Need training, doggie door advice if you can help!

[Beauty]

Okay here is a long story short,

Since we have moved we have kept the dogs outside and brought them into the laundry room at night. These are dogs that have always been inside dogs. Well this house is a lot bigger than our trailer was....I don't know if that makes a difference. Anyway when we lived in the trailer I took them out but they did have accidents in the house.

Since we have been keeping them here in the laundry room there have been no accidents. We also switched from feeding them dry dog food to wet dogfood and we used to leave the dry dog food down all day but we just feed them the wet once per day. We are hoping that will help in training.

Okay here is the help I need. We are buying a doggie door tomorrow and want them to eventually have free run of the house but use their doggie door when they need to go outside. Should we leave them in the laundry room for a while? If so how long.....any advice?

 

[Beauty]

Gonna bump this to see if any of you daytime DISers have any suggestions.

 

[A kid at heart]

How about checking with the vets office or the place where you're buying the door from? They should have some ideas.

 

[Beauty]

Lowes.....LOL!!!! I think its just going to be trial and error for a while.

 

[Zurg]

Our dog picked up on the doggie door real quick. Wave a snack in her direction and she'll go through a solid wall.

 

[Beauty]

I'm not afraid of them finding it, I'm afraid of them understanding that they go outside to use the bathroom and not mark their new territory!

 

[Kermit]

If they're not 100% potty trained yet, I'd supervise their visits in the house like you would with a little puppy. Make sure they go outside when they wake up, after they eat, and after they play. You'll probably want to direct them out the doggie door so that they get the idea. Don't forget to use lots of praise, and treats can't hurt.

BTW, I taught my dog the word potty, which has been really convenient. For the first few weeks, while he was pottying, I would say, "Go potty!" Now, when we go outside, I tell him to potty, and he takes care of his business right away. When we're inside, I can ask if he wants to go potty. If he runs to the door or acts interested, I take him out. If he ignores me, he doesn't have to go.

 

[zurgswife]

Ours has understood that out means potty (well sans a few accidents)....she could go out so she did her business out....I shouldn't think you should have to big of a problem....

 

[peg2001]

Your best bet is to restrict their space inside the house until they are trustworthy housetraining wise. They don't have accidents in the laundry room because the space is sufficiently small and they won't soil their "den." If you turned them loose into the house at large, they may pick an area or two to use as toilets.

Can you gate off the room where the dog door will be? I would try that first and supervise them closely whenever you let them out of this area.

Feeding at a routine time rather than having food out all the time will help time their BM but won't help with wetting accidents. Of course, they should always have water available.

Keep in mind that as long as they aren't in there all the time, it is fine to use the laundry room and/or a crate to confine the dogs at nighttime or when you can't supervise them. This is much better than getting so frustrated at accidents in the house that you get rid of them. (I'm not saying YOU would do this, but it does happen a lot.)

Good luck,
Peggy

 

[Beauty]

Peg,
I hope you don't mind I sent you a Private Message asking some specific questions since you really seem to know.......Thanks!

 

[peg2001]

Beauty,

I don't mind at all and would be happy to help answer any questions that I can but I don't know how to retrieve PMs! I just got back to this thread today. Nothing automatically popped up and told me I had a PM. Sorry to be dense. I know about dogs but as far as message boards, I know just barely enough to know how to read and post!

Peggy