Any advice for housetraining puppy

hollytrees

My pup is 3 months and house training is not going well :-( I know he is still young but even so. I feed her in utility and leave her out there so that she will do her poo on newspapers which she had been doing but now she seems to hold it and poo when she is in the living room. I've tried using papers in kitchen and living rooms sometimes she'll use them

I tried puppy pads but my older dogs just used them to lie on or the pup enjoyed tearing them to bits, she doesn't do this so much with paper. If u catch her about to pee I'll bring her out to garden, she won't finish it but usually when we are back in house she will pee.

Am I expecting too much? She was paper trained but seems to have forgotten it all? It's so long since I had a pup maybe this is just what it's going to be like for some time yet. My neighbours advice is to rub her nose in which I have no intention of doing as it seems cruel?

snoman

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057114103/1/#post88230372

I have no advice I'm afraid, but if you use the above link it will take you to a thread where the subject was fully covered. Good luck!

tk123

+1 for the thread above - follow DBB's advise. You're not actually training the pup atm - you need to put work in which means going out in the rain and cold and getting up in the night if needed. Keep a warm coat and boots by the back door :P I found hanging a bell on the back door really helped with our pup - all her accidents were when somebody (i.e. my dad lol) wasn't paying attention and didn't see she needed to go out. Once we pup the bell at the door and showed her what to do she was ringing it after a couple of days to tell us she needed to go out. Also associate a word with her going - it's SO handy being able to tell them it' time to go!
Also don't rub the dogs nose in accidents - it's your fault not hers. Take a note of time time it happened - eg was it 20 mins after she had something to eat if so then you know that after her next meal she needs to be out sooner after each meal- hope that makes sense!

Hooked

I'm right smack bang in the middle of house training our (now) 12 week old Husky. We've had him a fortnight.

He's had two, yes two, accidents. Both were a pee. Not one instance of the other.

And here's why...

A puppy can only hold its bladder for about 1 hour for every month old it is. As tk123 had said above... And my mate who I met for a few hours today to watch the rugby thought I was insane when I told him... You simply have to take the pup outside.

For the last two weeks, we've been watching Jack for tell tale signs he's wanted to go. And, failing those... He's out every hour during the day... And our alarms were set week one at 2.30, 5.00 and 7.30 am. Couple this with the fact he sleeps in a crate (dogs tend not to go where they sleep), it's working wonders.

With the weather the way it's been, and my grass/yard a mud bath... It's been exhausting!!!

But... After 2 nights, Jack got the jist... And two weeks in, we're done. He knows where the toilet is.

But it now means the alarms are set for 3, 6 and 9am. With a even split of bed at 12, 4am toilet and 8am wake up... (One alarm) only a month away.

Like I said... Exhausting. And my neighbours must think I'm nuts with the chants of 'go pee'....

But a necessary evil.

snoman

tk123 wrote: »

I found hanging a bell on the back door really helped with our pup - all her accidents were when somebody (i.e. my dad lol) wasn't paying attention and didn't see she needed to go out. Once we pup the bell at the door and showed her what to do she was ringing it after a couple of days

How did you train your pup to ring the bell? I'm intrigued!

tk123

snoman wrote: »

How did you train your pup to ring the bell? I'm intrigued!

We put it right above where she sits to go out.. I rang it, opened the door, brought her out and back in and repeated a few times. Then I just lifted her nose to ring it before letting her out and honestly by the second or third day she was ringing it herself - to our amazement! I'm biased but she's very clever :P She knows nearly all of the commands my other dog knows just by watching and copying him and catches on to everything else really quickly - I'm obvoiulsy a much better trainer now than I was 4 years ago when we got the other guy lol

snoman

tk123 wrote: »

We put it right above where she sits to go out.. I rang it, opened the door, brought her out and back in and repeated a few times. Then I just lifted her nose to ring it before letting her out and honestly by the second or third day she was ringing it herself - to our amazement! I'm biased but she's very clever :P She knows nearly all of the commands my other dog knows just by watching and copying him and catches on to everything else really quickly - I'm obvoiulsy a much better trainer now than I was 4 years ago when we got the other guy lol

It's such a great idea! I'd imagine that it's always easier for a puppy to learn by example, but I'd guess they'd be as quick to pick up bad habits as good:-(
There's always a drawback!!

minipink

I have to agree with all the tips above. My dog had 1 accident in training, because my brother who was minding her never bothered letting her out. She used the bell at the door idea and the command 'toilet'. She's a bit OCD tho and refuses to go to the toilet outside the garden which makes it easy for pickups but I've had to retrain her to wee on a walk cos she got a bladder infection from holding on when we were out! When I was fostering, Lexie the foster did pick up on the garden trip = toilet = treat. But I did find that training an older dog (she was 9 months) was significantly harder than with Lola as a pup.