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Originally Posted by Lovestruck304  Bailey is not catching on much to the whole puppy pad idea which has been becoming a frustrating hassle considering I live with 2 other people, a cat, and Bailey likes to eat her own poop. So I have been taking her outside to potty instead. Well, I was foolish to believe this would be a simple solution. I am outside at 6am sometimes for up to an hour until she goes, if she goes at all. She always manages to become distracted by something---anything, and if there is nothing to distract her she likes to roll her face in the grass or sniff the trails of previous kitty/K9 passersby. Sometimes she will have me outside FOREVER, and finally after I give up and go inside in the house she decides to use the bathroom. My sister says I should stay outside until she does potty, no matter how long it is but it is not fun standing in the hot sun for an hour or more and I have other things to do. She does potty outside sometimes, most often in the mornings as opposed to nighttime, but there isn't a lot of progress there either.  So I was just wondering if I am the only one faced with this problem. How long are you outside before your little girl or boy goes to the bathroom? |
That is funny, because I had almost the opposite problem. I had hoped to try using a pad in a litter box. The day I got Lexi, she wouldn't go on the pad in the pan, and I put her in there a lot. I know she was a little bit mixed up, because she had been shipped on an airplane. That night, I tried the pad/pan again - nothing. Brought her outside, and she went.
We'd been going outside, but as you said, distractions came easily. And quite often, Lexi would just take off charging (until she got to the end of her leash), and I could bring her back ten times or more, and she would actually go, so the attempt to run away from her "spot" didn't mean she didn't have to go.
From my readings on crate training, you bring them out for about 5 minutes. If they don't go, put them back in the crate, wait a little while, and then try again. If you're not doing the crate thing, you could wait 5 minutes, bring her in, watch her very carefully. Bring her out if she shows any signs of having to go, or else after a half hour or so.
BTW, I had the pan set up with a pad in it all along. Lexi would try to play with the pad, shred it, roll in her pan, bring a toy in it, lie down, and chew on it, or lie on her side in it and start digging at the side of the pan. No interest in pottying there.
One morning, we had a horrible storm. I admit, I wasn't thrilled at the idea of going out in the pouring rain, but I felt the lightning was too dangerous for us to be outside. Luckily, it was first thing in the morning, so I knew she had to go. I brought her to the pan, which I had sprayed with the wee-wee spray. I also had - just the day before - blotted up a puddle accident from the floor with a pad. I had that pad in the pan, with a clean one on top of it. I put Lexi in the pan, and she peed in it. Hooray! Since it continued to rain and storm all day - and it was much easier than putting on the harness, going outside a zillion times, standing in hot sun, and dealing with wasps flying around, I kept it up. For about two weeks, I guess, I would put her in the pan periodically, and she would often go in it. A few accidents, yes, but she would often go in it.
I also made another change. I know some books say not to do this, but praise alone was not getting her to go outside (and NOT go inside), so I started to give her a treat every time she went in the pan. This Wednesday - the day after she turned 4 months old - I heard her in her pan. I looked to see if she was playing with the pads. No - she was peeing! She had gone in on her own!!! The rest of the day, I never put her in the pan again. She kept going on her own. Even pooping - the hardest thing to get her to do in the pan - she did. It's only been a few days, but tonight was our only accident. She pooped on the laundry room floor, but we are not counting that. She had followed my son in, and he didn't realize it, and shut the door when he left, trapping her in there for a little while, so she couldn't get to her pan. I know it's early, but I am so excited with this progress!
Sorry this got so long - I could have just said to give her a treat every time she goes where you want - and maybe that will help! LOL
Good luck!
