About 2 months ago I got a puppy (now she's about 13 weeks old). I've read everything I could on the internet about potty training to try and educate myself and nothing is working. I know she cannot hold it for long periods since she is still growing, but, well, here is the story... I have to crate her at night (I tried sleeping with her but she kept peeing in my bed!) and I also have to crate her during the day while I'm at work. Unfortunately, she ALWAYS pees all over herself and sometimes poops in the crate too. My boyfriend works closer to home then me, so he stops by every day on his lunch break to take her out. It doesn't matter - she still pees on herself. I've tried baby gating her in our kitchen and putting wee wee pads on the floor. She ripped the pads to shreds and peed and pooped on the floor! During the night, I wake up at 1:30am and about 4:30am to try and take her out before she pees in the crate. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. (Is that ok to do, or is that creating a bad habit of having her pee throughout the night?) Someone told me to just let her pee on herself and learn on her own to hold it, but I don't want her to get used to peeing in the crate and sitting in it all night and day! I heard you have until they are 6 months old until they have the bad potty habit forever...and that means I have about 3 more months. Please help! I think I've gone through hundreds of dollars in paper towels and laundry detergent! Any input would be great! Thanks!Need advice on potty training my new puppy! Never owned a dog before! Help anyone?
How big is her crate? I've read that the smaller the crate is the less likely they are to soil it, you can buy crate dividers too so you can make the area inside a larger crate smaller.
At her age she really just can't hold it for more than a couple hours, as she gets older she will be able to hold it for longer. When you are home take her out every 2 hours or so and give lots and lots of praise when she does her business outside.
This is all part and parcel with owning a puppy. My dog still had the odd accident in the house until he was 7 or 8 months old. They do not want to soil their crates or themselves for that matter so I think it's just a matter of she can't hold it due to her age.Need advice on potty training my new puppy! Never owned a dog before! Help anyone?
Seems like she's spending 'way too much time in the crate. Dogs instinctually avoid eliminating waste in their dens and somehow this one has learned it's her only choice. If you work for more than 4 hours, you'll need to have someone take her out to go AND give her some play time during the day: I used to come home on my lunch hour to take my puppy out. She should also have safe chew toys (like a Kong or a Gumabone) to chew on while she's in the crate. Puppies are babies and as such they need lots of time and attention: expecting this poor dog to spend 16 hours a day in a crate by herself is inhumane. Would you leave a 3 month old human baby alone for 8 hours at a time? You don't say where you got her but if she came from a pet shop or puppy mill the housebreaking will take longer. Such puppies have already spent most of their lives in a cage in which they HAD to pee and poop because there was no alternative: this makes them more willing to go in the crate even if they have to lie in it. Leaving her in her mess is a BAD idea and won't teach her to hold it. FYI it's not true about the six months. I've housebroken adult dogs with plenty of time and patience. Talk to a trainer or a vet about proper ways to raise a puppy. When you get a puppy, you should plan to dedicate lots of time to it. If you don't have time for a puppy, maybe you should find her another home and look into adopting an older puppy or adult dog.
I'd hire someone to go by and let her out. Crate training is by far the easiest, for potty training and security... but once she is used to the habit it gets really hard to break. Her crate should only be big enough for her to turn around in, stand in, and lay comfortably... too large and one part will be the potty area to her. Clean it out as soon as you can, and maybe try No Go spray in her kennel (found at petsmart or petco), or spray the puppy pads with the spray used to encourage her to go in a certain spot (forget the name, but alson found in pet stores). Don't give her open food and water, give it to her when you can let her out. Dogs are gastrointestinal (sp?) and usually go within 15-20 minutes after eating or drinking.
There are also these grass things made especially for when you can't let your dog out. Skymall magazine is where I think I saw it. Or check this site, it's somewhere on there:
http://members5.boardhost.com/bisonusa/index.html?1238394460
It's for bostons, but someone posted the thing. It's like a grass spot with a plastic lining tray underneath.
Good Luck!
You'll get through the tough stages, don't give up! It'll be worth it!
The rule of thumb is the longest a puppy can hold it is it's age in months plus 1. So at 3 months old, your puppy can only hold it for 3-4 hours tops...they physically cannot hold it in longer than that, even if they try.
To help them hold it longer at night though, stop all food and water past 7 or 8 pm. I feed my own puppy at 5 pm, and take away his water before 8. He sleeps till 7 am just fine.
Crating is supposed to help puppies hold it, it doesn't housetrain them. You still have to show the puppy what it needs to do when it needs to potty. You need to be vigilant and consistent - as soon as you see your puppy trying to potty in the house, clap your hands loud to get her attention, tell her ';no!';, pick her up, rush her to the door, show her what you want her to do (like ring a bell, scratch the door, etc.), let her outside to finish her business and tell her ';go potty'; then when she's done praise her, ';good go potty!';. A crate can't do all that, only you can.
Also, if you don't catch her in the act of pottying in the house, don't reprimand her. She'll have no idea what she's being punished for. Just clean it up and watch her more carefully.
She can't hold her bladder long enough yet. At this age she will be able to hold her bladder for 3-4 hours before she has to go. She needs to be let outside more, during the day and night, before she's old enough to hold it. I wouldn't use pee pads at all, just make sure you're around to let her out. Dogs can get house trained no matter what their age.
okay.. at 13 weeks YES she should be able to hold it for 8 hours/overnight.. provided you took her water away early enough and took her out before bed time
here is a link I suggest you read - even though you said you have read lots already
http://www.gomestic.com/Pets/How-to-Succ鈥?/a> NOT use the pads! they say ';its okay to pee inside on stuff';...
read the link
if you cannot help, then he should see a vet
i got a puppy when he was 6 weeks old. at first he peed everywhere every 5 minutes. he would pee in his crate to at night or if i was at work. im gonna tell you what i did and it worked for me. i would take him out every 30 minutes. when went outside i would say ';good boy'; and gave him a treat. if he went inside and i saw him doing it i didnt stick his nose in it or yell at him. i would just say no and take him outside again. if i didnt catch him in the act i just cleaned it up and i didnt scold him. he is now 10 weeks and has very few accidents. he never pees in his crate anymore either. potty training takes lots of time and patients.
by far the crate is the best way. i went through this though with my staffy when she was a puppy. it may be wise to put up her food and water and limit what she drinks and eats for a few weeks. this helped with my dog. she did the same things in her cage but we kept working with her the same as you. i would suggest alot of good praise, when she does pee outside, make it a huge deal say good dog tons give her 2 treats, pet her, make her the happiest dog ever.... when you find her in her peed cage, no good praise, bad dog. and take her straight outside.... if she goes when shes outside do the good praise again. also, this sounds gross but, if she poops in her cage, put the poop outside in your yard.(my dog trainer suggested this.) if you stay persistent it will work. dont give up but you have to be stern. i wouldn't suggest the baby gate, that doesn't normally work.
I currently have a 10 month old puppy, so I've recently gone through this. :) I got Tanner when he was 3 months old %26amp; he didn't seem to have a clue what ';going outside'; was about. I started with taking him outside abt. every 30-45 minutes. I attached a string of bells to the doorknob %26amp; would ring the bells everytime we went out. By the time he was abt. 6 months old, he was almost completely potty trained %26amp; let me know everytime he wanted to go out by ringing the bells himself. He got neutered around 7 months, which set him back for a couple of weeks, but now, at 10 months, I can't even remember the last time he had an accident in the house.
So, anyway, what I would suggest is trying the bell thing. It has been a tremendous help in allowing him to communicate with me, even when I'm not in the room b/c I can still hear the bells. And he's very persistant with them...if I don't come as fast as he thinks I should, he keeps ringing them. I got just the wedding bells from WalMart %26amp; tied some of them to an old shoe string %26amp; then have that looped around the doorknob.
Also, I use key words everytime. I always say, ';go outside'; and then once out there, say ';go potty'; and then to come in, I say ';inside.'; It's just a cue to him to remind him what's going on.
Tanner is very well trained to the kennel %26amp; has never gone to the bathroom in his kennel, so I don't feel your pain on that, but I do know you have to be sure, especially in the early stages of potty training %26amp; using a kennel that your kennel is not too big. For example, we are now on our third %26amp; final size of kennel, but we started out with smaller ones %26amp; have worked up to bigger ones. If you don't want to have to purchase a smaller kennel, you can look into something that could block off the back side of the kennel to make it smaller until she's bigger %26amp; you can take out the divider.
It takes a great deal of consistency %26amp; patience, as well as just learning your little pup %26amp; her personality and/or signs that she will give off to let you know she's ready to go potty.
The crate could be too big or it is not clean now from all her accidents. Puppies go where they have gone before. That said, clean the crate completely with a good cleaner from your pet store. Take her out as often as you possibly can. She is young so she can't hold it for very long. Once you see how often you have to do it and have no accidents, start extending the length of time by 15 minutes. Do not extend the time until she is good at it. It does take lots of time. It can also come from where she was when she was born. Breeders that do not clean up after the puppies often can teach the puppy that it is ok to go anywhere.
This is a lot of time for her to be in the crate, which could be part of the problem. She is too little to hold it all day yet.
The secret is patience and consistency...I kept one of my little guys blocked in the kitchen during the day and he too ripped the potty pads to shreds. So what I did instead was get some of those crib liners that people use with their babies (this saved the floor). I had a small galley kitchen at the time and put one down on one end and his water bowl and toys on the other. He didn't want to potty near his stuff so he usually went near the pads, if not right on them. When I saw him go on them or when he went outside, I went crazy praising him. When he didn't, I used the crib liner to clean up the mess and didn't say anything to him...unless I caught him in the act. If I caught him in the act, I said ';No!'; in a firm tone and put him on the liner or rushed him outside.
I also used a playpen with my other one. This gave her more room to move around during the day and kept the mess confined to one spot until she learned to be better.
Good luck!
try sneek and watch your dog.
You should know when she's gonna pee cause they sniff about frantically.
Anyway, try be there at that time, grab her when she's about to and take her outside. this is how we trained our dogs and we have no problems at all! (=
I'm sure she'll grow out of it soon my way, just have patience and soon she'll want you to follow her to be let out!
Good Luck (=
you should put newspaper all over the floor by her bed. then when she needs to wake up and go she will on the paper this is what i did with my puppy who is now trained it takes time and patience. then as she gets older reduce the amount of paper and then start moving it towards the door and then eventually outside. it also helps to keep the puppy enclosed while training don't give her the full run of the house as she will pee anywhere she wishes then.
hope this helps
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