toilet outside

jsabina

sooo... I just got my puppy!
He should be 12 weeks old..
I am trying to train him now! It's his 2nd day with me..

I am trying the crate training.. I have a small garden.. he loves to stay inside in the same room as me... but he doesn't pee in the garden!!

He doesn't like to stay outside, maybe it's cold... we go out playing every hour.. but he doesn't do anything... then we come back and he pees..
mmh...

what I am doing wrong? advices?

thanks!

Whispered

Instead of playing with him as soon as you go out, bring him out, then wait for as long as it takes for him to go to the toilet. Then when he goes you act like he's the best dog in the world, and then have a game.

When he's playing he's distracted and doesn't have time to pee.
Have you any pics?

RubyGirl

Congrats, what breed is he? I would maybe bring him out every 30 mins, start using a key phrase when bringing him out to the toilet, we use "busy busy" and all my dog's understand it by now. So bring him out and keep saying the word's until he goes, once he does give lots of praise and maybe a little treat.

lorebringer

With a puppy that young, you need to bring him out every hour. Let him walk to the door (don't carry him) and wait for 10 minutes - when he goes, have a mini party (lots of praise etc.). After a while (depending on the dog, you may have to wait a week or two) start to introduce a word (eg. "go toilet" "toilet time"... whatever you want yourself) while he is going to the toilet and when he is finished praise him by saying "good toilet (or whatever the word is). If you start off saying the word, you may distract him so you need to introduce it once he gets the picture on going to the toilet outside. After a while you will be able to bring him to the garden and instruct him to "go toilet" (or whatever).

Along with the hourly trips to the garden, he will need to go to the toilet when he wakes up, after a play session and after he eats. Always make sure he walks himself to the garden and he may not go every time but keep up the hourly sessions, he'll eventually get the story straight! Some pups get it very fast, while others don't. Personally, I wouldn't 100% trust a pup until they are over 6 months old but, again, it depends on the dog.

Also - pics?

jsabina

thanks a lot for the answers!

When we go out, first he stay on the door and doesn't want to exit.. for this reason I thought to play with him, to help him "like" the garden..

if I don't play he just sit down and watch at me and wants to go back inside ... very strange.. never happened with my previous dog..

I will try to follow your advices.. he doesn't seem to need to go that often though.. strange..

I don't have many pictures.. my camera doesn't work so I took with the pc webcam..

RubyGirl

Ah so cute, a spaniel?

jsabina

no, the mum is a red setter.. the father.. don't know.. but I suppose a black dog :P

ABajaninCork

With my Shih Tzu, I did a little reading up on potty training as I hadn't done it for years!

Whenever he ate, woke up or played, we took him out. Like the others have said, when he did his business, we said the word (wee wee or poopy! ) praised him like mad, and had a bit of a game. He very quickly got the idea, and he was more or less dry in two weeks. I was really pleased as Shih Tzu are supposed to be hard to train.

Be prepared to get up a couple of times in the night to take him out too. Bad time of the year (being cold), but this phase doesn't last too long.

Good luck! BTW - the little guy's so cute!

jsabina

yeah it's cold, but I don't complain it's him that doesn't want to go out

last night for example, I woke him twice and went out in the garden... he just sat down and nothing...
then yes, finally he pee :P and I was sooo happy and praising him gooood boy etc etc :P

second time nothing and after a while the crate was allll wet... grrr ...

but he slept without complaining all night! I was waking him up! :P

jsabina

Grrr... again.. he has been in the crate for.. 2 hours I think.. no toilet.. now we have been outside.. nothing.. no pee.. I was praising him blabla but nothing.. 10 minutes there and he was looking at me like I was crazy
I am sure he doesn't understand..

now he is in the crate again and crying a bit..

I am pretty sure that if I leave him free he will go and pee in the living room... as earlier...
mmmhhhh

Whispered

Just totally ignore him until he actually goes, no praising until he has finished going. So hard sometimes when they try really hard to be cute .

You will need to stay outside for longer than ten mins too at the start. But once he realises what you want it will get much quicker.

jsabina

uh ok, so I will stay longer!
It's funny because I am still in the garden... and he sit in front of the door, looking at me, like asking what he has to do..
Sometimes he is interested sniffing around but not really... it seems he just want to go back inside (maybe to pee in the living room... now off for him until he learn!!!)

Ok now I leave him 30 minutes again in the crate and try to go outside before bedtime.
I hope it will work.. it's more than 2 - 3 hours that he doesn't pee so eventually he will I hope!!

DBB

jsabina wrote: »

I was praising him blabla but nothing.. 10 minutes there and he was looking at me like I was crazy

What were you praising him for though?
If you look at it from his perspective, he's mooching around, doing whatever he's doing, and you're giving him some nice feedback for that! So, you're encouraging mooching, which itself could take his mind off what his bladder is telling his brain!
So, as Whispered said, bring him out, on a lead if you need to, and absolutely no feedback at all, nothing, until he toilets. You need to reserve every bit of potential nice stuff for after he has performed.
With repetition, he will pick the pattern up: silence and lack of anything fun until after he has toileted. And so he'll start to toilet quicker, and quicker.
As soon as he's performed, and you've both praised and treated him, then go back inside with him and play with him... but you do not do this until he has emptied, because you want him to associate coming back inside with the sensation of having an empty bladder. In other words, he learns through repetition that he doesn't get to go back inside whilst his bladder still feels full.
It's all great fun, this stage
He is an absolutely gorgeous little fella, really gorgeous. The very best of luck with him

foreversky

jsabina wrote: »

uh ok, so I will stay longer!
It's funny because I am still in the garden... and he sit in front of the door, looking at me, like asking what he has to do..
Sometimes he is interested sniffing around but not really... it seems he just want to go back inside (maybe to pee in the living room... now off for him until he learn!!!)

Ok now I leave him 30 minutes again in the crate and try to go outside before bedtime.
I hope it will work.. it's more than 2 - 3 hours that he doesn't pee so eventually he will I hope!!

I brought my lad out every hr.saying time to pee;-/.hes 6mths now.even now i say it and he gos to where the lead is.i walk around the house.he whines to go now and goes to door. Gud luck

jsabina

it's incredible it seems he can hold all night..
we went outside, no pee, only a bit very little maybe, but on the floor going out..

this morning... we went out...freezing, no pee.. he was not happy at all to be out..
there for a while, no pee..

I go back inside to prepare my coffee... he come with me.. and obviously start to do his business on the floor!
So I took him and put ouside praising pee pee good boy blabla
Is that correct? When I see him to bring him outside?

I don't think he understood but for sure he doesn't like to do his business outside..

jsabina

another question..
I've been reading on many websites that the dog should not see you when you clean his pee..
Why?
Not cleaning angry, I mean..

andreac

You need to stay outside longer until he goes, even if that means waiting half and hour, stay until he goes, then go back inside.

jsabina

yep done this morning and we have been successfull twice now!!!
yeaaah!

Whispered

jsabina wrote: »

yep done this morning and we have been successfull twice now!!!
yeaaah!

Ah brilliant! Now just continue this and he will catch on very quickly.

Whispered

jsabina wrote: »

another question..
I've been reading on many websites that the dog should not see you when you clean his pee..
Why?
Not cleaning angry, I mean..

Oh I wouldn't worry about that at all.

I read on another website once that you should give out to the pee

jsabina

Whispered wrote: »

Ah brilliant! Now just continue this and he will catch on very quickly.

yes he was surprised and very happy to have the treat and that I was suddenly happy praising jumping and saying he was the best dog in the world

jsabina

auff it's not easy at all..
after the two good episodes of yesterday some failures here..

I cannot understand how long he can keep the pee... I don't want to leave him in the crate for hours and hours to teach him to pee outside

but again, we go out... he plays and do everything except pee.. and then inside I found drops here and there..

but he learnt to do the "big business" outside, it's something... uff

tk123

What are you cleaning the accidents up with OP? If you use the wrong kind of cleaner it'll just attract the puppy back to the same place. We use to clean up and then spray some of the get off my lawn stuff on the floor (we have wooden floors) the odd time he had an accident.

Whispered

OP to be honest, it sounds like you're not staying out long enough with him. He will need to pee after sleep, he will need to go shortly after eating. It's not really a case of just seeing if he needs to, he will need to. It might just take a bit longer than you might be waiting.

Also as a puppy, you will have some accidents no matter how careful you are.

You say in your last post that you find drops, if you keep a really close eye on him and catch him mid-pee pick him up gently and carry him out, then when he finishes praise him. (make sure being caught pee-ing doesn't turn into something scary for him, so gently but quickly carry him out). The key is keeping a close eye on him, so you don't find puddles, but you see them happening.

He shouldn't be in the crate for hours. Just while he's sleeping. Does he have access to more than one room? I've always found toilet training easier when you work one room at a time. So teach him he doesn't pee in the kitchen, then he doesn't pee in the kitchen or the sitting room etc. Dogs do not generalise very well so while he might know not to go in one room, he won't understand not to in another, so by giving him free access to all the rooms you'll slow things down a bit.

My older dog is very clean, but still the first time we allowed him into the spare room, he lifted his leg on the curtains!!

The fact he's poo-ing outside is brilliant. Sometimes it can just seem like one step forward and 2 back. Try not get disheartened. You're obviously doing well.

andreac

This puppy is only a baby. He cannot hold it in for very long. You need to be a lot more patient as it can take months to fully train them so please give your baby a chance.

Its unfair to expect so much at such a young age. At 12 weeks his bladder cannot hold it for very long, so if he needs to go, he just will, no matter where it is.

It is up to you to bring him out to go, so remember, if he has an accident in the house, its your fault, not his.

Bring him out more and use a command, "Go pee" or "Pee pee" whichever works for you and use this when he goes then reward him. Bring him out after every sleep, meal, play session and as often as you can at all other times. He will catch on but it takes time.

When you go outside with him dont play or interact with him at all until he goes to the toilet.

littlebug

I can't advise on house training but just wanted to say how lovely he is. I soooo wanted one of those pups:o

Qwerty Dub

Just be patient. The every 30mins thing worked for me or if I seen her sniffing around at all. When they are pups I find you are saying 'no' a lot to tell them not to do certain things so if i caught her mid wee i would say 'no' and pick her up and bring her outside. She soon copped that 'no' meant not to go inside.

I used the word 'outside' as I couldnt bring myself to say 'wee wee' or 'poo poo' or anything, ha. So now if she looks at me I ask if she wants to go 'outside' and she will go to the door. Lots of praise and treats and 'Good outside' from the very start and she had it after a week.

Still had the odd accident because her bladder was determining when she went more so than her brain but she had the jist after a week which was great.

I did get up every 3hrs at night too to help her along at the start as I had read they can hold their wee for 1 hour for each month in age +1 so 12 weeks = 4hrs, but I tried to make it as easy and comfy as possible for her.

Great when they get it. Best of luck.

jsabina

Thanks!

Now we could do that finally!
Really we are outside maybe for 30 minutes...
But he starts doing everything except pee :P
I just wait and don't look at him and finally he went!

All the other times he doesn't really do a long pee inside :P I only found a bit here and there..

I bought a "get off" spray..
He has access only to the kitchen now and to my bedroom for the night.
He is in the crate only for training purposes, I don't like him to be there.... but he likes it more than me!!
There are all his toys and the blanket... so he goes there even with the door open..

I have no problem at all with the accidents and I am never angry with him.. I'll clean and that's it, is not a big problem for me.
I just would like to train him properly in general, so I thought toilet training was a good start.

I am learning to be zen and meditating while waiting for him in the garden it's soooo difficult to not start playing with him!!