Go Back   Pet forum for dogs cats and humans - Pets.ca > Discussion Groups - mainly cats and dogs > Dog training - dog behavior

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old October 6th, 2010, 08:06 PM
R&Rpuppies R&Rpuppies is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canada
Posts: 5
Am I expecting too much, too soon?

So my puppies are now 9 weeks. I have had them for two weeks now and it *seemed* they were getting the drift about going to potty outside- going to the door, that kind of thing, but the last two nights, the female will go outside with her brother, but seems to hold it until she's back inside! And I can tell she's doing this - she sniffs around and goes right back to the door to go back inside, and once inside, she sniffs around and goes. Yesterday, I thought it was because it was raining outside and I know they don't like to go out in the rain, so I wasn't too concerned, but she did it agin tonight, and it was a really nice evening here. Not sure why she seems to be doing this. Any insights?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old October 6th, 2010, 08:15 PM
Marty11's Avatar
Marty11 Marty11 is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: East Gwillimbury, ON
Posts: 1,174
You are totally expecting too much too soon. It will be 4-6 months before you get results. Someone here on this forum will tell you exactly all the tips for potty training.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old October 6th, 2010, 08:28 PM
luckypenny's Avatar
luckypenny luckypenny is offline
Doggie Wench
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: St. Philippe-de-Laprairie, Qc
Posts: 11,812
Here are some house training tips that you'll find helpful http://www.sfspca.org/sites/default/...ning-puppy.pdf

When your little girl comes in, it would seem that she's trying to sniff where she's gone previously. An enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle will eliminate any odors.

At 9 weeks, their bladders are still pretty small and their sphincter muscles not fully developed yet. Keep up with taking them outdoors frequently and don't forget to praise/reward. Patience and consistency is key .
__________________
"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." -Will Durant
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old October 6th, 2010, 08:34 PM
bendyfoot's Avatar
bendyfoot bendyfoot is offline
Geek Club CEO
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Ontario
Posts: 5,019
1. Absolutely, positively, expecting too much too soon. Our "best" pup was reliable at 6 months, our "not-so-best" was closer to 18 months before she was reliably housetrained. Breathe, and invest in enzymatic pet cleaner and paper towels

2. Are you crate training these pups? If not, you should. One crate each. There are lots of excellent discussions on this board about crating.

3. Take pups out to pee after every: morning wakeup time, nap, play time, chew time, feeding time, get-home-from-work-or-errands time, right before bed, and probably at least once in the middle of the night. Establish a routine and stick to it.

4. Always take them out on a leash. Potty time is not play time. Give them a potty command (we use "go pee" and "go poop"). When they go, have a praise party for them and give a treat.
__________________
Owned by:
Solomon - black DSH - king of kitchen raids (11)
Gracie - Mutterooski X - scary smart (9)
Jaida - GSD - tripod trainwreck and gentle soul (4)
Heidi - mugsly Boston Terrier X - she is in BIG trouble!!! (3)
Audrey - torbie - sweet as pie (11 months)
Patrick - blue - a little turd (but we like him anyways) (6 months)
__________
Boo, our Matriarch (August 1 1992 - March 29 2011)
Riley and Molly
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old October 7th, 2010, 10:26 AM
Jumajum Jumajum is offline
Ma to Lyra and Loulou
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Inuvik, NT
Posts: 33
What have you done to communicate to the pups that you want them to go pee and poop outside?
How long are you waiting for a pee and poop to happen? Do you go to same little patch of yard? Go to the same area, give them at least 3-4 minutes to get the fountains flowing.
If you're not already rewarding them, start giving them a big "Good boy/girl' with a treat every time the go potty outside. Once they start gaining more bladder control, this will compell them to hold it in for outdoor potty. When they go inside (and they will continue to have accidents inside for the next several months) don't yell or punish, just remove both pups from the accident and make sure they don't see you cleaning it up. I station mine in another room while I clean up the mess. The following time the piddle outdoors I make a whole huge deal about how good they are and I double the treats.
Enzymatic cleaners or a vinegar/water solution will help remove the smell of urine depending on what sort of surface you're dealing with.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old October 7th, 2010, 02:58 PM
Dog Dancer's Avatar
Dog Dancer Dog Dancer is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 6,667
Yup, 9 weeks is way too young to expect a trained puppy. You need to make sure that you stay outside with the puppy until she does her business. Do not bring her in until she has. You've got excellent tips here so far. Give their business a name and use it. I can get my dogs to do their business on command (go pee is very useful before car trips, although I don't usually force them to go poo first) and it's something that we do often. Even at 10 and 13 years of age they both get solid praise for doing their business outside on their walks. Sure they know, but you gotta praise praise praise. Be patient and be consistant and you will eventually have success.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old October 17th, 2010, 06:45 PM
mona_b's Avatar
mona_b mona_b is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Hamilton Ont
Posts: 4,620
Yes you are expecting too much at this age. And I agree with cleaning up the areas that she has gone. Using the vinegar/water solution is good. Or you can use a product called Nok out. It's great.

My daughter adopted a pup 3 weeks ago. Milo is now 12 weeks. He is not being crate trained. She is doing it old school which is paper training. Something I did with all my dogs. Milo is doing really well. Yes there are accidents, but that's going to happen at this age. We use the "go pee" command. When he does, he gets praised like crazy. The "go pee" only has to be said once now as he caught onto it.

If she is sniffing again once you bring her in, scoop her up and take her back outside.
__________________
"A dog can express more with his tail in minutes than his owner can express with his tongue in hours."
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old October 18th, 2010, 09:23 AM
AmberP's Avatar
AmberP AmberP is offline
Owner of a Small Zoo
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Cornwall, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 16
Echoing a resounding yes, you're expecting too much too soon. My pup is 5.5 months old and I still expect accidents out of her. I find it so, so detrimental to dogs to believe that they should learn to housetrain before they pass puberty, and some breeds housetrain slower than others- such as "outdoor" breeds, and toy breeds.

Despite expecting accidents, I've had under twenty since I brought her home at two months old. Astounding, even to those who expect a housetrained pup within a week. What I did was a ritualised routine for her first month. She was tied to my desk or to my waist- more often my desk, since it's centralised in our home and I was using the seating space anyway- and taken out every hour/hour and a half. When she could be trusted to not piddle on the floor right in front of me, I let her loose, and kept an eye on her.

The only unfortunate thing with this is that she never learned how to let me know she had to pee. I am in the process of training her to ring a bell to open the door and go out, and she's catching on pretty well to the execution, but not the concept. Yesterday she waited until I stood up and walked to the door to let them out at a normal time, rang the bell, ran into the apartment hallway, and had to pee on the carpet because she couldn't hold it anymore. She understood she had to ring the bell to open the door, but not that she could ring the bell to let me know she had to pee and I should open the door.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old October 18th, 2010, 10:59 AM
lilwhitefurball lilwhitefurball is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: new york
Posts: 14
Help them get the idea of the potty training by taking them out on a leash for the purpose during the most crucial times
Quote:
Originally Posted by bendyfoot View Post
3. Take pups out to pee after every: morning wakeup time, nap, play time, chew time, feeding time, get-home-from-work-or-errands time, right before bed, and probably at least once in the middle of the night. Establish a routine and stick to it.


And when they are just doing their business, you can say "go poop" or "go pee" to associate their action with the words. They will pick it up better.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old October 19th, 2010, 10:02 AM
Sib.HuskyMom's Avatar
Sib.HuskyMom Sib.HuskyMom is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Ontario
Posts: 311
I think everyone has pretty much covered it off already, but I just wanted to add that I totally agree with the leash idea.
I also had to train 2 pups at the same time - they were 9 weeks old when I brought them home.

Whenever I was taking them outside to go pee or poo, I always had to put them on a leash otherwise, otherwise they'd just start playing and chasing each other. It's a lot different then just having one pup isn't it?

As soon as one of them did what they were supposed to, they got a "good boy!" and a piece of kibble (I always had a pocket full of kibble). Then they went inside and I stayed out with the other one until he did his business too. Even if it took 15 minutes, he didn't go in until the job was done.

Once they were inside, I blocked off portions of the house so I could keep an eye on both of them at all times, and watch for the "signs" that they had to go. It's better to be preventative and reactive.

Best of luck. It will take time, but your patience and persistence will pay off. Both of my boys were fully house trained within a few weeks of being home. Some dogs are quick, some take a lot longer. Every pup is different but don't worry, they'll get it eventually
__________________
Owned by:
Timber - Siberian Husky - 3 yrs old
Jasper - Siberian Husky - 3 yrs old
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Forum Terms of Use

  • All Bulletin Board Posts are for personal/non-commercial use only.
  • Self-promotion and/or promotion in general is prohibited.
  • Debate is healthy but profane and deliberately rude posts will be deleted.
  • Posters not following the rules will be banned at the Admins' discretion.
  • Read the Full Forum Rules

Forum Details

  • Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
    Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
    vBulletin Optimisation by vB Optimise (Reduced on this page: MySQL 0%).
  • All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:26 AM.