Problem with house training

[Millomite]

Having never housetrained a pup before, previous dogs have been kennelled; I am having difficulty in getting my pup to go to the toilet where I want her to. She sleeps overnight in the kitchen, and has free run of the kitchen, my lab sleeps in his cage in the kitchen (for the moment, will be outside soon). The cage is a 42 inch one so is huge.

We put newspapers down next to the back door and on top of that we put a puppy pad, on which we spray a solution from PAH to encourage the puppy to go there. She does use this area, which is about 6 foot by 3 foot, but when we come down in the morning there is poo and pee all over the kitchen floor.

What is the best way to go about training? The pup is left in the kitchen with my lab in his cage from 8:15am to 12:00pm and then again from 1:00pm until 3:30pm. Would it be best to get another crate for her?

[PennyB]

Its early days really. She has a small bladder and bowels and short concentration span so all of this training has to be quite repetitive and short

Personally I never use paper or pads or anything else just old fashioned taking them out every 45min-1h during the day and last thing at night and sometimes getting up in the night to take them out if need be and getting up early as well.

If you're out all this time during the day then it will take a lot longer to housetrain.

[CarolineL]

Hi Millomite

What works for some, doesnt necessarily work for others but with Hurley we got a crate for him to sleep in, and to put him in when we were not always around.

The great thing about crates is that dogs are unlikely to go to the toilet where they sleep, so, if your puppy needs the toilet during the night she will wake up and let you know either by whining or barking, you can then go and let her out to the toilet and put her back in bed when she's done. I always used a treat when Hurley went outside, lots of praise and a reward like cheese or ham. If he had an accident indoors I just carried on as normal and never punished him (how's he to know that he's in the wrong?)

I never used the newspaper method, I was just particularly vigilant about watching Hurley and if he looked like he was going to the toilet, I'd say 'No' loudly - and say 'Outside' and then rush him outside to go to the toilet. If you're not there for the majority of the day it will be difficult to monitor and hence training may take a little longer. If I remember correctly you've only had her a couple of weeks and house training can take a while. Hurley's now 9 months and although I would say he is housetrained he still has the odd accident if I dont get there in time....

Hope that helps...

Cx

[*Theresa*]

We could not put paper or pads down with Glen as he just viewed them as a chew toy and shredded them all over my kitchen  . With us we just took him out very regurlarily and made sure we used a key phrase which with us was 'be a clever boy'. Lots of praise and a treat when he got it right was a huge incentive, he now races us inside a sits by his cupboard expectantly. Although he does have accidents sometimes now they are mainly if we have had to leave him for a bit longer than usual in which case its our fault and not his. Since we have been taking him to bed in our room he will hold all night if needs be, I usually get up in the night to go to the bathroom myself so he will join me and nip outside. We never have accidents during the night and are down to only a couple a week now which as I said is our fault and not his and we have not had a poo in the house for weeks. (wait and see, he'll have left me a nice pressie today coz I said that  ). He is definately getting better at holding now and we can watch a film with him all the way through without a bathroom break. Im quite lucky in a way that my OH smokes and we have a no smoking house so he just takes Glen outside with him whenever he goes for a fag. Its all just perseverance as far as I have learned and not expecting too much too soon.  

[ladylola]

young puppies really need to be taken outside every hour. most can't hold on much longer than that.
If you see them sniffing around looking for a place to go take them outside. praise when they go where you want them to and ignore the places you don't. If you catch your pup doing it  or going to squat, say no in a firm voice and take outside. no good telling them off when the deed is done as they don't what you are cross about.I think house training will be difficult for you when she is left for more hours than she can hold it.have you not got anybody who could pop in and take her out when you are not there. Ellie my 4 month old pup, sleeps in a soft crate at night,and has only just started to sleep through the night, she let me know when she needed to toilet and I was usually up twice through the night. but she never went in her crate. we still have the odd accident through the day but on the whole is very good. sasha my older dog still had the odd accident until she was nine months old.

[Helen]

if this is still happening in 6 months you have a problem....she's just a baby so don't expect miracles just yet.

we didn't crate train, but were with our dog for the first couple of weeks and routinely took him out on the hour during the day and consistently used the same 'command' and praised him madly when he did do the right thing.

At night we set the alarm for 3am (which changed by 1/2 an hour each night until we got to 6 am ish which is when we get up) and got up and took him out - in our coma we said nothing to him except 'go wee' and 'good boy' and tucked him back into bed.  i

the only accidents we had were our own fault where we didn't read his 'signs.

he was housetrained at 11 weeks (bearing in mind we got him at 8 weeks).  My sil's bitch has been a lot slower and was having the odd accident until 6 months.

if you haven't got it, get a copy of Gwen Bailey's 'The perfect puppy', not butch gundog reading but it does make a lot of sense

[OscarsMum]

We used a combination of methods! Because I was a big softie and couldn't bear to shut the crate door, we attached a board to one end so that Oscar had a 1m square outside his crate to go to the loo during the night.(we used newspaper and puppy pads). That meant we never had to get up to let him out in the night During the day we used the 'outside every hour' method and no paper or pads. Oscar is 5 months now and wakes us up between 4-30 amd 5-30 am to go to the loo. We let him out then put him back to bed for another hour or so. However, he sometimes won't go back to sleep and just barks We're getting tough now and ignoring him until 6-30am. It's definately much harder than having children- or else I'm getting soft in my old age Be patient though - it just takes time!

[Penel]

Get another crate.
Get rid of the newspaper and puppy pads.... you want the pup to learn to go outside, not on newspaper or puppy pads.....
As others have said, use a word - go wee wee (or something more manly perhaps  )... and only say this cue, when the puppy is actually weeing or pooing.  Then bring pup back inside.  At night time get up once in the night, take puppy outside, say cue word as puppy is going, then bring pup back in, and into the crate.  Obviously the second you get home, or up in the mornings, the first thing you must do is take the puppy outside and wait for her to perform.  Btw after about 3 days, the pup will know the cue word, and will "go" when you say it.
I have housetrained 4 puppies this way and all of them have been totally housetrained within 10 days of having them home at 8 wks old.   In fact the English setter (the one everyone thinks is dim) was totally housetrained within 48 hours - and going out of the dogflap into the garden to wee and poo on her own....

[*Jay*]

Well, my pup has only weed outside twice in the six weeks I have had her, so try living with that  And one of those took place this evening!!!

[miche]

I do think some dogs are more difficult to housetrain than others. Mikey was very clean but Herbie wasn't and was having accidents right up until a couple of months ago (they are 18  months).  I then got a crate for Herbie but Mikey decided he wanted to use it too so now they are both crated together and I haven't had one accident.

Mikey I trained by taking him out regularly and saying "Go wee wee's" which is something I always will have to say to him, Herbie knows this command but is more stubborn so it has proved harder.

Personally I never used paper or the sprays either and would get another crate if possible - Good luck.

[PennyB]

Get another crate.
Get rid of the newspaper and puppy pads.... you want the pup to learn to go outside, not on newspaper or puppy pads.....
As others have said, use a word - go wee wee (or something more manly perhaps  )... and only say this cue, when the puppy is actually weeing or pooing.  Then bring pup back inside.  At night time get up once in the night, take puppy outside, say cue word as puppy is going, then bring pup back in, and into the crate.  Obviously the second you get home, or up in the mornings, the first thing you must do is take the puppy outside and wait for her to perform.  Btw after about 3 days, the pup will know the cue word, and will "go" when you say it.
I have housetrained 4 puppies this way and all of them have been totally housetrained within 10 days of having them home at 8 wks old.   In fact the English setter (the one everyone thinks is dim) was totally housetrained within 48 hours - and going out of the dogflap into the garden to wee and poo on her own....

I agree but would be a little concerned that the pup may spend a good part of the day in the crate (8.15-12.00, 1-3.30) then at night

[Nicola]

Alfie was very easy to housetrain as well, his breeder had a dog flap in his house so he was used to tootling out of that with his mum and sisters. We fitted one the first weekend we had him and as a result he was 100% housetrained during the day instantly as between us we took 4 weeks off work when he came home so the flap was open all the time unless we went out for an hour or two but he was really good from day one about holding until we got back and we had very few accidents. Night times we let him out and then put him to bed at about 11.30pm. We didn't crate Alfie but we did have a puppy pad by the back door just in case. We would set the alarm and come down at 2am then again at 4am then OH was up at 6am anyway so I think we only had one or two uses of the pad.

I would say he was completely housetrained with no accidents by about 12-13 weeks but tbh with you there's no way a small puppy could hold themselves from 8.15-12.00, that's a really long time for them.

[Penel]

Get another crate.
Get rid of the newspaper and puppy pads.... you want the pup to learn to go outside, not on newspaper or puppy pads.....
As others have said, use a word - go wee wee (or something more manly perhaps  )... and only say this cue, when the puppy is actually weeing or pooing.  Then bring pup back inside.  At night time get up once in the night, take puppy outside, say cue word as puppy is going, then bring pup back in, and into the crate.  Obviously the second you get home, or up in the mornings, the first thing you must do is take the puppy outside and wait for her to perform.  Btw after about 3 days, the pup will know the cue word, and will "go" when you say it.
I have housetrained 4 puppies this way and all of them have been totally housetrained within 10 days of having them home at 8 wks old.   In fact the English setter (the one everyone thinks is dim) was totally housetrained within 48 hours - and going out of the dogflap into the garden to wee and poo on her own....

I agree but would be a little concerned that the pup may spend a good part of the day in the crate (8.15-12.00, 1-3.30) then at night

well I totally agree of course, this is too long for a puppy to spend in a crate IMO, or an adult dog, but I didn't see the point in saying it, because I don't think our opinions on this will make any difference.  I was trying to tell the OP how I housetrain a puppy.  My puppies slept in a crate at nighttime, or if I was out during the day, but since I worked from home all the time when they were pups, mostly they were causing havoc with the other dogs

[Penel]

Have been thinking about this again this morning - thinking back to Hattie as a pup - I would take her in the garden about every 30 minutes, as well as after eating, waking up etc........... I guess over Christmas will give Millomite a really good go at housetraining the puppy (what's her name ?) as hopefully he will have some time off work to spend with the dogs ....  I really don't know how people that go out to work housetrain a puppy it must be really really difficult.

[lolajays]

Hi, Im new to this stuff too although Maudie is 7 months old we have only had her for 2 weeks, we still had accidents from her because she lived in a kennel outside before we had her! I take her out every 2 hours now because she is older she can hold it! she sleeps through the night in fact today I was very very knackered and didnt get up til 8 she was still asleep and dry. She isnt telling me particularly well tho or im not yet able to read her signs she does have the occasional accident but she will get there we are still new to her! I say quick quick and 8/10 times she will have a wee! Im a little worried by a comment saying youve got problems if they are not HT by 6 months surely if you dont get your pup till later on allowances can be made!

Take care all
Tracey and maudie x