Housetraining 101 - Please Read this Thread in its Entirety

[kian]

I started this thread mostly for House Training questions as that is so common and we constantly repeat ourselves. We haven't started a nipping or chewing thread but perhaps we can evolve this thread into one as well. You sound like your on the right track and just need lots of time and patience and time for her to mature. There is no magical trick, just tips that seem to shift the focus off of you being the target of those puppy teeth. Re-direction is great, standing like a tree and turning around to ignore her by walking off, giving her the right things to chew on with praise, a over tired puppy can and will ignore all these tips that is something you have to recognize and know. It is okay to put a over tired puppy in it's crate with toys, a Kong, ice cubes, whatever works and make it a safe place. Ice cubes are good and soothing to teething puppies.

Being gone 5 hours a day isn't bad, it's doable and right now she should just sleep a lot. You are doing the right things here with the radio on, the chews and having her in a safe spot.

Remember if you catch her chewing on something inappropriate be sure to step forward on one leg with the clap and then redirect. Never ever, let anyone rough house with those puppy teeth no matter how fun and cute it is. I have had to get after friends for doing that when mine where puppies, it defeats the purpose of what you trying to accomplish. Letting your pup explore with it's mouth is normal and natural, it's those that get the pup all worked up and encourage the teeth play that I am referring to . Hang in there, we are here to help and advise!

I want people who read this to understand that those of us who are very experienced still go through the same issues, there is no one magical trick, it really is understanding how to use the right ones and lots of patience.

Jesse good job!

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Kian, you are so right when it comes to your statement (in bold) near the end of your last post. Each puppy is different and we do all go through the same stages with them no matter how many dogs we've had.

The only thing that remains the same is consistency, patience and love!

[poodeer]

Hello and HELP ME!! I have a 4mo old bulldog (only dog) who has been crate training for about a month. I have never had a dog that took more than 5 days to potty train. He is sooo smart and has learned sit, stay, come and heel, yet we are not getting the potty training thing. I work from home and so i have all day to work with him. I take him out every 30min-hour and we stay out for about 5-10min (about 3 times peeing+poop) and when he does go outside (i use "go potty" "go poopy" as cue words every time) I give him tons of praise, just short of throwing him a parade, and his special "potty" treats. We come in and within 2min he pees on my floor right in front of me. I yell "no" and rush him outside- then praise him for going "outside". This has been going on forever it seems like. I also use the "door bell" system for letting me know he has to go outside. we hit it everytime we go outside to potty (even when rushing outside mid-accident, i do make him touch it)
Well, he doesn't sniff, walk around or whine when he needs to go outside.... he just goes where he is standing, even right infront of me- without a sound or motion from him. He has only shown one pee 'cue' one time and I was able to catch it before (has only pooped in my house 2 times- he lets me know when he has to poop). I understand that he has a bladder the size of a peanut, but if pottying outside 3or more times, every 30 min, isn't keeping him from peeing on my floor or getting it thru his head by now I am not sure he is going to get it... Please, if there is something that I am not doing that works on puppies I would love the help. If someone can reassure me that he will do better with age, please assure me and let me know what meds i could take to stay calm kidding... but him and my 3yr old are slowly killing me... HELP ME!!!! PLEASE!!!!

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

After reading your post, my first thought was that you are obviously not taking him outside often enough and not making sure he does his business when he is out there.

If he does not relieve himself, then he should be put in his crate, for a few minutes, and then straight back outside!

I would also start taking him every fifteen minutes. Yes, it is a lot of work, but clearly every 30 minutes to an hour isn't enough for him to understand the message. I might also take him to the Vet to rule out any medical issues, particularly with a male dog. If he has some type of infection, he would be entirely unaware of his "feelings" or ability to control it.

I am sure that he always goes first thing in the morning when you take him out. Praise, praise, praise that event. The next time you go to take him out, if he doesn't do anything, then put him in the crate for up to 5 minutes, no play or talk in between, and take him directly outside. Keep doing this until you see that he has succeeded in going potty outside.

Obviously if he doesn't go outside and then relieves himself in front of you within two minutes of coming back in, you didn't give him enough time outside to do his business. He is still quite young and one can't expect a dog to be reliably housetrained until one year of age. 16 weeks is 4 months old and that is quite young, especially for bladder control in certain males.

Every time he makes a mistake in the house, it is your mistake. Pay it no attention and put him outside. The timing between potty breaks needs to be shortened, and you must be certain that he has done his business before going back inside. Capture the successes and ignore the failures.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[princelover]

Poodeer, your post strongly suggests a UTI in your puppy. I would definately have this checked with a vet as well as following O&H's advice to shorten the times he is taken out. As she said, it usually takes at least a year for the puppy to gain their bladder control.

Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.

[JesseGirl]

Poodeer, I just wanted to say hi. I can completely empathize with you on this - we've had the exact same thing with our pup, Rollie. One thing I've noticed is that he can get distracted by outside and even though he has to go, he just forgets to. We've had a couple of those incidents where he had just been out (and sometimes he had even pottied!) and then he peed in the house. We've only had him for a couple weeks, but simply learning his patterns helped a lot. We know now that if he's had any water in the last 15 minutes he will need to go (sometimes immediately after the water) and if he goes outside and doesn't potty, we confine him and try again soon (just as Oliver & Henry's Mum says) because we know it's coming. We've also been really limiting his "free roam time,' because for some reason even it he just peed, if he roams and starts exploring, he invariably pees. Now we're just starting to give him some more freedom (because he has learned to hold it and we know he can do it and what it feels like), but still under our watchful eye at all times (really, we are watching him all the time - if we can't, he is either in his playpen or his crate). Also, we realized that play can be so fun he will hold it and then be overwhelmed by the need to go. Most of the time he'll brake off playing and start sniffing around and that's our cue for potty time; but he doesn't always do this. So now if we've played for 15 minutes, I'll give him a potty break just in case. We've had a couple incidents where he just suddenly stopped playing and bolted for the living room (yes, he enjoys the lovely spot under the coffee table - sigh).

Hang in there! And congrats on the commands! I'm starting to work with Rollie on attention/focus and sit.

Oh, and please post pics - I LOVE bulldogs and would love to see your boy!

[Swissy]

I've read through this thread, and hope I didn't miss the page it was on this if it has been addressed...actually two things:

The small stuff first: Caeda is FANTASTIC with her potty training, holds it all night if she is in her crate, rarely even whimpers in the night unless the cats are standing at the crate door . When I'm out at work (for about 5- 5 1/2 hours) she is usually in a puppy proofed room with papers (just in case!!). She only occasionally uses the papers, not a shock, we leave her some water when we are gone for more than a couple of hours. Just lately though she has started shredding the papers, even if she has used them to pee! She only ever used the papers for a BM once or twice, ages ago. Any suggestions for this? Am I right in thinking this is normal? She does have plenty of toys to chew and play with, so it shouldn't just be boredom. She'll grow out of it right?

The big worry, is her BMs, and it is fairly recent. She isn't having as many as she used to, something I assume is normal as she gets a bit older (just over 12 weeks now). We take her outside to do her business, occasionally we let her have a little bit of supervised free run on the long-leash. She will wander and keep playing, and occasionally get agitated with us (biting our shoes, clothes, hands etc) when she needs a BM, both on the long leash and the regular one. We can see it, practically poking out! Instead of getting busy she keeps wanting to play or start biting at us. She will sniff for eons (and dig up dirt chew on the world) before she'll do it, if she does. This can lead to some nights being fairly late, since when its obvious she needs to we don't want to take her in to her crate for bed. We have tried taking her back in if she doesn't go, then bringing her back outside in a little while, and it doesn't seem to make a difference at all! We have changed her food, but it was around a month ago and she adjusted to it fine, so it isn't food related. Any ideas or suggestions?

[Phyrie]

Try changing up the timing of your potty/play routine. If she's out for potty (and KNOW she has to go) NO playing. Keep her on a short leash, do not allow her to play. Keep saying, "Potty, puppy" or whatever your words are. Not over and over, just as a reminder of why she's out there. Then, once she's done her potty, and ONLY after, give her play time. That becomes her reward, and she won't "hold it" trying to get more play time. If you take her back inside right after she potties, she won't be as willing to go, because she knows that spoils the fun.

[Swissy]

Well...our routine gets switched up often anyway, simply because our work schedules aren't always consistent. We have tried, only twice so far, the short leash, potty only trips. The one problem is that when she needs to go she gets wound up, snarly and bitey....which means on the short leash, instead of doing her deed she bites our legs (jeans and workboots on these trips!!!!). She wants play and attention but isn't getting it. I can't handle holding the leash out so she can't get at me....too physically difficult, so it gets a bit painful. She does go though, but it can take about 10 minutes to work up to it. Afterwards she is hyper as well...so it is straight into the crate, which calms her. Looks like this is the way to go, hopefully the biting goes away eventually!!!

[chickadee]

Grizzly and Moose are a bit older than 6 months now. Since learning that puppy pads were a big "no no" I had stopped using them in my home and went all out with house training. There have been long periods of time when the pups did great going outside and now it's just gone to crap. Grizzly refuses to poop outside! I will literally take him out there for 40 minutes before he finally goes, and i know he has to the whole time because i can see the poo poking out!(yes, we still have parties when they go potty outside)
They are randomly popping squats in my home and it's like i've never taken them outside before and yes, I am watching them and I don't see their usual "I have to go" signs! I am aware that it's up to a year old but this is just out of control! I feel so overwhelmed and i'm trying to keep positive with training. Could this possibly be a territorial thing?? They are both due to get snipped June 16th. When it's time to go out they usually go to the door and whimper, both of them!! Not anymore, it just happens. I feel so guilty keeping them in the crates more often but i just can't take it anymore. I spent 5 hours shampooing my apartment and I have children here every other week. What do I do???

[LadyMam]

Well, I just went through this with my little Lexie Shmexy, so I'll share what I did with her. Honestly, potty training is pretty simple as long as you have PLENTY of time with your pup. So my advice will be for those who are home with your pups, since honestly that's what makes the whole process easiest.

What I did with Lex, the first few days was take her out every half hour for pees (its probably closer to 20 minutes for small breeds) and every 45 minutes after a meal for poos. She went every time, and if she didn't do her business, then I'd bring her right back in and try again in 15-20 minutes. I also brought her directly outside after every nap and any time I saw her wandering around sniffing.

After just a couple of days (1 week tops) she didn't require the every-half-hour drill, and it became every few hours. You need to pay attention to your dog, have it in your sights at all time so you can pick up on when they gotta go. After that first week, Lexie could suddenly hold her business straight through the night, up until around 9 in the morning. That's 10 hours. So keeping them in your sights is key. Maybe even keep your pup or unhousetrained adult dog on a leash to ensure they're near you.

Also limiting their space, so they are confined to one room is good, so they're not soiling your whole house. Usually kitchens are good as they're tiled, but the pup also wants to be with you, so maybe bring him/her to your office with you, or your living room, but don't allow him/her to wander.

When you bring them outside, make sure they know it's not play time. They have to go potty and then right back inside, and if they don't go, you take 'em in and try again later.

When potty training my pack, I always made sure to make a HUGE deal about them going outside, squeal and cheer and "Good potty!" like she just sniffed out a pot of gold. On the other hand, when accidents happen (and they happen!) don't make a HUGE deal out of that. Give a firm, deep "No!" or "Bad!" but do not spank or hit or yell, and go all crazy because the pup (depending on the dog and it's temperament) might think you're either playing and being silly, just like when it goes in the yard, or it might be terrified and traumatized and continue to pee/poo in the house, just when you're not around (it'll hide from you to do it)

Sorry this is so scattered, but I think I got everything in there. Hope it helps! Lexie was completely potty trained in a month and a half, which from my experience is no time.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

LadyMam - that is an excellent post. It is succinct and easy to follow. You outlined everything that the rest of us have been saying, so thank you.

I hope you don't mind that I put spaces between your paragraphs. As you'll notice reading various threads, they are easier to read when broken up. A page full of text becomes daunting and can cause the reader to skip parts, or avoid it altogether.

Your post is worth reading, especially for those who choose not to read an entire thread, from start to finish, as they should.

[LadyMam]

Sorry I didn't space the paragraphs, I have on my other posts but I must have just clicked submit before looking it over. Thanks for fixing it.

I know a lot of what I said was mentioned at various points throughout this topic, but I still wanted to contribute what worked for me for future readers

[MontyTheMutt]

I'm getting really frusterated with my puppy. He only ate twice today At 7 a.m. and at 9p.m...is that normal i don't know my puppy is weird.. anyways about ten minutes after he ate i took him outside to relieve himself and he never did instead he fell asleep on the grass! he is still asleep.. i don't know what i'm doing wrong

[kian]

Is he drinking okay, does his BM's look normal? These are things dogs owners learn rather quickly, the potty poop patrol as that is the window to thier health. How much is the puppy getting played with, do you have young children wearing him out? He is 8 weeks?