Housebreaking a puppy is NOT fun!

[ElizK]

We got this adorable puppy this past Saturday. The newness and cuteness is starting to wear off. How is it that a puppy that just went outside and tinkled 20 mins ago can have an accident on the carpet???! This is sooo frustrating! We put her in a crate at night and when we leave, and she does wonderfully! If anyone has some good strategies, I'd be ever so grateful if you passed them along to me!

She's nearly 8 weeks old, I know I can't expect a housebroken dog right away, but jeeeeez....

 

[cynsaun]

I know it can be frustrating! We have a puppy that is 5 months old, but he (thankfully!) is already trained!

Do you have those blue puppy training pads? I heard that those are really good for training. I also read that it is important to take the puppy out every 2 hours, especially right after eating!

Good luck!

 

[aprilgail2]

We have a Cocker SPaniel and the dig was SO stubborn it took a year and a half until he was housebroken...we were pulling our hair out the whole time LOL....had a dog trainer, an obedience school and we worked with him but he was so terrible he wouldn't listen to anything!

 

[LindaG4458]

I always believed that God made puppies cute so you wouldn't kill them under these circumstances.

Don't give up - he will get the idea eventually. We had a dog that we could walk outside for 20 minutes and she would do nothing. When we came in she would piddle on the floor while I was hanging up my coat!! We finally got her to go outside once and gave her a treat immediately. She caught on quickly that going would get her a treat, so she would run outside, squat, then race for the treat. It was the only thing that got through to her.

Good luck!

 

[Shugardrawers]

I work at a doggie daycare and boarding house. NEVER NEVER NEVER use the puppy wee wee pads. It only teaches them that it's ok to go in the house. There is a book on Amazon called "How to Housebreak Your Dog in Seven Days". I highly recommend it. It will take longer than 7 days with such a young puppy but the principals will serve you well. It advocates sticking to a schedule. Just a few tips that we use at work and they work well:

Do NOT allow your puppy to eat whenever it wants. Depending on breed he'll need to eat from 3 to 5 times a day. Stick to a schedule. About 20 to 30 min after eating or drinking he'll need to go potty. What goes in on schedule will go out on schedule.

Buy a baby gate and block off your kitchen and keep the puppy there. Much easier to clean up messes off linoleum than carpet. Don't just leave him, stay with him. If you are going to be in another room crate him in that room if you aren't going to be playing with him. Don't just let him roam.

Watch for behavior that signals he's looking for a place to pee like circling, sniffing etc. If he squats shout NO and scoop him up and take him outside. Whenever he pees outside throw a party. Hug him, pet him tell him what a wonderful little puppy he is over and over. Get REALLY excited. Give him a little treat he only gets when he goes potty outside.

When he's starting to get the message, choose a behavior and teach him to do that whenever he wants to go out. I taught my dog to come sit in front of me and just wait. Then I ask him if he wants to go potty and he gets all excited. Then we go out. Choose a word he'll recognize for going to the bathroom. Mine was potty and poop. (Original I know) Whenever we went out I said, "Go potty Pete!". When he did I said "Good boy Petey's going potty!!". Then I'd tell him to go poop. And did the same thing when he pooped.

When you take your dog out, always go to the same spot and make him do his business. Keep him on a leash, even if your yard is fenced. Just stand there and wait. It might take a good 10 or 15 minutes but eventually he'll go. Throw said party. Take him in, play with him and then crate him again when when you have to do something else.

Something that worked great for me, get a baby sling. Keep him in it whenever you can. He won't pee in there! Also, a portacrib worked great too. They don't like to pee where they have to live. Potty training takes time. LOTS of time. And patience. LOTS of patience. And remember, whenever you dog goes in the house, take a newspaper or magazine, roll it up and smack yourself on the head with it. YOU messed up, not him. NEVER discipline him for going in the house. He'll only learn to hide it under the bed or somewhere you won't find it. When you find a mess, take him there, show it to him (please don't rub his nose in it that's just cruel) and tell him he's a bad boy. Then crate him.

Get and enzyme cleaner from the pet store or walmart and be sure to thoroughly spray down anyplace he's messed. It ensures he won't go there again.

GET THE BOOK. RIGHT NOW. You can thank me later LOL.

 

[maryisme]

Shugardrawers,

Just wanted to say "Great advice"!

Mary

 

[JerseyJanice]

Eight weeks old is still a baby doggie. Patience, my dear.

My advice--NEVER allow an untrained dog or puppy to have run of your house.

Learn to read your puppy's body language; when you see him wanting to go, make him go where's it's appropriate.

And very important--when you're around to supervise, keep him confined in your kitchen or laundry room. You can place newspaper or training pads around, and when you see him starting to go to them to do his business, whisk him outside.

Praise him well when he makes outdoors and offer treats (cheese cubes went a long way with our puppy).

I can proudly say I had our 8 week-old lab/rottie mix trained inside of two weeks this way.

He's about 18 months old now and hasn't had an accident since he was 10 weeks old. Alright, he's exceptional in this way--he does not want to live in a dirty house. But still--he was far easier to train than I thought he would be.

Confining him in the kitchen with me was the trick that did it.

Best of luck to you!

 

[ElizK]

Wow! Thanks for all the great advice. Shugardrawers, I am going tomorrow to find the book! (I considered going tonight... zzzzzzzzz. And Ebay might take too long!)

My kitchen is oddly arranged. I'd need two gates, and one of them would go from the breakfast bar to the refridgerator! Not sure if that's practical, but may try anyway.

Again, thank you sooo much for the advice. Ya'll are awesome!

 

[peachgirl]

Shugardrawers has some excellent advice!

We trained out last two puppies within a couple of weeks doing basically the same type thing.

The only difference was we kept them crated completely except for when they went outside or were being held by someone. We would move the crate from room to room so they wouldn't be left alone. I did feel sorry for them being so restricted, but within a week we were able to give them a little more freedom and by the end of 2 weeks they were trained!

 

[zurgswife]

I've broken all the rules and I have a 6 month old that is trained about 75% of the time...so, following the rules is probably worth it..

 

[sunni]

Another excellent book is The Art of Raising a Puppy by the New Skete Monks. I thought I'd go crazy until our vet recommended it. I borrowed it from the library and in 1 week our little guy was housebroken. There is a schedule you will need to follow, so prepare to be committed (as Shugardrawers mentioned, with such a young pup you may need a bit more time). I also don't recommend training pads or newspapers unless it's what you want the dog to do for the rest of it's life... either it's allowed to potty indoors or it's not.

Good luck and enjoy your new puppy!

 

[Keli]

You've gotten great advice here already. It really does work if you will follow it too. I second everyone's advice not to allow the pup to have free reign of the house just yet. It's way too hard to watch the pup as he moves around if he's not in the same room as you are. His body language is very important. It's really easy to tell when he's getting ready to go, you'll be a pro at watching him in just a day or so. It takes a lot of attention the first two weeks but after that you'll be well on your way and you won't have to be nearly so vigilant.

Also, when my pup did have an accident I would take the paper towels I used to clean it up outside to the place I wanted the pup to go and put a rock on them to hold them down. Then when I took him out I'd take him to that spot and let him smell the towels. He would usually circle around a little bit and then go right then.