Housebreaking

[carol97]

Yes, the headache for virtually every new sheltie owner is HOUSEBREAKING! Hahaha! I love my little rocket-alligator (HAHA my mouthy Rico) and all, but sometimes he lets off like a rocket and zoom! A little puddle of pee is under his feet! And by the time we get him to his pee tray, the little rocket-alligator is done with his pee and wants to play He's not very consistent either, sometimes he pees on the newspapers and sometimes he misses, and sometimes, he's just not there at all! I've been observing him for a few days, and I can't see any sign of him peeing other than him just squatting down and after a split second, the yellow waterfall appears

And he doesn't like peeing inside his personal space which is basically a crate with his food and water bowl and a pee tray at a corner. I live in an apartment with a small, cemented front yard, and the little alligator seems to have taken a liking to peeing outside, but only after his we let him out from his crate in the morning, but he doesn't really do it on his pee tray D: So perhaps I might shift his pee tray outside as well

Does anyone have any positive methods for me to reinforce the little rocket-alligator to pee properly on the pee tray? Just one thing: the little rocket-alligator has memory akin to a goldfish (for now), once he gets into something, he forgets the other straight away. HAHA

 

[danisgoat]

He sounds like quite the character.

I would just stay consistent with what you do.

Most puppies pee at pretty regular times. When they wake up, after they eat, and after they finish with play. If you make sure that you are watching him at these times, and move him to the place you want him to go, he will get it. The hard part is for you to be consistent.

Good luck!

 

[carol97]

Thanks for replying Danisgoat! We are training him to pee outside now, and I think he has gotten the idea that we want him to pee there Now it's time to learn that he must pee on the newspapers instead of on the floor! Sadly he runs out of his pee whenever we get him there! Hahah!

 

[Caro]

My male sheltie only liked to toilet on concrete as a pup. He switched to puppy pads (and my carpet) fairly quickly but kept pooping on concrete for ages. I worked out it was because his breeder used to take him to work in a factory and it had a concrete floor. They do seem to develop a liking for a particular surface. One of the things with concrete vs newspaper is concrete isnt so messy for the dog.

Have you thought of a puppy toilet? I made one with a large plastic container lid and some clumping cat litter. To stop the dogs digging in the cat litter I put artificial grass over the top (with extra holes punched in). It works out a lot cheaper and cleaner than the pup toilets that you buy as the clumps of kitty litter is easy to remove and the artificial grass can be washed down regularly and easily replaced from the hardware store.