I made a post on here about a month and a half ago about how my 4 month puppy pees 9+ times an hour. He is now almost 6 months and since then there has been absolutely zero progress. Just today. I’ve been home less than two hours and he has peed on my floor 7 times. I’ve taken him out four times and he’s also peed then. The vet has said there is nothing wrong with him, this is just the way he is. We consistently take him out every 30 minutes and reward him when he pees outside, We also monitor his water otherwise he will literally drink gallons per day. We give him bits of water at a time and he gobbles it up within seconds. It’s hard to monitor his water because we also have another dog that does not need his water monitored. I can’t do it anymore, I finally get home stressed and tired from work just to have to clean pee nonstop and go down three flights of stairs from my apartment to take him out nonstop, I have no time to do anything else. My husband says it’s completely normal for a puppy to pee this much and gets upset whenever I express how frustrated I am with it, I can’t even talk about it. I am so regretful but I also love our dog and animals in general so giving him up is my worst nightmare. I find that to keep my sanity he ends up in the crate most of the time, and I used to be so so against putting a dog in a crate unless to sleep or when we are gone. I have not been happy and have lost most of my motivation or even energy to do anything at all. I know it sounds so dramatic but my life has literally just been piss and pee since we adopted him. And it sucks.

Hi! My husband and I just got our first puppy yesterday. It’s a female golden retriever, that is 11 weeks old. We have been told that she absolutely cannot go outside until after she has her second vaccination. We were told she can’t even be in our fenced in yard.

I’ve been reading a lot about potty training, and have seen that training with puppy pads is not great, and can cause issues later. Is there any way for us to start training her now? We are fine with cleaning up her messes, but I don’t want her starting to think that it’s okay to just go anywhere, anytime. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: I want to make an edit since I see some comments asking about the fenced yard. The yard itself is a front yard, we don’t have a backyard. The fence is more like a concrete wall that’s about 4.5 ish feet tall around the whole thing. Our street is also has a lot of traffic on it, both foot and cars, as our alley connects to a convenience store parking lot

We have a 22 week old dachshund puppy in Brooklyn. We live in a high-rise building in a dense area with lots of trash, food scraps, etc on the street which attracts a heavy rat population. Because of this, our vet told us that in addition to Parvo, that the area is a high risk for leptospirosis. They recommended not allowing paws on the ground outside at all until both lepto vaccines were completed. We finished our second lepto shot 2 weeks ago. Until recently, we did take her places, but always in a bag or held. She only used pee pads in our apartment. I now realize we have essentially trained our dog to only pee in our house.

It has been days of following all the advice. Schedule - first thing in the morning, out to pee. Maybe a quick walk, then always back to the same spot. Stay until she settles. If she doesn’t pee, back in the crate for 10 minutes. Then back out. Repeat 3-4 times. She refuses to pee outside. Yesterday we did this, and after the 3rd time we thought “maybe if we go to the park and she is on some grass she will feel more at ease”. This dog literally did not go to the bathroom at all from sunrise until 3pm. At this point I’m worried we are going to give her a UTI, so we bring her home and as soon as she gets inside she pees a fucking lake on the pad.

We let her relax indoors in the air conditioning for a while after that, then after feeding when I see her circling on our rug, I took her downstairs again to potty. I brought a lightly soiled pad down too. Same spot as always. Refuses to go. We stood there for 30 minutes, would not go. Eventually we walked around the block, went back upstairs… she poops immediately on the pad, still on leash.

Again today, same deal. She refuses to go outside even with the pee pad. I’ve taken her multiple times. I’m starting to go crazy. None of the advice seems to work. The pad was already by our front door. We cant put it in the building hallways or the elevator, the only next step is outside. We live on one of the quietest blocks in the area, I can’t pick a quieter block. I’m starting to think our vet gave us advice that was too strict. I’m regretting everything we’ve done. I’m frustrated with my dog and myself. I’m tempted to give up on potty training and just let her use the damn pads. She literally has never once gone outside.

Has anyone been through something like this? Any tips? I’m at my wits end.

Hi all, my wife and I have a long haired mini dachshund, she’s 8 months old now, was previously trained to use the training pads (which she learned pretty well except she peed a bit outside due to being a long girl) up until she had all her shots and then it was a whole process.
First she didn’t know she could go outside, then she would go but was very fearful of the outside, and now she goes and potties very quickly and has fun (although quite a bit reactive to people and dogs but just to get attention).
The problem is that we go FIVE times per day since then, which is about 3-4 months now. It’s possible because we work from home but we still wish to reduce to a regular 3 times because she might not always be in a place where she can go that many times and it’s a bit cumbersome for us having to schedule around that.
Another problem is that she simply won’t hold it in at all. She completely forgot how to use the pads now, and whenever she hasn’t gone in a while, or if we are out, she just goes wherever. We just don’t know what to do to teach her to hold it in and wait to go outside. We do the whole thing of making a huge fuss when she goes outside and give here treats but still she just goes inside if she feels like it, yes, on top of going potty 5 times sometimes and still having the need to go.
She’s in heat now and we’ve turned a blind eye so far because “oh she’s young” and “oh she must be in heat soon that might cause her to pee more often” but still it makes us very very frustrated to still be cleaning pee everywhere for so long. We even have been to the vet to get her pee checked and no bacteria was detected.
Has anyone faced this? What worked for you? I just can’t seem to find any information about what else we could try. Thank you all so much in advance.

EDIT: one of the reasons we want potty training to succeed is that we want to be able to take her to places like someone’s house and she not relieving herself there because that’s just terrible. Or leave her with someone while we’re out and we are assured that she will only go out

At what age was your puppy fully potty trained?

Our almost 15-week-old Cavalier can hold it all night for about 4-5 hours, but when she’s awake, it’s a different story. 😂

We take her out frequently, sometimes every 15 minutes, and already take her out after naps, playtime, and meals. We’re learning her cues, like sniffing, suddenly stopping mid-play, or staring at us. Sometimes we catch them, but other times she has accidents with zero warning!

We’re also teaching her to use a potty bell button, but she only gets it occasionally.

I know she’s still young, but I’m curious when things started clicking for your puppies! Any tips for potty training or teaching the bell would be appreciated.

Edit: First of all, thank you all for your comments. Some of them have me cracking up LOL, and also I just ordered door bells on amazon. But ALSO, just took my dog out for her 45-minute pee, and she peed yay and I rewarded her and praised her etc., then came back inside and she peed on my floor again literally 10 minutes later. I am at a loss. Praying for the bells to work!

Original post: I keep seeing posts about how eventually in the potty training process peoples dogs started telling them when they needed to go out, but I don't know what sign that would be for mine. I don't want to miss it, and I try to catch her when she's about to pee on the floor but I can never figure it out. She spends all day walking around sniffing the floor, so I can never tell when it's usual floor sniffing or about-to-pee sniffing. Does yours bark at you or do something special or what? We had gone three days without an accident, even with fewer potty breaks than at first (yesterday we got up to two hours without going outside and she didn't pee on the floor! we had been doing every 45 minutes at first but are trying to cut back), but today she peed on the floor only an hour after her last break, and I'm wondering if I missed some kind of sign?

Maybe this is just a ramble, I'm just so tired of cleaning up pee, especially when I know at her age she should be able to hold it longer than an hour, and she can when she wants to (never has accidents in her crate, in the car, or at daycare). She's about a year old, but I just a few weeks ago inherited her from a death in the family and she was not trained at all before, just ran around in their backyard all the time, so this is her first time being potty trained.

I have a seven month old toy poodle that literally will never be potty trained I’m convinced. I know part of it is my fault but I swear sometimes it’s so out of nowhere after he comes inside that it’s literally not my fault. He drinks so much water all the time and all night, he’ll beg for it if I try to take it away. Thank god he has pooping outside down but peeing feels impossible for him to learn. I can’t have a rug down at this point. We’ve never had a no accident day or even a one accident day. I’m so miserable about this. Did anyone else’s small breed take forever to learn to potty outside only?

I could really use more eyes on this since it’s been bothering me all day.

Our 7-month-old corgi puppy has always struggled with potty training, specifically pooping outside. Admittedly, we started potty training pretty late (3-4 months) as we’re clueless new dog owners. That’s likely not helping us.

Around month 4 or 5, we hired Main Trainer to help. He walked us through the basic advice of outside > crate > outside again. This has been a struggle for a few reasons. First, my husband and I both work full time, so we can’t take her in and out all day. When we are able to, she holds her bladder 4+ hours to avoid pooping outside. She’s also gotten sneaky. I’m home more often than my husband is, and when I look away for a bit while keeping her on a leash indoors, she’ll poop in like 2 seconds. It’s honestly impressive.

Eventually, we sent her to one of those puppy training camps for a week with Farm Trainer (who works for the same service). She told us that she got our puppy to poop outside consistently, and she was confident that we could replicate it with the same song and dance (outside > crate > outside). Guess what? She didn’t. Right after our puppy came home, I took her in and out for two hours until she sneakily pooped inside again.

I also want to mention that, when puppy was with Farm Trainer, she apparently never peed on walks. But when she’s with us, she pees on every walk. So she’s clearly behaving differently with us for some reason. I suggested that the change of environment might affect her, but Farm Trainer said that’s absolutely not the case.

At this point, we’re back to the drawing board. My husband suggested that we get a little grass patch for her to go on inside, so she associates grass with potty time. Since we thought it might work, he emailed Main Trainer for an extra opinion. He responded, “If you can’t commit to potty training like [Farm Trainer] laid out you should talk to your breeder and reassess commitment.”

This feels a bit extreme to us. Honestly, even if puppy poops in the house for the rest of her life, we wouldn’t want to rehome her. I also feel like the trainers don’t believe me when I tell them I’m trying my damndest with my work schedule. Our puppy’s been improving in all other areas; she’s just struggling with this. Is it that big of a deal to “reassess commitment”?

EDIT to clarify: The trainer said we can crate her OR tether her to ourselves during the potty process. I’ve been tethering recently as she’s been resistant to the crate, and that’s when she goes. Hope that makes more sense and thank you for commenting

Hello all. I am soon to be the owner of a male English Labrador puppy and i am currently organising a schedule for him.

I have him going to the toilet by default every 2 hours and before and after activities and meals. But at night is my biggest concern because i think both him and myself cannot afford to be woken every 2 hours until the end of time.

How many times should i take him out at night? Every three hours? Just when he starts wriggling?

I sleep with headphones on due to autism so i will not be able to hear him clearly, especially if im asleep.

Any suggestions?

Thank you :)

i got my puppy when she was 8 weeks, she is now 12 and has only gotten worse. shes a miniature dachshund, and yes i know that they are stubborn and hard to train.. but im really at a loss here.

i live in a big city, so its very dirty and not safe to bring her out without all her shots yet, plus i live in an apartment on the top floor, so the vet reccomended to me that i keep her on the potty pads until she has all her shots. thats ok, i get potty pads for her and the breeder said she trained them to use the potty pads already, so it should be ok then.

from the day that i got her i was taking her to potty constantly, and she was doing so so good. barely any accidents in her pen. i do not have a potty pad in her pen with her because she will tear it to shreds within 5 min of being alone with it, ive learnt that the hard way. but recently, im talking the last week, she has been regressing to the point that im genuinely so close to just giving up. im finding it so hard to even LIKE her right now. she still pee’s well on the pads when she is out of her pen, but she refuses to poop on them anymore. she will poop anywhere else in the apartment besides the pads.

i have tried to move them around, she avoids pooping on them. i tried to put more out because maybe she just needed more space or she didnt want to pee and poop on the same one, that didnt help at all, she avoids pooping on them. i tried to keep her on a leash and be with her at the pads after she eats so she will potty on them, and she does pee, but she doesnt poop. i can tell that shes holding the poop in but i cant make her do it on the pads. she fights the leash so hard and spends the whole time screaming and crying and fighting the leash instead of pooping on the pads.. so im forced to just take her off the leash and pray she goes on the pads. she immediately goes off and tries to poop elsewhere, so i pick her up and move her to the pads. but the problem with that is that she either 1. keeps pooping as i carry her to the pads, or 2. gets put down on the pads and then holds it in and no longer tries to poop at all.

im so lost and confused about why shes doing this. i reward her SO much and praise her when she uses the pads, and clearly she gets it because she pee’s on them regularly at her own will. even if shes playing and has to pee she goes straight to the pads. but not with her poops anymore. she used to, until about a week ago when she just randomly stopped. i give her her absolute favourite treats when she goes on the pads, like im talking she goes nuts for these things, everything else goes out the window when she smells these treats. so i thought that would be a good incentive to her, and it was, until a week ago.

another thing is, she will hold her pee AND poo all night, but i always wake up to her having pee and poo all over her pen the next day. i do wake up and let her out to use the potty multiple times a night and she wont go, ive waited 30 min for her and she just doesnt go. its exhausting and i dont know what to do about that either! i used to take her water an hour before bed, but that wasnt long enough so i started taking it 2 hours before bed, and that isnt working either. she always finishes all her food immediately so i never have to worry about that. her food and water are not in her pen at night, i know that this would cause her to have accidents in the night and ive read that her water should be taken before bed. she never did this before, and i dont know why she’s all the sudden started. she doesnt care about sleeping/playing in it either. numerous times ive had to give her a bath because shes just covered in pee, and she has mashed her own poop into her blanket that was with her in there. i had to remove her bed because she peed on it. do i just remove her blanket too? let her sleep on the hard wood floor? i feel so guilty doing that. and i do have a kennel that i use to transport my cat, its big enough that she can turn around in it but she cant really do anything else so i dont think thats suitable to try for her sleeping either? i really dont know what to do anymore. it feels like ive tried everything, ive watched so many puppy training videos i feel like my brain is going to explode. please help!!!

I have a 10 week old Labrador puppy - not expecting this to happen any time soon, but I'm curious to know when your puppy reached a stage of toileting where you stopped having to follow them around and take them outside every half hour? And when you felt like you could relax with the dog inside the house? I just can't envisage how it will transition into not watching her like a hawk or pre-empting accidents!

I have a 4-month-old miniature poodle puppy, and I’ve been struggling with potty training since I brought her home about three weeks ago.
From day one, I’ve tried my best to help her feel comfortable and safe in her new environment. I started by slowly introducing her to the outside world because I knew everything was new and potentially scary for her.
After three weeks, she has made so much progress! She now feels comfortable enough to eat, play, walk around, and sniff outside. She doesn’t seem particularly scared of being outdoors anymore, which makes this situation even more confusing.
The problem is that she absolutely refuses to pee outside.
She will happily sniff around and explore, but she won’t even attempt to pee. She seems to understand that she needs to go, but she holds it in until she gets back inside, where she will pee on her puppy pad.
Today, I decided to keep a very close eye on her all day to prevent her from sneaking off to pee inside. Every time she showed signs that she might need to go, I immediately took her outside. I’ve taken her out repeatedly, but she just sniffs around and never pees.
At one point, she had gone around 11 hours without peeing since the morning, when she last peed a normal amount on her puppy pad. She has been eating, drinking, and playing normally throughout the day.
I feel like I’ve tried everything:
Taking her outside frequently.
Giving her plenty of time to explore and get comfortable outdoors.
Gradually helping her build confidence in the outside world.
Watching her closely and taking her outside whenever she seems to need to pee.
Trying to make outdoor experiences positive rather than stressful.
I know she is still young, and I’m trying to be patient. I don’t expect her to be perfectly potty trained overnight. What I don’t understand is why she can now feel so comfortable outside, eat and play there, and explore everything around her, but still refuses to pee.
Has anyone experienced something similar with their puppy? How did you overcome it? Is there anything else I should try?
I would really appreciate advice from anyone who has dealt with this, especially people whose puppies would hold their pee until they got back inside.
I’m feeling quite overwhelmed because I genuinely feel like I’ve been doing everything I can to help her, and I just want her to understand that it’s okay to pee outside. ❤️

I’ve had dogs my entire life and have never experienced this. I LOVE DOGS. Could not imagine my life without them.

For the first time ever, I have a dog that I haven’t been able to potty train. Our 20-month-old Maltipoo is still not reliably potty trained despite what feels like trying EVERYTHING.

We’ve gone back to puppy basics so many times. She goes out religiously every \~2 hours, same routine, lots of praise/rewards when she goes outside. We’re monitoring her food and water intake so we can anticipate when she needs to go. She isn’t crate trained, which I know makes things harder.

The strange thing is she seems to know she’s not supposed to go inside because we NEVER catch her doing it… she always sneaks off/hides somewhere to pee or poop.

And in the entire time we’ve had her, **she has never once asked to go outside.** No going to the door, whining, signaling.. nothing. Despite the regular schedule, she’ll just eventually find somewhere inside to go.

We live in an apartment, but she does exactly the same thing when we stay in a house, so it doesn’t seem to be an apartment/access issue.

Temperament-wise- she’s a pretty anxious dog and has been working with a trainer 3x/week for the past 2 months on confidence/anxiety.

Has anyone had a dog like this? What finally made potty training click? Is there hope at 20 months? 😭

Pup is roughly 12 weeks old. I’m not gonna lie I’m just assuming he was 8 weeks old when my spouse brought him home on Christmas Eve.

Anyways. They said pup is lab/husky mix. I don’t know anything about dogs let alone puppies.

It took me about a week to crate train him. It was ruff but we did it.

Potty training on the other hand is up and down. Some days are good, others are bad. But when he’s out of his crate during the day he doesn’t cry or anything when he needs to go out. While when he is in his crate for a nap during the day he’ll cry when he needs to go out. So I’m constantly having to watch him to watch for signs when he’s out.

I’ve seen videos of people who taught their dogs to ring a bell by the door when it needs to go out. So I’m just curious and wanted to ask some real people with real dogs if this is truly possible.

He’s very fond of treats and so very smart. I’ve been trying to teach him tricks. So far we’ve got sit and shake down pat.

How far fetch is it for me to train this puppy to ring a bell when it needs to go out? 🥹

I’m frustrated and sad. I knew this would be hard but this is way harder than anticipated.

Every time I take my 11 week old out she just lies down and chills 🥲 then we go back in and set a timer and go back out again. It usually takes around 2 hours of the this before she actually pees... And forget about pooping, she did one today outside and we threw a party for her but again, it took basically ALL DAY of in and out. I read they're likely to poop 20 minutes after food? Her poop today was 5 hours after her breakfast 😭

Edit to add context: we started with puppy pads but gave up because she was just pooping anywhere and i read that it's better to just keep taking them out but this is so unsustainable 🥲

Hey puppy people. My six month old, male pup pees squatting like a female dog. I wouldn't mind but he smells like wee because it sprays everywhere so I have to bathe him more often than either of us would like!

Not sure if relevant but he's a chihuahua crossed with many small breeds.

Will he grow out of this? Should I find him an older male dog to learn from?

Thank you!

This is going to be a long one. My Fiancee and I recently got an Aussie, he came home at 8 weeks and despite our best efforts he has not been able to stop peeing in the house. We got him tested for a UTI, sent multiple urine samples, blood tests, exams, everything we could test medically and nothing is wrong according to those. Then we moved from taking him out every 30 minutes to every 25 and he still can't hold it long enough/doesn't want to hold it. We are giving praise and treats outside when he pees and have been the entire time, he has been living in a pen in the living room under surveillance every day until recently we let him run around in the kitchen with us while making food. The vet told us to distract him when he is drinking water for a long time to see if he is actually still thirsty or if he is just drinking to drink, that has not seemed to help at all. At this point we are spending about as much time outside getting him to pee as we are inside. When he does pee we are cleaning with Nature's Miracle Urine Destroyer and waiting 15 minutes to wipe it up as per the instructions. We have also been speaking with trainers who are now completely out of ideas as to why this is still such an issue. I'm not sure what else to try but I'm willing to hear anything at this point.

Edit - My Fiancee did keep a log for 2 weeks and no pattern was discernable to us or the trainers. Sometimes he will bark before he pees but he also does that for attention and our trainers told us not to take him out every time he barks because that can become a problem later as an adult, the puppy also doesn't sniff and circle most of the time, he will just be walking around then stop and pee. (I had her look at the post and add things I forgot)

I work from home at a computer in my basement. I have a pen area beside me for the new puppy so he doesn't wander out of sight. I try to take the puppy out every 15 minutes. He usually pees/poops outside, but once a day or so goes inside (and I clean thoroughly with enzymatic cleaner). I got puppy pads to cover the floor just for cleanup purposes (edit: they cover the whole pen area). He has peed on them a couple times (I always take him outside immediately and replace the pad with a clean one).

So, I'm not trying to train him to pee on the pads - I'm just using them for accidents until he's fully house trained and capable of holding it longer. Again, he does his business outside 90% of the time.

Any issues with this or suggestions?

Edit: I think the main answer is to be sure the pads don't have hormones/pheromones that encourage peeing. Otherwise, as long as I'm taking the puppy out often and trying to catch him before he pees, then pads (without attractants) don't cause any harm. We've only had him a few days - I doubt it will be an issue for long. I've had multiple puppies and never used pads - they all learned to go outside very quickly - I was just curious if this was a possible use case.

hi! One week ago I adopted a 13-week female cavalier king charles spaniel and I really need potty training advice. I live in NYC so I don't have a backyard, and she's still a few weeks away from her last round of vaccinations. I also live on a street with a good amount of foot traffic so I was advised not to let her be outside until she's fully vaxxed. This is really not ideal for me because I'd much rather her get started on learning to pee/poop outside instead of inside on a pee pad. But due to the circumstances, I've been putting a pee pad inside her playpen. 

The pad is only sticky on 2 sides and she's figured out that she likes pulling, chewing, eating, and destroying the pad (and any paper, really). I have chew toys, regular toys, treats, to try to lure her away from the pad but once she sees it, she fixates on destroying it. It's almost like she's in a trance. I was taping down all edges so that she doesn’t get tempted to pull but she just digs and licks at the painters tape until it gives way. I've also tried moving the pen so that the pad is not accessible when she's playing, but it's been hard to anticipate when she needs it so she just pees on the floor. When I do put her on the pad (after nap, after eating, after playing/zoomies) she doesn't want to go and again, starts eating the pad. I try to wait it out but many times she's gotten into her trance and while I'm pulling her away from the pad and trying to fix it, she just pees on the floor 😭

I also tried a fake grass pad but she was also tearing that up and I was afraid of her ingesting the plastic strands, so that was taken away. I ordered a fresh patch but I'm also afraid she'll just get fixated on eating that as well. 

She can't pee outside and she barely pees on the pee pad because she gets distracted by remembering that she likes to chew and eat it. I’ve cleaned up so much pee from my hardwood floor. help??? Thank you 😭😭

Update: I got the pad holder and it has helped IMMENSELY. Thank you for all the suggestions, now she doesn’t have anything to fixate on destroying in her pen and has done wonders for her behavior and focus when pottying. My freshpatch is coming this week so I’ll see how that goes as well but the current set up works great!!

Hi everyone,

I have a 2-month-old Golden Retriever puppy and I’m currently focusing on potty training.

Since he isn’t fully vaccinated yet, I’ve been teaching him to use our balcony for his bathroom breaks, and he’s actually doing quite well. Most of the time he’ll go there to pee and poop, especially when I take him out after waking up, eating, or playing.

My question is about taking him outside. I’ve read a lot of conflicting advice online. Some people say puppies shouldn’t touch the ground in public areas until they’re fully vaccinated, while others say early socialization is extremely important and that the risk is worth managing carefully.

At what point did you start taking your puppy outside? Did you wait until all vaccinations were completed, or did you start earlier in a controlled way?

I’d love to hear what your vets recommended and what worked for you.

Thanks!

I adopted a chihuahua mix puppy about 6 weeks ago. She’s currently about 5 months old. I do love my puppy, but I miss my old life A LOT. I was a homebody during the weekdays (I WFH), but would go out to the gym in the evenings and hang out with my friends on the weekends. Now both of those things are rare. My puppy has honestly been doing well for being a puppy. She’s picked up on her training, rarely barks, has never had an accident in her pen and has only had about 4 accidents outside of her pen in the past 6 weeks. I just feel like I can’t get a break. My puppy follows a 1 hour awake, 2 hours asleep schedule. She’s honestly been doing great, but will often wake up during the 2 hour asleep window to go to the bathroom. Which is fine as I just take her out, she does her business, put her back in the pen and she’ll just go back to sleep. I want to start going back to the gym in the evenings (I feel this will help me a lot with my dreaded puppy blues), but am afraid of ruining her potty training progress. My gym is only about 10 mins away and I would be leaving during one of her 2 hour asleep windows. I also have a puppy camera that I can watch her through while I’m away. Sometimes I’ll leave her alone to run errands, but it’s never been longer than 30 minutes. How did you guys start leaving your puppy alone for a couple hours? Did you wait until a certain milestone was hit (no accidents in X weeks, sleeping X hours without waking up, etc) before deciding to leave them alone?

11w old pup. I work 3 days a week and I want to have my puppy use the indoor pad when I am not at home. However, he seems to exclusively poop on the pad and will vehemently refuse to pee on it. He will instead, pee around it. For reference, I have a turf pad.

This is an issue because most of my unit is carpeted and he will be more or less forced to be in his crate when I'm not home if he does not learn to use the pad. He has also learned that I do not like him peeing on the carpet, so instead of going on the pad, he will sit down on the carpet and pee like that just so I dont notice. I orient him onto the pad after play, after I've been gone, after eating, and after rest, but he will just look at me and sit on the pad until he sees a narrow window to run off and pee somewhere else. We could be waiting for 30 minutes and he will still not go on it, but if I were to take him outside, he will pee the moment his paws touch grass. I even brought the pad out with me and put it in the grass, ive set him on it and only then did he pee on it, but he still will only covertly go inside the house and never on the pad

Edit: obviously I would rather him go outside. I also dont plan to give him free roam of the house while I'm gone. Instead of criticizing my scenario, maybe offer some advice.

I was surprised she was surprised. I researched when I got the puppy and it said around 4 to 6 months is when one can expect a puppy to grasp the concept of potty training. So far my pup is pee pad trained in a certain area (the pads are actually in a hard plastic kiddie pool) and she barely has accidents outside of the designated area.

Should I be expecting her to be asking to go outside at this age?? She isn't even fully vaxxed, can't go for walks, I don't have a yard and we have been having excessive heat waves so putting her on pavement is out.

Edited: 4 months not minutes

Right now my puppy (almost 13 weeks) has been doing pretty well with potty training in that she USUALLY doesn't go in the house. However, that feels like more of a function of us taking her out constantly, not that she actually understands that she shouldn't go in the house. When did that click??

Relatedly when did you feel like you could take them on a normal walk and they would pee/poop? Right now if we're on the leash outside it almost feels like everything is too exciting to think about going to the bathroom so she usually saves it for our astro turf in our back patio, which makes it feel like we are taking her out twice as often!!