ot...New Puppy questions..

[ctc917]

I just noticed a thread ref: Puppy supplies and lots of helpful answers from this Disboards group so I thought I'd ask my question and hopefully someone has some helpful answers for us..

Here I go we just got a Puppy she is 41/2 months old, the breeder kept her a little longer and told us she was almost house trained...well we have had her a few days and we take her out to "hurry up" and we wait and she doesn't so due anything so we come back in to try later and low and behold she then pees and/or poops on our floor sometimes within minutes of coming in sometimes within an 1/2...
so what are we doing wrong? Any suggestions?

And I guess the budget part of this whole thread is I have gone thru lots of paper towels in the last few days...

Any thoughts and helpful hints would be welcome...

ctc917

 

[tlh0726]

When you take her out do you walk around or just stand there?
How long do you wait with her?
Do you talk to her? Make a big deal over her when she does go outside?


We are in the process of searching for the puppy we want so I will be in your shoes soon. Haven't gone through the puppy stages since 1994.

 

[fakereadhed]

Do you have a crate? They are great for training! And after as a safe haven for your dog to come and go as they please after they are trained. Time bathroom breaks for about 10 min after feeding or watering and about every 1/2 hr to hour. We put ours in the crate and after a couple of nights the puppy would stay dry in the crate until am, then go straight outside.
When we were busy and unable to give undivided attention he went in the crate and stayed dry, then immediately out. If we were watching him and he looked like he was sniffing or squatting, we carried him outside. We used gates to gradually increased the area he was allowed to go in our home- basically extending the area that was his crate, until he no longer wanted to mess up his space where he lived- the entire downstairs. Then we expanded from there. Took about a month of hard work, with a few slip ups for the next month, but now it's all good!

 

[WDWorBUST]

Definitely take her for a little walk to get things "moving" so to speak. Make sure everyone is consistent when they take her out. I know DH thinks I'm awful because I have him take our Abby out 80% of the time....but scheduling wise it makes more sense for him to 1.) He gets up before I do and 2.) He is up later than I am (Yes I go to bed ridiculously early - but I'm blaming it on the pregnancy exhaustion for now). But the real benefit is that she is getting consistency.

 

[santadog]

This may sound a bit odd -- but it's worked for me on 2 different dogs/puppies

When hey have a "solid" accident in the house, I pick it up, and take it (and the dog) outside. I put the "present" on grass, where I want him to do his business, and praise the bejesus out of him/her, may even make with a treat.

After a few repeats, the dog starts doing it out there on its own - just make sure to me effusive with your praise once he starts going outside. (I'd also suggest taking the pup inside before you dispose of it, as it may cause confusion).

Good luck, and congrats on the new puppy

 

[disneydreamersx4]

We got our Koda when he was 6 months old. I am home during the day so I took him out about 20 minutes after he ate breakfast for a walk. Sometimes he wouldn't do his #2 business though until hours later....I would also take him out every hour when we first got him....then I stretched it to two hours, then 3. Now he is 11 months old and this is his schedule....between 6:30 - 7am DH takes him out. About 9am I take him out. Then about 2pm I take him again unless he gives me a growl (his sign) then I take him then. Then about 6:30 he eats dinner then at 7pm he goes out....last time out is about 10pm.
He has always been crated for bedtime and if we go out.

OP we always walk him, we don't have a fenced in yard. And like the others have said, we praise him alot when he did his business outside with "good boy, good boy" and pet him, we still do. Good luck, hope your puppy training gets better real fast! At least it's not freezing temps now like we had to deal with.

 

[ctc917]

Thanks for the advice...Yes she is in a crate and she can go overnight without accidents so I know she can go at least 5 to 6 hrs without going outside...we did the moving of the "pooping accidents" too and it kind of worked she at least went outside a few times..I guess our problem is even thou we do the going outside after eating, playing and alots of exercise she is still going out not doing anything and then coming back inside and having accidents, so I guess we will keep doing what we are doing and hopefully we will get it right.Again thanks for the help

 

[r&kmommy]

Until she is reliably trained unless she is in her crate she can NOT be out of your sight (or responsible grown up lol)... not even for one second. If you feel she "should" be going when you take her outside (ie it's been a while since she's gone and she has eaten/drunk recently and played a lot but no potty) but she doesn't then take her into the house and put her in her crate. Try again in 15 minutes. Continue this until she goes. Make a big huge deal about her going -- treats and all!

She will get it. I promise. If my dog can be potty trained any dog can! He's as stubborn as a mule!

 

[ctc917]

Thanks that sounds like a great idea..

ctc917

 

[ndloewen]

Until she is reliably trained unless she is in her crate she can NOT be out of your sight (or responsible grown up lol)... not even for one second. If you feel she "should" be going when you take her outside (ie it's been a while since she's gone and she has eaten/drunk recently and played a lot but no potty) but she doesn't then take her into the house and put her in her crate. Try again in 15 minutes. Continue this until she goes. Make a big huge deal about her going -- treats and all!

She will get it. I promise. If my dog can be potty trained any dog can! He's as stubborn as a mule!

Great advice. Yep, definately watch your puppy like a hawk!! Eyes on that puppy every moment when not in the crate. At the very first sign of ANYTHING, get that puppy outside! It takes alot of time and effort those first few weeks, but if you stick to it, your puppy WILL be reliably trained in no time. Figure out what your puppy really loves (for mine it was cheese), and use those for reward treats. The higher the reward for the puppy, the more motivated he will be!!

 

[ShannonMB]

Lots of good tips here! We got one of our dogs when she was 5 months old, and she seemed to not have a clue, even though the lady we got her from said she was trained. We got her in the winter, and the first few days we had her, I'd take her out, walk her around, sometimes being out there for like 30 minutes in the cold waiting for her to go. And she STILL wouldn't go.

Here's what worked well for us...Definitely take a poop outside for her to sniff and get the idea. I definitely don't *believe* in the puppy pads, because I feel like they teach the dog TO pee in the house (this is just a guess/opinion and in no way research based!). But I had some from the lady, and I left one down for Gypsy to pee on. Once she had peed on it, I took it outside with us and had her sniff it. Lo and behold, she peed! After a couple days of doing this, she had it figured out! Of course she is the most brilliant dog in the world laughing, but it might work for yours, too!

Good luck to you. Patience, love, understanding, and consistency (and crating) are the keys in my experience!

 

[pixiewings71]

You have to stay out with her until she does her business, then praise and give a special treat. Always take that treat with you outside and take her to the place you want her to use as her potty spot. Seriously, staying outside with her until she does her thing and making a big deal works. We got our older dog when he was about 4 or 5 months, he was "completely" trained but we had to retrain him when we brought him home. It was a new place and he had no idea where he was supposed to go. Once we showed him he picked it up quickly.

 

[Seahunt]

We saw a Westie on youtube who rang a bell when he wanted to go out and thought that was a great idea, and thought we'd try it with our new Papillon "Harry". Here's the video of the Westie (BTW there's lots of other dogs on youtube that do it also):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9T_vuLHO8A&feature=related

So we bought some of the hotel desk style bells at Staples, and placed one at the patio door that we open to take him out. Then every single time we took him out (and that's lots of times for a puppy because their bladders are so tiny) we put his paw on the bell to ring it and said "outside". We took him out and said "go teetee" and waited until he went, then treated him with a tiny piece of chicken and told him what a good boy he was over and over. Then when he started ringing the bell by himself we started saying "Harry rang the bell. Good boy. Outside". He picked it up so fast!

Now when we hear that bell we know he's ready to go - and it makes it so easy

I told my DH that I bet a lot of the puppies at the pound were turned in by people who were discouraged about housetraining, so the only other thing I wanted to mention is not to give up - just about the time you are sooo exasperated with puppies, all of the sudden they do get the idea and voila!

 

[ZiPaD3doDAH]

This is what I did when I got my dog, she was around the same, 4 months or so.

When you see her peeing/pooping inside the house, while she is doing it, get her & carry her outside to where you want her to do her stuff and place her on the floor. It might make a bit of a mess but mine learned that way & it might be too late by the time you get her/him outside but it will slowly make sense to them.

It takes some time but s/he will understand sooner or later that it must be done outside.

Now, all my dog does is wait by the door and I know that she needs to go.

Hope this helps & congrats on your puppy!