Chloe is 6 months old now, and she has been completely house-broken for over a month now. We actually started on pads and newspaper, but I quickly decided that this was not for me. So we went outside. The first time, she looked at me like, "uh...this is grass...what do you want me to do with it?" I tried bringing the peed on newspaper outside, but that only blew away in the breeze, and when it did stay down, the spongy grass underneath made it feel wierd to her; she was spooked by it. So, I just took her outside, sat down in a chair on the grass and waited for her to pee pee. When she did, I praised big time, gave her a treat. After that, she understood what the grass was all about. I did find for poop, it helps to have a turd in the grass. If she sniffed her turd, (sorry to be so graphic
) it seemed to stimulate her to poop.
So I started by taking her out every hour (more frequently if she was playing because when they play they wanna pee). I also found three places that she would not potty: in my arms, in her little bed, and in her crate. So if I could not be watching her like a hawk, I'd either hold her or put her in the crate.
The key, I truly believe is, to NEVER let them out of your sight unless they are in the crate or something. And this is what I did. Those times that she would start to go potty, we'd clap real loud, say "NO!" and take her outside to the grass immediately, then praise and treat when she did it outside. Even if there is no way to stop the pottyng at that moment, you want to startle them from that moment and show them where they are supposed to potty. The point being to educate them on where they are supposed to go rather than expecting to stop an accident in progress. This took some time to get my husband to understand. He'd say, well, it's too late, she's already got the turd half out of her butt. It doesn't matter. Startle and re-direct.
Now, if you come across pee or poop that you did not catch happening in the act. Forget about it. You made the mistake by not watching her. They do not understand if you show it to them after the moment has passed and scold them for it.
Crate. Watch. Schedule. Startle. Redirect. Praise. Treat. That about covers it.
