Can I Teach Your Dog to "Go Potty" on Command? Yes, But Should I?
Controlling another being’s bladder isn’t fun for everyone. photo: AdobeStock, BayWoof
As a dog trainer and behavior consultant, I get this question all the time, usually from new puppy parents: Can you teach my dog to go to the bathroom on command?
The answer is yes. It's actually one of the easier things to train. Teaching the cue itself doesn't bother me. What gets my hackles up is the assumption that a dog should go when we tell them to and otherwise hold it until the next scheduled potty opportunity. Just because we can train something doesn't mean we should.
Of all the animals humans have domesticated (cows, horses, cats, parakeets, guinea pigs), dogs are the only ones we expect to eliminate on our schedule. We don't ask a cat to hold it until we say so. We definitely don't ask a horse. Imagine telling a toddler they can only use the bathroom two or three times a day, and then only when you give the signal. That's basically what most dog owners expect from their dogs.
We already control almost every aspect of our dogs' lives. We decide when and what they eat. We decide who they get to interact with. Some dogs spend their whole lives on the end of a six-foot leash and never get to run, dig, or explore. Deciding exactly when they're allowed to pee or poop - on a schedule, like clockwork - adds another layer of control foisted on an animal who already has very little say in anything.
House Training Is Different
House training teaches a dog not to eliminate indoors, the same way we teach a cat to use a litter box. That's reasonable and necessary. What I'm talking about here is different: expecting a dog to hold it until a human decides it's time, and if they can't, assuming something is wrong with them (or worse, punishing them for not being able to hold it).
There are plenty of good guides out there for house training a puppy or newly adopted dog using supervision, management, frequent bathroom opportunities, and rewards rather than punishment. But it’s worth remembering that house training takes time. It is completely normal for a puppy to still have accidents at six months old, and some puppies take considerably longer to become reliably house trained. A newly adopted adult dog may also need time to learn the bathroom routine in a new home.
A puppy who has accidents at 4-5 months doesn't mean they're stubborn or defiant - they are still learning. Puppies need frequent opportunities to go, rewards when they get it right, supervision until they're reliable, and accidents cleaned up without punishment.
Why Punishing Accidents Can Backfire
I've seen the flip side of house training go wrong in ways that have nothing to do with cues or commands. Some dogs who get scolded for accidents indoors don't automatically learn "Don't go inside." Instead, they learn "Don't go in front of my person."
I've worked with dogs who will get through an entire two-hour walk without peeing, then come home, sneak behind the couch, and go there instead. The owner is thinking, Seriously? You had two hours outside to do this. But to the dog, it makes perfect sense. They've been yelled at or punished for peeing in front of their person so they learn to wait until no one is watching.
That's the problem with punishment and corrections in general. Even when your timing is perfect, you can't guarantee the dog makes the connection you intended. You don't get to choose the association the dog makes, and you often don't find out what that is until days or weeks later when the consequence shows up sideways.
How Long Should a Dog Have to Hold It?
There isn't one correct bathroom schedule for every dog. A healthy adult dog can generally hold their urine for about three to four hours when they're inactive, but active dogs may need to go more frequently. A healthy adult dog typically urinates about three to five times a day. Puppies need to go much more often and older dogs may, too.
A dog who's drinking more because it's hot outside, exercising harder than usual, has an upset stomach, is taking certain medications, or simply isn't feeling well may need even more bathroom breaks. Urinary tract infections can cause urgency and frequent attempts to urinate, while conditions including diabetes, kidney disease, and Cushing's disease can cause dogs to drink and urinate more than usual. The schedule that worked yesterday isn't necessarily the schedule your dog needs today.
Don't treat a bathroom schedule as a test of obedience or good training. The dog who suddenly can't make it until the usual 5 p.m. walk may not have forgotten their house training. There are likely other issues in play.
That’s why it’s important to pay attention to any sudden change in a previously house-trained dog's bathroom habits. If your dog suddenly needs to urinate more often, has accidents, strains, produces very little urine, or otherwise changes their normal pattern, call your veterinarian for a check up as soon as possible.
We all know how uncomfortable it is to be stuck somewhere when you really have to go (the airplane seatbelt sign is on, you're trapped in traffic, the bathroom line is long). Now think about how you’d feel if this wasn’t an occasional inconvenience, but part of your everyday life. Imagine if your entire existence was organized around someone else deciding when you are allowed to use the bathroom. Maybe you get an opportunity at 7 a.m., another at noon, again after work, and one before bedtime. If you need to go at 11 p.m, too bad.
Most of us would find this completely unreasonable. Yet for many dogs, that's simply the arrangement. They don't have access to a toilet. All they have is access to a person who controls the door.
Setting Dogs Up for Success Indoors
If you have a small dog and live in an apartment, giving them access to an indoor potty option is an easy fix through a real sod delivery service or fake grass pads with a tray underneath. Personally, I prefer sod or a dedicated grass setup over potty pads because pads can sometimes confuse dogs into using other soft, absorbent surfaces like rugs and bathmats.
If you have a backyard, installing a dog door solves the problem fairly easily. If you live in a city apartment, dogs can be trained to use a shower or bathtub as a potty, which is pretty nifty if you don’t mind the cleanup. Even a small apartment balcony can become an outdoor potty station with the right setup.
Another option is teaching your dog to ring a bell, press a button, or otherwise signal when they want to go outside. That gives them a way to tell you they need a bathroom break instead of relying entirely on you to decide when it's time. Just remember that some dogs quickly discover the bell also works when they simply want to go outside to nose around, which is actually useful information, too. If your dog is asking to go out, that’s a need or preference worth paying attention to, not a trick to outsmart you.
Dog ownership as we practice it in the United States is also a relatively recent arrangement. Even a generation or two ago, many pet dogs had far more freedom to move through yards and neighborhoods on their own. Compared to other countries, our new tightly managed household pet dog is actually the exception. Roughly 70-80% of the world's dogs are free-ranging, including village dogs, street dogs, and loosely owned dogs. Worldwide, most dogs don't live lives in which a human controls every meal, interaction, outing, and bathroom break.
That doesn't mean training a potty cue is useless. My own dogs all know "Go potty," and it comes in handy. My last Chihuahua flew with us frequently, and she learned to squat on a stack of paper towels in the airport bathroom on cue; in fact, she'd squat even if she didn't actually have to go, just because I asked. At home, when I say "Let's go potty" around 9 or 10 p.m, it’s the cue for one last backyard trip before I shut the dog door for the night (which has to happen; otherwise, the raccoons let themselves in and trash the place).
For road trips, having a cue that communicates “This rest stop is for going to the bathroom, not just a long sniff break" is super useful. I just don't think the cue should replace giving dogs enough chances to go when they actually need to.
How to Teach the "Go Potty" Cue
Here’s how to train your dog with a potty cue, assuming you still want to.
Wait until your dog is already mid-pee or mid-poop, and while they're going, say your cue softly (something like "Go potty") in a calm voice so you don't startle them into stopping halfway through.
The second they're done, treat. That's the whole mechanism: they learn the action predicts a reward because it's paired with something they were already doing anyway.
After enough repetitions, start saying the cue just before you think they're about to go.
You do need to be right there when elimination is happening. You can't just say the cue and then send your dog into the backyard and expect it to stick. And don't treat them for coming back inside instead of for the act itself or you'll end up rewarding the wrong behavior.
Pet dogs already navigate a life we control almost entirely. What they eat, who they play with, when the leash comes off if it ever does. Asking them to hold it until we say so is a big ask on top of a very long list of demands.
So teach the potty cue if it's useful to you. Just don't mistake a full bladder for bad behavior.