What are the easiest dog breeds to toilet train?

Toilet training dogs can be a complex process that is rarely achieved quickly, and some dog breeds notably take considerably longer to get to grips with house training than others, in the opinions of many of their owners.

Toilet training a dog of any breed or type can vary in terms of how long it takes and how reliably your dog will ask to go out when they are trained to do so, and there are so many ways in which dog owners can inadvertently compromise their dog’s abilities to learn too!

If your dog is giving you cues to go out but you’re missing them, or if you delay in letting your dog out – or misjudge when they are likely to need to go – these small and often one-off errors can really set your toilet training back, and delay the time it takes for your dog to get to grips with things.

However, with this caveat in mind, just as there are some dog breeds that can tend to take longer than the average dog in terms of how long it takes them to learn to ask to go out, so too are there others that tend to learn faster than the norm – for a variety of reasons.

Whilst knowing which breeds are the easiest to toilet train won’t necessarily help you to train your own dog any faster, nor be likely to make a difference as to whether or not you choose to buy a dog of the breed in question, knowing that your new puppy is likely to be a fast learner in the toilet training stakes may be helpful nonetheless.

Training dog breeds that are quick to learn is not necessarily easier than training a dog of more average intelligence, and part of this comes down to the average dog trainer not always recognising how fast their dog is learning – and so being apt to keep going over and over things that the dog in question already knows.

This causes problems that can delay toilet training, and the learning of other commands too – either because the dog gets so bored that they stop engaging and paying attention, or because the fact you keep trying to tell them what they already know means that they start to think that they’ve misunderstood what you want them to do full stop!

With this in mind, this article will share with you five dog breeds that most owners of said breeds and experienced dog trainers widely think of as the easiest dog breeds of all to house train or toilet train, along with some insights as to why they tend to take to house training so quickly. Read on to learn more.

The Labrador retriever

The Labrador retriever possesses a wide range of traits that in combination, make this one of the most pleasant and straightforward dog breeds of all to train to ask to go out to the toilet.

The Labrador retriever is first and foremost a highly intelligent dog breed, but this alone isn’t enough to make a dog necessarily fast to learn, as some really smart breeds have a really short attention span too!

Labradors are not only hugely smart dogs, but they are also hugely intuitive, and look to their owners at all times for direction, as well as being smart about reading body language and mood.

They are also observant, inquisitive dogs that learn a huge amount just by observation – and so your Labrador puppy might even have started to pick up house training basics just from watching the behaviour of their dam and potentially other dogs they live with before you bring them home!

The Poodle (all sizes)

The poodle is a real canine smarty-pants too – they are in fact the second most intelligent dog breed of all. However, as mentioned, intelligence isn’t necessarily enough to make a dog easy to house train – so what else has the poodle got going for it in this respect?

Firstly, the poodle is quite a neat dog, one that is fairly elegant in manner as well as looks, and they dislike mess, which gives them an incentive to toilet away from their home. Additionally, poodles are expressive dogs, which can run to being highly strung, and this means that when they begin to get to grips with house training, they will tend to be very clear about indicating when they need to go out, making it much less likely that their cues will be missed.

The Papillon

The Papillon is a toy dog breed, and this grouping contains a lot of members that are considered to be harder, not easier than the norm when it comes to house training! However, the Papillon is a tiny canine brainbox, which is not only smart but also very finnicky about cleanliness, and said by many to be almost cat-like in this manner.

Papillons not only learn what is wanted of them quickly in terms of house training, but will also avoid toileting in their home if at all possible.

The Pomeranian

The Pomeranian is another petite, delicate-looking companion dog breed that is quick witted and fast to make connections between cause and effect, and one that will tend to be quick to get to grips with house training too.

They are also a breed that is fairly clean and elegant, and whilst they’re hugely fluffy and somewhat high maintenance in the coat care and shedding stakes, tend to try hard not to make a mess in their home or immediate area.

The German shepherd

Finally, the German shepherd is a large dog breed that is another highly intelligent canine, and one that is watchful, confident, and highly analytical. This is a breed that will follow commands to the letter once you’ve earned their respect, and as long as you’re successful in ensuring that they understand what you want from them in terms of their toilet habits, they will never let you down.