Puppy potty-training help!

E

enigmaquandry

Forums Regular
Hi, I have a sheltie puppy who is now 3 1/2 months old. She has been crate trained since we got her and we are very vigilant about taking her out. She hardly ever has the opportunity to go inside the house but whenever there's even a possibility of her going inside she will. We've tried treats and praise outside, catching her in the act inside and scolding and nothing seems to phase her at all. She does go immediately when she's outside so she seems to know that she SHOULD go outside just not that she SHOULDN'T go inside. We watch her like a hawk whenever she's in the house and are SO ready for her to be done with this. We are completely consistent and yet she's never indicated that she needs to go out. Are we doing something wrong or do shelties just take a while to learn? She's brilliant and learns tricks/commands in minutes.
Thanks for any advice!
 
A few questions:

How often are you taking her outside? Does she pee/poop in her crate? How many hours per day/night is she in her crate? Are you timing her outside time around: feeding, play, naps? Young pups often needs to go shortly after any of these activities.

Cheers
B
 
She goes outside every 4 hours or so. We take her out every time we take her out of the crate. After she goes out she'll play and then go back in the crate. If she's been playing more than 30 minutes we take her out again. She probably spends 16-20 hours a day in her crate. It's hard to have her out more often because we have to watch her every second. Also we never used papers or puppy pads because we did not want to teach her that going inside was ever ok. She only ever went in her cage once when she was very little and she raised a huge fuss, so apparently she didn't care for it :razz:
 
I would suggest not to scold her when she has an accident. She's still very young, and some pups catch on faster then others. Anytime I caught Caliber peeing or pooping inside, I always said "WHOOOOPS!!!" in a high voice, scooped them up and put him on his pee pad. After we eliminated the pee pad(on occasion when he did have an accident, which wasn't too often) I would just run him out the door.

Some say use pee pads or paper, some say don't...I personally used them, and it worked like a charm for Caliber. It took him about a month and a bit to learn how to let us know he had to go pee/poo, and that OUTSIDE was where he had to go. He mostly had poop accidents inside after her learned that. I just moved his pee pad closer and closer to the door each day, and then took it away all together once it reached the door. He seemed to catch on that the door was where he had to "Go" and since the pad wasn't there he had to let us know "Ok Mommy...pee pad isn't there and I have to pee." My opinion is that it's not teaching them it's "ok" to go inside, just that it's not appropriate to go wherever they please. If you give them a designated place, then take it away, they'll let you know. Just my personal opinion.

Try taking her out of her crate a bit more...yes it requires a bit more attention to watch her, but maybe she's just demanding your attention by going pee/poo inside. To me, 16-20 hours in the crate seems like a very long time for a puppy that needs to explore the big world around them! :smile2:

Hope this helps a bit! Good luck!
 
I took my pups out every hour until they got the hang of going outside, and I got up 2-3 times during the night to take them out. She may be peeing inside because she isn't getting enough opportunities to go out. I know its a pain but they have only very little bladders and the muscles take a while to be formed. My female, even though she learnt to go outside within a week, still needed to toilet 1-2 times during the night as well until she was about 18mths.

You may also find it useful to keep a record for a week on her toileting - when and where she goes. I did this for my male as he liked to poo on concrete so I could work out when he would poo and make sure he was outside playing.

Another useful tactic is to teach the pup to pee on command - I think this is useful for all inside dogs. When she is peeing or pooing outside use a command word (I say 'toilet') then give lots of praise when she finishes. Then you get to the point you can get your dog to toilet on command.
 
16-20 hours a day seems like a lot of time in a crate. It sounds like she may be spending so much time crated that she may not have figured out the difference between going inside and outside.

My first recommendation would be to go out and buy a product that will neutralize the odor of urine. You can get products like that at any petstore. If she can smell areas where she's had past accidents then there's a good chance she'll continue to have accidents around those areas.

When accidents happen inside it's usually not best to scold. Tara's right, say something like 'Oops!' then immediately take her to the correct area. Give lots of praise for going in the right place. Try crating her less and taking her out more often. Some people have found success by having their pup leashed to them during potty training so that the pup isn't left alone to have accidents. Keep taking her out as soon as she's taken out of her crate, that will definitely help her catch on!

I'd also like to mention though that around 5 months old we started having behavioral problems with Sadie. She'd been potty trained for months with no accidents when she started peeing or pooing in the house. I eventually realized that when I didn't do something she liked, she would retaliate by peeing or pooing in the house. When she began doing this and we finally realized why, we DID scold her, otherwise more 'accident's happened every time. I just wanted to mention this because behavioral problems can happen, although it doesn't sound like you have a behavioral problem from what you've described.
 
Thanks everyone for your advice! As per recommended my husband and I are going to try having her out of the crate more inside. Since it's impossible to get anything done while she's out we've also made a space outside that she can play in without needing to be watched so she will spend less time in the crate. :lol:
 
I have a 4 month old sheltie, Buddy, that we've been housebreaking. We had a Bichon with us and Buddy was obsessed with the Bichon, and acted like we weren't even there. So, we rehomed the Bichon about 2 weeks ago. Finally, Buddy is excited to be with us and easy to train. What I have always done for housebreaking, is to put a small wind chime or bell near the door that the dog is going out. Every time you put your puppy out, make his nose or paw hit the bell to make noise. We just did it for our puppy about 1 week ago and he hasn't made a mistake since--he just rings the bell when he wants to go out. Of course, at first they'll ring the bell just for the fun of making you get up, but once you're absolutely positive they're housebroken, you can start letting them out less often. Good luck!!
 
I have a 4 month old sheltie, Buddy, that we've been housebreaking. We had a Bichon with us and Buddy was obsessed with the Bichon, and acted like we weren't even there. So, we rehomed the Bichon about 2 weeks ago. Finally, Buddy is excited to be with us and easy to train. What I have always done for housebreaking, is to put a small wind chime or bell near the door that the dog is going out. Every time you put your puppy out, make his nose or paw hit the bell to make noise. We just did it for our puppy about 1 week ago and he hasn't made a mistake since--he just rings the bell when he wants to go out. This way you can here your puppy at the door, even if you're in another room. Of course, at first they'll ring the bell just for the fun of making you get up, but once you're absolutely positive they're housebroken, you can start letting them out less often. Good luck!!
 
enigmaquandry said:
She goes outside every 4 hours or so. We take her out every time we take her out of the crate. After she goes out she'll play and then go back in the crate. If she's been playing more than 30 minutes we take her out again. She probably spends 16-20 hours a day in her crate. It's hard to have her out more often because we have to watch her every second. Also we never used papers or puppy pads because we did not want to teach her that going inside was ever ok. She only ever went in her cage once when she was very little and she raised a huge fuss, so apparently she didn't care for it :razz:
Click to expand...

I suspect that what some of the others have said is correct....it could be that spending so much time in the crate, she is more focussed on playing and exercise than peeing! And then OOOPS! Suddenly she has to go...now! When you are home, try to keep her out of the crate more often. If your doing something, contain her in the same area as you, either by baby-gate or leash. This worked well for me, as I knew where pup was at all times, so I could watch for the pre-pee behaviour (circling, sniffing) - scoop puppy up and outside, then treat and praise.

Best of luck!
 
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