reasons he could be doing this. Do you use enzyme cleaners where he poops in the house? If they smell where they've pooped before they tend to use that area again.

Never scold or yell at the puppy or put his face in the poop. They don't have a clue why you are doing that. At this age, if he's not being watched he should be in a crate or a pen. Most dogs, even puppies, will avoid pooping where they have to sleep. IF you see him start to circle & sniff that is a clear sign he needs to go. Leave a collar and leash on him in the house so you can snatch him up and say (happily - not mad!) "Hurry - let's go outside!" and run out with him. Stay with him as long as it takes and when he poops, say Good Potty! Yea! - let him KNOW that he's the best!

I agree with everything said above. We've had a few pups who still had accidents in the house at that age, but once they get it, they usually get it and don't have any more accidents unless they're sick.

Ravenbird said:

Is there someone home with him or is he alone in the house? Is he crate trained? Do you have a fenced yard or do you have to walk him on leash for pee & poop times? Lots of different reasons he could be doing this. Do you use enzyme cleaners where he poops in the house? If they smell where they've pooped before they tend to use that area again.

Never scold or yell at the puppy or put his face in the poop. They don't have a clue why you are doing that. At this age, if he's not being watched he should be in a crate or a pen. Most dogs, even puppies, will avoid pooping where they have to sleep. IF you see him start to circle & sniff that is a clear sign he needs to go. Leave a collar and leash on him in the house so you can snatch him up and say (happily - not mad!) "Hurry - let's go outside!" and run out with him. Stay with him as long as it takes and when he poops, say Good Potty! Yea! - let him KNOW that he's the best!

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I’ve never put my dogs face in pee/poop accidents. I tell him he needs to go outside. Then I take poop and put outside for him to sniff it the next time. He’s not a circler yet/ my other Dobe is- he just walks and stops and goes. From 4am to 8:15 I took him out every 20-30 mins. I caught him getting into position and I said no let’s go poop outside, take him out for almost 20 mins and nothing. Come inside and within 5 mins he pooped. Very frustrating. I don’t know what else I can do…. He is crated when we go to work. I work up the street and come home for lunch. Then I have a dog walker who comes to take him out/walk. We don’t have a fenced yard- just Invisible Fence

Anders said:

I’ve never put my dogs face in pee/poop accidents. I tell him he needs to go outside. Then I take poop and put outside for him to sniff it the next time. He’s not a circler yet/ my other Dobe is- he just walks and stops and goes. From 4am to 8:15 I took him out every 20-30 mins. I caught him getting into position and I said no let’s go poop outside, take him out for almost 20 mins and nothing. Come inside and within 5 mins he pooped. Very frustrating. I don’t know what else I can do…. He is crated when we go to work. I work up the street and come home for lunch. Then I have a dog walker who comes to take him out/walk. We don’t have a fenced yard- just Invisible Fence

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Sounds like you are doing everything right. Keep it up, things will be OK. Some puppies just aren't as quick as others to get dedicated to go outside.

Anders said:

From 4am to 8:15 I took him out every 20-30 mins. I caught him getting into position and I said no let’s go poop outside, take him out for almost 20 mins and nothing. Come inside and within 5 mins he pooped. Very frustrating. I don’t know what else I can do…. He is crated when we go to work. I work up the street and come home for lunch. Then I have a dog walker who comes to take him out/walk. We don’t have a fenced yard- just Invisible Fence

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That would have set me off in a bad way. Would not have beat the dog but there definitely would have been yelling / screaming and a long timeout in the crate. It would have been made very clear to the dog that doing that inside the house like that after I just took them out was NOT COOL.

(exceptions to that rule of mine at end of this post that many here may not approve of with their Dobermans - whatever - My dogs so it is My rules and what I am willing to allow around here)

Generally I don't do that 20 minute long potty break stuff ever. Especially not at 4.5 months of age or older.

When you have a dog on a regular feeding schedule you ought to be seeing a fairly regular pooping schedule to go along with it. I can darn near set my watch by what times of the day my girls are 'ready' to go poop and those breaks take a very few minutes at most. The majority of the time - Pee breaks for both my girls at the same time are less than a minute. We didn't go outside to smell the flowers - We went out there to pee. If they have no pee in that minute then we are going back inside.

First Doberman the wife and I ever had was a puppy during the winter. We didn't pre plan out 'potty words' at the time but it happened to work out that when either of us took that dog to go we would both end up telling it to 'hurry up' as it was doing its potty thing (duh -it was COLD outside!). Summer time the following year comes around and had the same dog out on a potty break, got tired of waiting and told her to 'hurry up' and bigger than life that dog copped a squat and looked over at me (nothing coming out). Dog was trying to communicate that she understood what I was asking her to do but that she just did not HAVE any pee to come out. For me the light bulb lit up that told me that the dog understood what I wanted to see so she 'tried' the best she could.

Dobies are not dumb. They can very easily learn to associate particular words with particular actions (and bodily functions like pee and poop). You would be wise to pick a word (or words) to use every time you see (or expect to see) a pee or a poop and use those same words every time you see the action. Out of habit I always stuck with 'hurry up'. That means pee or poop to MY dogs. If I see one pee I will say 'Good Pee!'. If I see one poop I will say 'Good Poop!'. Again they are not dumb. If you use the same words over and over for the same actions - Eventually they WILL put things together and associate the words with the actions.

As a general rule around here I am expecting that if I do my part (with the words) that they will have potty commands figured out by 1 to 2 yrs of age. A simple potty break should not be taking longer than a few minutes so long as they are on schedule and there are no health issues messing things up.

FWIW - My last rescue dog learned the potty words and began to associate them with the actions in a few months of going on potty breaks with the Dober girls that were already trained to potty on cue. That dog would hear the words and see those girls cop their squats and do the actions and she figured out the association in no more than a few months (monkey see - monkey do training) vs a year or more of that training from nothing with the Dober girls. She was hearing the words - Seeing what they did in response - and THEN seeing the praise they got after performing the requested action and she picked up on it in a heartbeat! (dogs are not dumb)

That rescue got the same exact potty schedule and routine as the Dober girls did from the get go. If it was time to go out they ALL went out at the same time and they all had the same length of time outside to either go potty or not. Blew my mind how fast that dog picked all of that up.


Exceptions to my 'fussing at the dog for crapping in my house' comments above -

Depends on 'where' the accident happens.
Lots of people have small dogs (which make for small pees and poops) and have no problems training them to go on pee pads inside their homes. Not a lot of waste to clean up as compared to a Doberman but consider for a minute how much better it is for the dog if they know for sure that they have a particular spot or area somewhere where accidents will NOT get them any grief. Could be a pee pad, could be a crate, could be a piece of cardboard, could be one room that has a particular tile or surface that separates it from the other rooms.

From day one with my current girls any and all accident in their crates caught them ZERO grief.

I is 100% on board with teaching Dobermans simple stuff like 'where can you have an accident inside my home' and me not be bothered by it things that the smaller breed owners don't hesitate to even think about.

EricA said:

That would have set me off in a bad way. Would not have beat the dog but there definitely would have been yelling / screaming and a long timeout in the crate. It would have been made very clear to the dog that doing that inside the house like that after I just took them out was NOT COOL.

(exceptions to that rule of mine at end of this post that many here may not approve of with their Dobermans - whatever - My dogs so it is My rules and what I am willing to allow around here)

Generally I don't do that 20 minute long potty break stuff ever. Especially not at 4.5 months of age or older.

When you have a dog on a regular feeding schedule you ought to be seeing a fairly regular pooping schedule to go along with it. I can darn near set my watch by what times of the day my girls are 'ready' to go poop and those breaks take a very few minutes at most. The majority of the time - Pee breaks for both my girls at the same time are less than a minute. We didn't go outside to smell the flowers - We went out there to pee. If they have no pee in that minute then we are going back inside.

First Doberman the wife and I ever had was a puppy during the winter. We didn't pre plan out 'potty words' at the time but it happened to work out that when either of us took that dog to go we would both end up telling it to 'hurry up' as it was doing its potty thing (duh -it was COLD outside!). Summer time the following year comes around and had the same dog out on a potty break, got tired of waiting and told her to 'hurry up' and bigger than life that dog copped a squat and looked over at me (nothing coming out). Dog was trying to communicate that she understood what I was asking her to do but that she just did not HAVE any pee to come out. For me the light bulb lit up that told me that the dog understood what I wanted to see so she 'tried' the best she could.

Dobies are not dumb. They can very easily learn to associate particular words with particular actions (and bodily functions like pee and poop). You would be wise to pick a word (or words) to use every time you see (or expect to see) a pee or a poop and use those same words every time you see the action. Out of habit I always stuck with 'hurry up'. That means pee or poop to MY dogs. If I see one pee I will say 'Good Pee!'. If I see one poop I will say 'Good Poop!'. Again they are not dumb. If you use the same words over and over for the same actions - Eventually they WILL put things together and associate the words with the actions.

As a general rule around here I am expecting that if I do my part (with the words) that they will have potty commands figured out by 1 to 2 yrs of age. A simple potty break should not be taking longer than a few minutes so long as they are on schedule and there are no health issues messing things up.

FWIW - My last rescue dog learned the potty words and began to associate them with the actions in a few months of going on potty breaks with the Dober girls that were already trained to potty on cue. That dog would hear the words and see those girls cop their squats and do the actions and she figured out the association in no more than a few months (monkey see - monkey do training) vs a year or more of that training from nothing with the Dober girls. She was hearing the words - Seeing what they did in response - and THEN seeing the praise they got after performing the requested action and she picked up on it in a heartbeat! (dogs are not dumb)

That rescue got the same exact potty schedule and routine as the Dober girls did from the get go. If it was time to go out they ALL went out at the same time and they all had the same length of time outside to either go potty or not. Blew my mind how fast that dog picked all of that up.


Exceptions to my 'fussing at the dog for crapping in my house' comments above -

Depends on 'where' the accident happens.
Lots of people have small dogs (which make for small pees and poops) and have no problems training them to go on pee pads inside their homes. Not a lot of waste to clean up as compared to a Doberman but consider for a minute how much better it is for the dog if they know for sure that they have a particular spot or area somewhere where accidents will NOT get them any grief. Could be a pee pad, could be a crate, could be a piece of cardboard, could be one room that has a particular tile or surface that separates it from the other rooms.

From day one with my current girls any and all accident in their crates caught them ZERO grief.

I is 100% on board with teaching Dobermans simple stuff like 'where can you have an accident inside my home' and me not be bothered by it things that the smaller breed owners don't hesitate to even think about.

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My first Dobe was female, I have a 4 yr old female Dobe (4yrs) and now, a male. My girls learned very quickly to go outside. So I’m not sure if this is a male thing? Takes longer to train? He is on feeding schedule.

My experience...

My female Dobe was potty trained on a leash as I didn't have a fenced in yard when she was a puppy. She was also born in December so it was still somewhat cold when she came home. I've heard many a folk say potty training in winter is much easier because they don't want to linger too long. She was potty trained fairly quickly.

My male Lab was potty trained in a fenced in yard and with an older sister, to boot. He always found ways to be distracted when we were outside so he took a lot longer to potty train. In hindsight, we should've taken just him outside on a leash, let him do his business, then taken him off leash to celebrate or play or get distracted. He was born in March so came home right as summer and nice weather was on the up-swing.

Both have been crate trained since we brought them home so glad to hear you're doing that! Even to this day, my Dobe will pee every time we go outside and my Lab will still occasionally 'forget' and they're 7 and 5, respectively. Being older, it's less of a concern but I'll stay outside and remind him what we're there to do

Lots of threads around potty problems! It is probably the only thing our Doberman made easy on us lol.

Anders said:

So I’m not sure if this is a male thing?

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It probably is a male thing lol. To this day he can be outside playing and never go potty but then comes inside the house and will ask to go back out for potty. We also have to command it if we want him to go “on demand”. Despite being so vocal about so many things, asking to go outside isn’t one of them. He just stands by the door waiting for someone to see and let him out.

Are you using an enzyme cleaner to really thoroughly clean up? they will be able smell the old spots which can trigger them to go inside.

I want to say that Ragnar and Freyja had a long transition period of potty training- Freyja longer than Rag. Was still having potty issues with Freyja well into 4months old. She just didn’t get it, didn’t understand. But stayed true, patient and in the belief that the process will work.

Now if there are any problems, she will come nudge my hand and then move quickly to the door. If it’s is late night, she will come sit next to the head of my bed and lightly whine as in saying, “hey, I don’t want to wake you but I really need to go.” I am very fortunate that is the only time she will whine.

Ragnar never ask to go out now, I think he can’t outlast a two day cold/rain storm…..

Just have to stay and work through it. No showing of anger or frustration- if they don’t understand or get it, you cannot blame them. You will see….once it clicks and the understand, it’s like night and day. As a matter of fact, that’s with any training with a Doberman- we have to figure out how to communicate to them, to get them to understand what we want. Not really their fault if they don’t understand what I am expecting.

Ddski5 said:

I am very fortunate that is the only time she will whine.

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I know this line was for me

Kaiser2016 said:

Lots of threads around potty problems! It is probably the only thing our Doberman made easy on us lol.



It probably is a male thing lol. To this day he can be outside playing and never go potty but then comes inside the house and will ask to go back out for potty. We also have to command it if we want him to go “on demand”. Despite being so vocal about so many things, asking to go outside isn’t one of them. He just stands by the door waiting for someone to see and let him out.

Are you using an enzyme cleaner to really thoroughly clean up? they will be able smell the old spots which can trigger them to go inside.

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I do have some enzyme spray and once dry I have some enzyme carpet powder I sprinkle over it and then vacuum it up. What brand do you use?

Ripley was so easy to potty train. She had maybe one pee accident or two first week and then never again. Always pottied her after eating, playing or sleeping. Always let us know she had to go. I did use the crate a lot if I wasn't able to keep an eye on her which I think helped her learn to tell us via whining.

Revel my boy, god... he would go when let out everytime and was let out often enough for his age and as he grew. For some reason, he still had pee accidents in the house. Had his urine checked, no infection. On cranberry supplement. Used enzymatic cleaner. Also crate trained like Ripley and pottied after eat, play, sleep. Used bells on the door for him and he would use them... still occasionally would suddenly pee on the floor well into 4 months. The times were random and were less frequent. He has finally grown out of that since. Haven't had any accidents since the end of his 4 months age Id say. I think some simply take longer and it isn't through any ones fault, dog or human.

Anders said:

I do have some enzyme spray and once dry I have some enzyme carpet powder I sprinkle over it and then vacuum it up. What brand do you use?

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The whole line of these products are great! Kaiser didn’t have many accidents so I mostly use this to clean the cats litter box.


Can also use vinegar.

I do think, even with a fenced yard, it helps to house break on a leash. That means standing in your robe in the cold at 3am if you have to. That way when they go, praise can be immediate and immediately going back inside after going (especially in nasty weather) is reward too. You can’t have a potty party if you don’t attend the party!

Kswoodssue said:

I do think, even with a fenced yard, it helps to house break on a leash. That means standing in your robe in the cold at 3am if you have to. That way when they go, praise can be immediate and immediately going back inside after going (especially in nasty weather) is reward too. You can’t have a potty party if you don’t attend the party!

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Totally agree! Added benefit is when you travel and they have to be on leash at rest areas or motels they aren't all of a sudden bashful that you're standing a few feet away since they grew up doing business while you stand and watch.

And if you are consistent with verbalizing “go te-te or poo poo” when they are in the act of, then you can actually train the command to use the bathroom. You must do it everytime for like 5k events but it is very worth it.

Before I leave the house I can take them outside and tell them to go te te and they will on command. Poo poo is not that easy but I truly think they understand and will poo if they have too.

Overall a very useful skill/command.

Ravenbird said:

Totally agree! Added benefit is when you travel and they have to be on leash at rest areas or motels they aren't all of a sudden bashful that you're standing a few feet away since they grew up doing business while you stand and watch.

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Yep, I am out there with him in the leash every time he guess. Not trained yet with invisible fence

Rits said:

Ripley was so easy to potty train.

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Rits said:

Revel my boy, god... he would go when let out everytime and was let out often enough for his age and as he grew. For some reason, he still had pee accidents in the house.

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It was just the opposite with Phoebe and Elroy. I don't think she stopped having accidents until she was about 5 months but Elroy was really consistent about going out to do his business. I'm guessing he was litter box trained like a lot of pups are these days at the breeders so if he did go pee inside, it was in something like a laundry basket or hard sided dog bed.

JanS said:

It was just the opposite with Phoebe and Elroy. I don't think she stopped having accidents until she was about 5 months but Elroy was really consistent about going out to do his business. I'm guessing he was litter box trained like a lot of pups are these days at the breeders so if he did go pee inside, it was in something like a laundry basket or hard sided dog bed.

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My girl Patience is most definitely litter box trained. That plastic catch pan in her crate is her go-to spot for any accidents. About the most convenient place for her to have an accident as far as me cleaning it up is concerned.

Her sister has a lot better holding power but the very few accidents she has had are usually about a foot away from outside her crate door. (not actually in the crate)

Either way, I am not complaining. Way better than having an accident on a rug or on the carpet and gives me peace of mind knowing that 'they know' they have a safe place to go 'just in case' it is an emergency.