We have a 3.5 month pup that am having struggles with house training. He is very smart but just will go whenever and whereever. We spend a lot of time, day and middle of night taking him outside and praising his business. But he will still soil his kennel and our carpet. Any suggestions? Our heeler caught on quick but this fella not so much.

Make him an outside dog.

Just keep plugging away. At 3.5 months, most pups are still unreliable, and Labs almost never fail to housebreak. It'll happen....eventually.

That's what mom said about me but . . .

Seems like I spend half the day outside when my pups were tiny. The point is The less mistakes they are able to have in the house, the quicker they got the idea. Mine stay within a few feet of me,(most of the time on lead)or crated, and taken outside about every 20 minutes when awake. Make sure your crate is small, and you clean everything with something that takes the urine/poo smell away. Even after I think they are pretty well housebroke, I still take them out a lot. I just slowly up the time I do it by a few minutes a week.

My dad used to tell me if they poop where they sleep they are idiots. Put them outside.

Maybe he has a urinary tract infection

True,,, It's worth running him to the vet to find out. It's not uncommon in puppies.

Angie

Do you scold him when he goes inside ?

if you can catch them in the act, immediately pick the dog up and go outside, sometimes they will get the idea sooner

If you're using a household cleaner to clean up his messes, it might have ammonia in it, which smells like pee to the dog, so it will keep peeing in the house. The dog-specific cleaners for accidents don't have ammonia and will not smell like pee to the dog.

Labs can be tough but it will happen eventually. The last inside pee we had was after he was house trained, but still young. My buddy brought his female lab over and about 30 seconds into it, while they were still excited over seeing each other and playing, my dog just took a wiz, half like he forgot and half like he was marking. It was odd/funny/frustrating all at once.

The advice to keep him on lead next to you the entire time you're in the house is spot on. He can't handled being on his own in the house so don't give him the opportunity.

Thanks guys, no UTI. When we catch him in the act inside he is scolded and picked up in put in yard where prior biz has been done. He now understands the command potty time and will go to the door. Just still young and learning control, but getting better. Also changed his feed schedule to mid day so potty time happens outside before he goes kennel at night. His water is outside as well, which give him a reason to go out more often. Now that the weather is better he is happy out side as long as I give him some loving and play time frequently. My heeler is actually helping him learn as well. All in all getting better,, no soiled kennels or carpets this past week.

Zues is now potty trained! He is kenneled most night (loves it) and if he has the urge in the middle of the night, which is pretty infrequent now, he will let me know with a few quick barks. Have been training him with e-collar the last few months and it is amazing how quickly he has learned commands. He may be a bit young yet for dove season, but has already shown a soft mouth. Would love your advice on your approach to gun training, have heard so many ideas, but am looking for somewhat of a consensus from the pros here.

Get him in love with retrieving and intro the gun out in the field at a distance. A primer pistol or 22 revolver with blank loads works well for this.

He is only 3.5 months old. Saty the course and give him time. What can you expect from something that was born 3.5 months ago? Go easy, give it time, he doesn't speak English, you have to present what you want in the sense a dog can understand it. At 3.5 months old all he can get in his mind is sleep, food and bite, ohhhh something shiny!!!

Just my thoughts, and I'm by no means a trainer.
Put the ecoller up for now, and take it easy on the obedience until he's a little older.
At that age they will sit, but can't be expected to stay on sit.
They will Here a good amount of the time, but can get easily distracted on their way to you.
You can work on him not sled dogging while on lead, by giving slight sideways taps on the lead, and changing directions. He's not ready to walk at heel, that's later.
Teach him by making it fun, and taking him new places.

If your to tough on them to early, you will have a very obedient couch dog.

Read "Wolter's Family Dog"

The books are about 50 yrs old and nothing better has ever been written.

Oh Please......

Angie

Well I wouldn't say nothing better but Wolter's books certainly will get you where you need go in the majority of the situations most dog owners face. I've got a 12 week old pup and I'm trying to use Evan Graham's Smart works but it seems like I'm not where I was on the two I used Water Dog on. However, like Graham says, I'm not in this to be somewhere fast but for the lifetime of my dog. She deserves her puppy time and I'm in no hurry.