In service dog training, it’s important to be able to tell your dog that this is bathroom time and to hurry up and go to the bathroom. One of the many “first things” we teach our service dogs is to go to the bathroom on cue. We use the words “Hurry up,” to tell the dog that the clock is ticking – this is your chance to go to the bathroom.
This is an essential skill for the service dog, but I find it helpful to teach the family dog to go to the bathroom on cue, too! This is great when it’s raining and you don’t feel like standing in the rain with your dog ’til he decides it’s time to go; for when you’re in the car with your dog and you stop at a rest stop; and for anytime you want to tell your dog that time is limited, he better go to the bathroom now if he needs to go.
How to Teach Potty On Command
It’s super-easy to teach your dog to go to the bathroom on cue. First, decide on a word or phrase. I like “hurry up,” or “do your business,” but you can use any word you want. Next, take your dog outside on a leash. Just as he starts to go to the bathroom, say your cue. All you’re doing at this point, is just pairing the word (or phrase) with the action of going to the bathroom. Say your word when your dog starts going to the bathroom (no matter if it’s #1 or #2). Try to get your words in just as he’s starting to go.
Praise quietly and enthusiastically (too much enthusiasm might make your dog stop mid poo or mid pee!). I don’t use food for this – it just seems to get in the way and muddy the process.
Continue pairing the word with the deed for about a week or two every time your dog goes to the bathroom. Long about the beginning of Week 3, say the word just before your dog does his business. Praise quietly and enthusiastically just like you did before.
Finally, around Week 4 you can start saying the word to cause your dog to go to the bathroom. If you did your homework in the first three weeks, when your dog hears those words, he should start to do his business! Unless, of course, he doesn’t have to go.
Now, you’ve got yourself a really cool tool to tell your dog that this is his chance to go to the bathroom.
Have you taught your dog to go to the bathroom on cue? Please leave us a comment with the word (or phrase) you use.
With our own dogs, we use “Do your business.” Service Dogs of Virginia uses “Hurry up.” I’ve heard other people use “Git ‘r done,” [makes me laugh] and “get busy.” What else have you heard?
I tell Elka “smoke ’em if you got ’em”
I love it! I sometimes say a version of this “Poop ’em if you got ’em.” I’m not quite right… 😉
I’m so un-clever: “go potty” is our cue.
Our cue is “Let’s go potty outside”.
I never saw this addressed so I use “hurry up” when I want Honey to pee and “find a spot” when I expect she needs to poop. I’m hoping that when we move onto a boat this training will pay off.
Hey, “go potty” is exactly what you want ’em to do! I think it’s great.
I’ll bet it’ll really pay off for you, Pamela! I would love to live on a boat. Do you need a dog nanny? LOL.
This is awesome advice! I’ve been trying “do your business” with Tavish… I think we’re still in the early stages though.
“Better go now.” 🙂
Yeah, really awesome! teaching a dog to be putty trained one is not easy as it looks.
I like to use the phrase “it’s bathroom time”, is that would be okay?
I also found that it’s best to stick close to the house as another signal that says “this is a quickie, not a morning stroll”.”Go peepee honey” is my phrase.
Yep, that’ll work, too!
Been doing something very similar to what you’ve described here but with no success yet – is it worth starting over and lowering expectations/not expecting on-cue behavior for more weeks? Can you start over but keep the same cue word? Thought I was doing it right but starting to wonder if I’m not, and maybe should begin again from scratch.
We take him into the front yard (usually not the back, the dogs on the other side of the fence bark and growl a LOT at us, and it makes his reluctance to go much worse. However it doesn’t seem to matter how often we take him out, or how long we wait with him, he’ll only go when and where it suits him, and most of the time that’s NOT on our lawn. He’s much more keen on other locations, and not just for marking – he holds it so long that when he does let it go, it goes and goes and goes… 59 seconds is the current record. (Yes, the vet knows, and as far as she can tell, it’s not caused by a medical problem, he’s just a little nuts.) He’s a rescue, and was found in a too-small crate after being left there for who knows how long, before being taken away and nursed to health by a foster.
Anyway, when he finally does start to go, I say “Potty” and generally repeat it every 5-8 sec or so while he’s going, but then he doesn’t want anything to do with me afterward, neither treats nor praise, he just wants to be left alone. Which has made reinforcing the behavior difficult. He’s been with us a month, wondering if he’s still just worried/missing his foster, not trusting/bonding with us very well yet, or being obstinate for the sake of it… though to his credit, he’s only had one accident inside. Happened right as we were coming in from a very long would-be potty break, ironically. Not sure what I’m doing wrong, mostly just hoping to help this poor dog relieve himself!
Hi Diana, thanks for the comment and question. What an interesting situation. If you’ve had him only a short while, I’d say keep at it. It can take some time for the dog to settle in and start to feel comfortable, begin to “gel” in the new home/living conditions, and feel a sense of stability. The more consistent you can make the environment (by keeping up your good routine, saying “potty,” etc.), the faster his adjustment will be. If you can find a spot he goes more often, you can start to take him there every time and waiting for him to go. If he doesn’t go, simply take him back inside, leash him to you (or crate him) for 15-20 minutes and try again — same spot, same routine. Hopefully a couple weeks of solid routine will help…
Don’t know if this is still an active thread (I am posting in 09/2017).
You may be doing this backwards? I.e., you should wait for the behavior, then mark it with the praise/command/click. When I took clicker training, I seem to recall that being patient and rewarding _offered_ behavior was best of all. I have just begun trying to get our two-year old rescue to pee/poop on command. It would be _so_ helpful when it rains, no?
After learning potty on cue, how do you teach the dog to tell you when he needs to go potty when out in public?
I just say the word and the dog does the behavior if he has to go. ?
Hello, my dog already go to the bathroom when I mention the word, but twice he has tried to poop in the supermarket, does his age matters? He is only 4 months. Thanks
Hector, I think it depends on the dog. I had a lab who could easily have been taken to the store at 4 months with no “accidents.” I have a pekingese who at 8 months no way would I have trusted anywhere except the back yard. He was at least 9 mo- 1 year before he could be considered housebroken. Some dogs are easy to train, some aren’t.
If your pup is going to the bathroom in an inappropriate place, it means he may not be totally housetrained yet. I’d wait another month or two to take him back in public locations such as the supermarket.
have trained all three of my dogs to pee, do your stuff, and poop, do number 6. Take them to a spot, point at it and give the command, When they go praise them. Puppies normally poop no long after they eat. Take em out an train them then. After you give the command don’t do anything else till they go, then praise them. I also do the hurry up thing with the command. Then take them for a ride so they understand. My current dog now goes to the back door when I say go for a ride, if she has to use the restroom. Goes to the garage door if she doesn’t.
When I’m out and about and my dog barks at me. I ask her if she has to do her stuff, or do number 6. Whichever she bark if she has to go and if not I keep going down my list of dog things to find out what the bark was for.