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Originally Posted by Sdowns8302  My first response didn't post...so if it shows later, sorry.
I am doing all of these except confining her. But I'm excited to try. She does go to the door now but it's so quick...just a pass and slight hesitation, so if you blink...but I think she is starting to understand so I hope with your advice we can get it conquered! She has a doggie playpen. Should I place it in the room I'm in and watch for signs and take her out? Or should I make her wait the whole 30 to train her to hold it??
Thank you so much for the advice! |
Yes, put it where you are and watch for her to show signs of sniffing, focusing and wanting to go outside, not just parlaying to get out of confinement. I'd take her out first sign UNLESS you find out she's fibbing and just playing you. In that case, I'd start just telling her to "Wait" and give her something to chew on, a toy or used dryer sheet, something interesting to play with to keep her busy until the 30 minutes is up. Yes, she WILL poop in there so cover all of the pen she can walk on in a pad with her bed right next to it and put big boxes in two corners to cut down the space to kind of keep her right in her bed plus just room for one pad for those first two weeks. She won't be living full time in there so that tiny space won't be so bad but, you'll have to face it, she will need to be in there a darn good deal of the time this first 2 weeks to get her in confinement and learning how unpleasant it is when she pees/poops her bed or tiny space, which will encourage her holding her urine and even her poop. She will whine and politic you to get out. She will fib to you. Be prepared and wear your patience like a shield. In time she'll come to accept she has to be there for a short while then she'll quickly learn she gets to go out real soon, also! Let her have her accidents so she knows how bad it is to do that and have to live around it for a short time but then clean it up so she won't get used to it and accept it or like it(!) and after she's learned to hold herself and has an accident, you can even use the "uh oh" when you see it and take her outside to start to teach her "uh oh" is not as good as the going outside with the treats and happy praise and pride that goes with going outside.
Again, want to stress this, confinement is your key to teaching her body how to hold her urine and poop AND prevent her from continuing her old ways, breaking the old habits, but it takes time at first so the taking her out on that regular 2 week 30 min. schedule will sure mark it in her brain as a pattern quickly that she's on a regular schedule to look forward to. And those accidents in confinement do work to help teach her that she needs to hold it so don't be too discouraged by them.
Going outside is actually a dog's natural first choice. It's genetically programmed in them to want to go outside and once they learn that outside their scent is telegraphed to the whole neighborhood and all can "appreciate" it, she will hold herself to get out there to send her message of urine and poop scent to the masses! lol. No kidding - dogs love to mark their space outside and leave their scent once they learn the concept of sending a scent message!