Discussions

So we have a 4 month old puppy! We are having the worst time with him! He pees and poops in the house all the time! We let him out, he comes in and pees! We put him in his crate, he pees! We take him for a car ride, he pees! What can we do?

what kind of dog breed are we dealing with? it may not seem relevant but it is very important information as not all breeds respond to the same kind of training, and that seems to be the issue here. Not that you're doing anything wrong but maybe what your doing does not work with the breed. For some reason it seems that your puppy does not respect you yet. Be patent he's still just a puppy. Your going to need to be taking him outside alone with you, probably every 15 minutes or so. no other dogs or kids to get him exited to take his mind off of doing his business. Best time for him to do business is after a walk after he eats. The walk gets things moving and calms him down. Try to see if you can get him to do his business in one area of the yard that will get him used to only pooping there and not the house.

He is a lab cross Pitt bull!

I agree with Velostar, take out every 15 minutes, etc. Be consistent. Take outside immediately after eating, drinking, after being in crate. Watch for cues. They almost always start sniffing when going to poop. Is the pup peeing when overly excited/playing? Try and watch for the cues of when doing so can take out quickly when you see the cue.  
 
Don't let your puppy free feed. Put the bowl down, after eaten (if any left) take it away until next meal time.  
 
How big is the crate? It should not be much bigger than the pup. If its for an adult size dog block off half of it with a plastic crate or something to make it puppy sized.

had a visit to the vet yet? It is possible that he may have a bladder infection if he is urinating frequently. I would rule that out before you call Cesar.

Puppies take time! Your time, be outside with him when he goes potty and reward him when he does outside. You wouldn't expect your children to go potty alone nor should you with this little guy. dogs re a creature of habit and you need to show your puppy what habit you expect of him. Be patent, I cant express that enough, anger does not train good things in a puppy patience does. Both labs and pitbull's are strong minded dogs and will test you on what they can get away with! it sounds like you need to be more firm with him about pooping in the house. Verbally not physically and please do not put his nose in his mistakes you will only set yourself back by doing that. with a stern voice let him know what he did was wrong , praise him when he does it outside he will get the picture. he's going to be a puppy for two years so enjoy his tantrums because two years go by fast

Take some treats with you when you take him outside. Keep him on a leash until he does his job and treat treat and praise praise praise and let off leash with lots of ply. Also the only time he should be allowed free in the house is when he has peed and pooped outside  
 
A good web site to check out is www.dogstardaily.com  
 
Lots of great advice on that site

Puppies are a lot of work. It takes patience and consistency. What really worked for us was having a consistent schedule for the puppy. The first two weeks was constantly sticking to the schedule.  
As soon as you are up in the morning he has to go out. Stay outside with him until he does his business. Praise.  
Then he comes in to eat. No free feeding. Portioned feeding at regular times. As soon as he eats, out he goes again with you. If there is play time he must go outside right after or even before too. He must be put out to the bathroom before being put in his crate and also when he is let out of the crate. Try to get a schedule going. Write it out on a sheet of paper if necessary so everybody sticks to it.  
As he gets older you will see improvements.

his first 8 weeks at home with the mother? I had major issues with 1 of my earlier pups, because he grew up in the first 8 weeks in his own and other puppies excrement. He would not train to go outside for the longest time and I tried everything. He had outside time every 10 - 15 minutes, crate big enough to turn around and lay down in, submissive roll over and me in his face like the alpha, nose in it (not the best, but when you exhaust everything, you try almost anything....don't suggest it though), to just giving it time. How a puppy is brought up in those first 8 weeks is so critical. This is not to start a purebred vs mutt debate, but after him I will never own a dog that is NOT from a reputable breeder. My past 2 dogs have been a cake walk to train as their 8 weeks were so structured and clean, but I know this doesn't help you.  
Make your dogs crate small enough that they can turn around. Most people start their dogs in a huge crate (I was one of them), but literally all they need is a crate to turn around in. If they can turn around, they can lay down. Be prepared for people to say "oh that crate is too small for your poor dog", I get it all the time (and I have a big dog). His crate is just big enough for him to get in and turn around and he loves being in it (especially the one in my car). If it's too big, it will allow the puppy to do its business without care because they have no concept of size. I've never had an accident in any of their kennels since shrinking the size down.  
This one is hard too, but after you let the puppy out put them back in their smaller kennel. Only allow time out when YOU allow them out. Puppies need structure and if you just allow it to roam the house, it will make it even harder to curb this issue. Give the dog scheduled time out of the kennel for training....but not just to run free. Training is key, especially with this mix breed of dog you have. Labs are so smart they're dumb and just want to work. Throw in the pitbull and you have a smart loyal dog. But it needs to be trained and trained lots. 10 minutes of training every few hours will make a world of difference. But you have to be consistent and make it count and be positive. Do training for 10 minutes, then outside for a pee. Bring back in straight to the kennel for a little while. Bring out of the kennel for 10 minutes of play time and outside again.  
It's a lot of work, but it will work out. You may never be able to leave the dog out of the kennel when you're not home watching it. My 1 dog that I had issues with, was never left out of his kennel when we weren't home because it was too open for him and he would just go (and he was highly trained and loyal). But if we were home, he never had an issue.  
Remember that you'll receive many suggestions on here and some will sound harsh and others will sound weak. Some of my training of dogs is frowned upon by some, while I frown upon some of others training techniques. Each dog is different and you really have to read your dog and know the next one will respond completely differently. Read up on your dog breeds and see what others have done. Mine are very high drive German Shepherds, so my techniques may not work well for yours....but some of it may.  
Good Luck!

How is puppy doing? Some other advice I’d like to give that worked well with us is: close all of bedroom and bathroom doors. Make a border or gate off each room in the house. When you are in living room with puppy he/she only has access to living room etc. That way if pup sniffs, or pees on spot you’ll have better control of correcting this behaviour a sooner than if pup has free roam in house.

I closed all doors also. Pup stayed with me in living room and kitchen only. Mine is a chihuahua, supposed to be virtually impossible to ever train. She completely outdoor trained in 2 weeks, never peed in bed, crate, has pee pad in bathroom where she only pees and poos if needs to indoors. I was so shocked but this really worked.

I had lots of trouble with my Golden. He did not do any jobs inside the house. We would go out right after he ate, and he just could not find the right spot to do anything. He would just sit there and hard to communicate with him. Trying to find the right spot. Finally I got the message, he started to go in the taller grass. And as soon as he did his job, a treat and lots of praise. It worked, but lots of patience and waiting. He is two years old now and still like to go in taller grass, and I will give him praise and sometimes a treat.

He is only 16 weeks old so give it time. Your puppy can only hold his bladder for 3-4 hours max. Crate him when you are sleeping or not home, take him outside as soon as he wakes up, done eating or drinking. Good luck. Puppies are hard work