house training not working

boomerang

Pretzill wrote: »

I agree most pet owners use them as a safe place that dogs use happily but my dogs find those same safe places without being caged - that's all. I suppose I've just felt for dogs where the cages were used wrongly imo.

The thing is Pretzill, once a crate has been used responsibly to housetrain, the dog naturally gravitates towards the crate as their "cubby." As I write, Josie has the choice of the big squishy armchair, the dog bed lined with vet bed, or her crate... I'll let you guess where she is! My guys are housetrained now, but apart from their usefulness for meal times, I haven't the heart to put away the crates as the dogs would miss them!

fatmammycat

Pretzill wrote: »

My opinion on crates are similar to yours tayto ( btw I'm sober) I also.would be against feeding a raw diet - That's not to say these things don't work wonderfully for other pet owners.

My dogs enjoy a bed each and a comfy chair or the knee! I'm sure there are some who would admonish me for having a 18kg 3 yr old BC paws up in the air getting a belly rub on my lap but I love the comfort of having them close and funnily they respect the furniture and never chew it!
Yeah I wouldn't be an advocate of the crate because I've never used them - I think it seems harsh to me only because my dogs have the run of the house!

I'm curious why you would be against feeding a raw diet?

OP, it can take as long as 6 months to house train a puppy. I personally have never used a crate - never even considered one. I always keep my dogs in the kitchen, in a plastic basket with a quilt or vet bed, which can be washed. Taking a pup out too often can be as confusing as leaving them too long! I always put newspaper by the back door and they usually do their business on this after a few weeks. Take them out every couple of hours, but not for too long. If they don't do their business straight away, they don't need to do it, so standing or sitting around waiting will gain nothing. They will find their routine after a while. Just be patient. If the puppy starts chewing the furniture, smear it (The furniture!) with washing up liquid. Just be patient, don't stress and it will come right. If you have any worries about their diet, take it to the vet and get it wormed, etc.

andreac

[Deleted User] wrote: »

OP, it can take as long as 6 months to house train a puppy. I personally have never used a crate - never even considered one. I always keep my dogs in the kitchen, in a plastic basket with a quilt or vet bed, which can be washed. Taking a pup out too often can be as confusing as leaving them too long! I always put newspaper by the back door and they usually do their business on this after a few weeks. Take them out every couple of hours, but not for too long. If they don't do their business straight away, they don't need to do it, so standing or sitting around waiting will gain nothing. They will find their routine after a while. Just be patient. If the puppy starts chewing the furniture, smear it (The furniture!) with washing up liquid. Just be patient, don't stress and it will come right. If you have any worries about their diet, take it to the vet and get it wormed, etc.

Sorry Maryanne but some of that isn't great advice, esp about not staying out long and using newspaper.
You do have to stay out until they go, no matter how long it takes. Pups get distracted so you do have to stay out for a while until they go.
How have you come to the conclusion bringing them out often confuses them?
It's good to take them out often so they get into the habit that going outside is the place to go.

andreac

andreac wrote: »

Sorry Maryanne but some of that isn't great advice, esp about not staying out long and using newspaper.
You do have to stay out until they go, no matter how long it takes. Pups get distracted so you do have to stay out for a while until they go.
How have you come to the conclusion bringing them out often confuses them?
It's good to take them out often so they get into the habit that going outside is the place to go.

It's confusing because they don't know whether they are coming out to play or what! I'm speaking from 50+ years of doggie ownership!

andreac

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It's confusing because they don't know whether they are coming out to play or what! I'm speaking from 50+ years of doggie ownership!

Of course they know. You don't interact or play with them when you bring them out. You use a command to encourage them to go to the toilet. So you aren't playing with them.
So not sure how you say it's confusing them.

andreac

andreac wrote: »

Of course they know. You don't interact or play with them when you bring them out. You use a command to encourage them to go to the toilet. So you aren't playing with them.
So not sure how you say it's confusing them.

I have yet to come across a puppy that can crap/pee to order! I have visions of you standing in the rain under an umbrella in the middle of night saying
"Pee NOW Fido" The main thing for the OP is not to stress, it will come in time. It is important to enjoy the puppy, be relaxed and be rewarded with years of companionship.

DBB

To be fair Maryanne, perhaps there's a reason it takes you 6 months to housetrain your dogs!
How long you've owned dogs for is pretty irrelevant. It's a common malaise that people stick to their old, stodgy way of doing things and won't change because, well, they've been doing it for years... Why change now (despite the fact that better ways have developed)? It's this very attitude that has stopped dog training, and many other aspects of animal care, from moving forward in pace with clear, empirical evidence.
So, stick to your outdated methods with your flawed reasoning for doing so if you like. But the proof is in the pudding... It takes you 6 months to housetrain your pups, but as I posted above, my last litter of pups were fully housetrained by 10 weeks of age.

andreac

Well then you haven't met my dogs or lots of other dogs I know that will go when you use a prompt command. When I let my 14 week old pup out to the garden, I will encourage him by saying pee pees and he will go.
I let him out as often as I can and say the command and he will go.
He doesn't think he's going out to play.
Lots of people training their pups use a command and their pups will go when they use the command.

fatmammycat

Our guy was housetrained from 13 weeks and we always used a single command to encourage him.
I think putting paper down inside confuses a dog too, you're essentially suggesting he pee indoors, albeit on paper.
We got lucky as it was early summer so we could have the door open, but a rule of thumb with our dog was: take him out when he woke up after naps, take him out after food, before bed, first thing in morning, say nothing at all really about accidents other than bring him straight outside, ALL the praise when he peed outside and within a few days, presto chango, he was house trained.

Like Andrea, our dog also pees on command, for instance if we have to go out for the evening and won't be back for a few hours, we can tell him to have a wee before we head out and he will, even if it's only a few drops

Down, Lads! I'm only suggesting that OP relaxes and enjoys the puppy! We are allowed to have differing opinions, aren't we?

Toulouse

Deleted User wrote: »

Down, Lads! I'm only suggesting that OP relaxes and enjoys the puppy! We are allowed to have differing opinions, aren't we?

We are but not many people enjoy having a dog messing in the house for the best part of 4 months.

I find that's when you start getting exasperated posts from owners saying their 5 or 6 month old dog is still going in the house and they have to get rid of it because their OH or parents are going mad or there's a baby on the way.

My dog too goes on command. I got her at around 9 months old, trained her in 2 weeks using the method mentioned by the other posters and she knows exactly what to do 7 years later when we go outside and I say 'Go pee'.

DBB

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Down, Lads! I'm only suggesting that OP relaxes and enjoys the puppy! We are allowed to have differing opinions, aren't we?

Of course we are!
But we're also entitled to question advice that people give that is going to make the training process more difficult for the op. It's all about what the professionals call "error free learning", in other words, making the training mimic the real life scenario as closely as possible from the start.
Allowing a pup to pee on paper in the house is not, therefore, error free learning.
And nobody is suggesting bringing the pup out every 5 mins. It's perfectly acceptable to expect a young pup to pee about every hour when they're up and about... Perhaps even less for some pups.

Mandzhalas

can someone write up in short how to train pup to relief himself on command.Please,that would be great

tk123

Mandzhalas wrote: »

can someone write up in short how to train pup to relief himself on command.Please,that would be great

All I did was take her out, wait for her to go and said the magic words 'busy busy good girl' treated and petted her. After a few days I'd take her out and say the words to encourage her to go - if she decided she was going to play or sit on chair or lie down I'd put her back on her feet and try again until she went. I find myself saying it to my adult dog now and he looks at me like I have 2 heads lol! :pac: