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jinhopark · 12-21-2010, 08:14 AM

Our little girl, Reeses, was born on 8/24/10 and we picked her up from the breeder at 11.5 weeks, which was on 11/13/10. Other than cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish and 2 older dogs (which were already house broken when my family adopted them) I really do not have much experience with training a puppy.

The first week we had her was as disaster. We let her loose on the 1st floor of our house, and we laid down pee pads and she would go pee and poo everywhere but on the pads. Often times we would see the pads shredded up by her, so we bought a Ugodog to prevent her from shredding the pads. We also restricted her access to just 1 room, but she still refused to pee and poo on those darn pads. Frustrated I did some research and read up on everything I could on crate training.

Start of week 2 I bought a crate and with lot's of encouragement and a handful of treats she got comfortable going in and out of the crate. At the end of week 2, her comfort level with the crate seemed fine enough to try and let her stay there for an extended time. The first few nights she would whine, yelp and cry her self to sleep...but she never messed in her crate and when I would wake at 5:30am she was eager to go outside and relieve herself. This was a miracle! A week prior I would take her outside and all she would do is investigate and sniff everything and want to get back in the house...once back in she would poo and pee.

So from weeks 3-5 I got her on this restricted room schedule during the day and in the crate for 6 hours at night. My family and I made it a point to praise her everytime she relieved herself either outside or on the Ugodog grid thing. We even felt comfortable enough to let her have access to another room at each week and now she is at 3 rooms. She even got so good that this past weekend my wife let her have full access to the first floor...and BAM, she pees and poos on the carpet again. My wife tries it again the next day...same result, then yesterday same result.

So now that I've shared some of what we are going through, what should our expectations be? Granted she is only 4 months old and accidents will happen...so is what we are going through "normal"? What are the milestones we should be looking for? We are all counting down the days of when we can give her full reign of the house and not have to crate her at night...plus the family hates having to go in and out of rooms through those darn gates and making sure we don't pinch her tiny paws when we close the gate doors.

12-21-2010, 08:14 AM	#1
jinhopark Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Bolingbrook, IL, USA Posts: 59	House Breaking Expectations Our little girl, Reeses, was born on 8/24/10 and we picked her up from the breeder at 11.5 weeks, which was on 11/13/10. Other than cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish and 2 older dogs (which were already house broken when my family adopted them) I really do not have much experience with training a puppy. The first week we had her was as disaster. We let her loose on the 1st floor of our house, and we laid down pee pads and she would go pee and poo everywhere but on the pads. Often times we would see the pads shredded up by her, so we bought a Ugodog to prevent her from shredding the pads. We also restricted her access to just 1 room, but she still refused to pee and poo on those darn pads. Frustrated I did some research and read up on everything I could on crate training. Start of week 2 I bought a crate and with lot's of encouragement and a handful of treats she got comfortable going in and out of the crate. At the end of week 2, her comfort level with the crate seemed fine enough to try and let her stay there for an extended time. The first few nights she would whine, yelp and cry her self to sleep...but she never messed in her crate and when I would wake at 5:30am she was eager to go outside and relieve herself. This was a miracle! A week prior I would take her outside and all she would do is investigate and sniff everything and want to get back in the house...once back in she would poo and pee. So from weeks 3-5 I got her on this restricted room schedule during the day and in the crate for 6 hours at night. My family and I made it a point to praise her everytime she relieved herself either outside or on the Ugodog grid thing. We even felt comfortable enough to let her have access to another room at each week and now she is at 3 rooms. She even got so good that this past weekend my wife let her have full access to the first floor...and BAM, she pees and poos on the carpet again. My wife tries it again the next day...same result, then yesterday same result. So now that I've shared some of what we are going through, what should our expectations be? Granted she is only 4 months old and accidents will happen...so is what we are going through "normal"? What are the milestones we should be looking for? We are all counting down the days of when we can give her full reign of the house and not have to crate her at night...plus the family hates having to go in and out of rooms through those darn gates and making sure we don't pinch her tiny paws when we close the gate doors.