I would like to know if anyone has had any experience of toilet training golden retrievers and if so how long did it take? My retriever is nearly 8 months now and we are still getting the occaisional puddle and poo indoors. She knows that she gets praised outside if she goes, when i take her out she goes straight over and does what she needs to, gets clicked and treated and is generally no problem. At night she is always dry although we do get the occaisional poo accident, although no where near as bad as it used to be. (When she was a pup she used to go about 3 times every night and lay in it - very disgusting!) Now it is once during the night every fortnight or so. The biggest problem recently appears to be in the evening. She gets fed at 6pm, and i take her out straight after and she usually goes to the toilet. However every evening recently when i go to take her out around 8pm she has already been inside. Tonight it was two wees, one in the dining room in her usual spot, another by the stairs and a poo in the dining room. We try to shut the dining room door but we sometimes forget. My question is, is it normal for a pup to need to go every hour or so at 8 months, yet this isn't the case after her morning meal or during the day or night - only the evening.

I haven't changed her diet at all recently. However she was getting really good until this last month and i thought she had understood the concept of going outside. I accept that maybe its my fault for not taking her out but surely she shouldn't have to go so often? She was checked by the vet at 6 months as she used to poo about 10 times every 24 hours but nothing abnormal was found, she is a normal weight, and is fed just below the amount reccommended on the dry food packaging.

Some dogs seem to poo less on certain foods (the higher the quality the less poo because there's less vegetable matter).  Alternatively she may be reacting to stress - a new puppy will often trigger this behaviour in an adult dog, or domestic stress such as losing a job, or money worries -e ven heard of one dog who stopped as soon as the long planned for wedding was over.......

hello! i'm sure someone else will come along with a fuller answer soon but our pup (5 months) had a bit of a toilet training relapse in the last 6 weeks/month or so because of the weather - it seemed particularly noticable in the evening: when she's inside, happy pottering around in the warm with the whole family home she doesn't like going outside getting her precious paws wet and cold at all! We had to make sure we took her out lots to pre-empt the accidents and really treat her, make a fuss of her when she did go in the dark.

Just wondered if that might help explain your relapse too?

I have a 4 month old female border collie who has never pooped in the house, but for some reason has insists on wetting on the carpets. (she won't wet on the wooden floor in the kitchen).  When we first got her at 8 wk old, I took her very regularly outside, pre-empting it.  However, although she performed straight away, and was duly praised and given a treat, within five minutes of being back in the house, she wet again, even if it was only a teaspoonful.  I was told not to chastise her but just pick her up and take her outside and praise her if she managed to squeeze a bit more out!!  I understand the logic in not shouting at her as it could make her a "secretive wetter" but if I don't let her know her behaviour is unwanted, how is she going to know that wetting inside is unacceptable.  Surely she will think it is ok to wet in the house as well as outside.  Somebody told me that if she is still wetting inside at 4 months, the habit will be really hard to break.  I never rest when I come home of an evening because I never let her out of my sight.  One eye is on whatever I am doing and one eye is on her!  I am now attempting to toilet train her using the crate.  PS  She has been completely clean all night from nine weeks old, which of course causes me to wonder why she constantly has to keep relieving herself inside.  She evidently has good bladder control when she wants to.

Have you had the vet check she doesn't haveany bladder infection? If that is clear, then you know it's behavioural. She could be trying to get your attention, especially if you're not with her during the day. Is she alone for any length of time? (An hour or two is fine.)

She seems to have learned that, if she squats, even if it's just to squeeze out a few drops, then she has your attention. The kindest way to break this habit is to give her your entire attention when she's awake. Yes, housework will suffer and dinner will be late, but what is more important? When she feels confident and secure she won't need to draw your attention to her. She's still a very young puppy - if she's still doing this at 6 months you can start worrying.
:)

I would go with Jean on the attention seeking, although my dog learned very very early on and hasn't relapsed.
With it being winter and the back door obviously shut she started to knock a plastic bag holder off the handle which signalled to go out, i could hardly hear this and had to have perfect hearing lol, so i had heard that dogs could be trained with a bell.
I bought cat balls with bells inside and tied them together and hooked them on the door (Do i sound daft ;)
Now those bells are constantly ringing!!! food/wee/attention/poo you name it she will ring those bells.

Sarah
p.s She can even play a tune now (just joking) :D