[ZoeysHumanMom]

I am by no means an expert (we've had Zoey 8 weeks today), but I can tell you what worked for us. I read everything I could find about house breaking a dog. Everything said to "never let her of your sight, not even for a minute. If you have to leave her alone, put her in a crate or confine her somehow. Take her out first thing in the morning -- very first thing -- make it the first thing you do. Take her out immediately after she eats or plays. Take her out last thing at night before you crate her for the night. If you catch her going in the house, clap your hands to stop her, then take her outside to finish. And when she does go outside, give her lots of praise while she's going and reward her with a treat immediately when she finishes. Don't wait even a few seconds because she'll forget why she's being rewarded. "

We followed that advice to the letter. We bought her a little doggie playpen for when we're away. She's okay in her crate, but the playpen gives her a little more play room. I also bought a gate to confine her to the kitchen so I can watch her while I'm working in the kitchen.

I carried treats with me outside when I'd take her out. I'd tell her to go potty, then I'd really praise her a lot with "good girl to potty" while she was going. Then I'd give her a treat. (Now she goes potty on demand when I say, "go potty, Zoey.")

I don't really know how long it took--a few weeks. One day we saw her scratching at the door. As soon as we opened it, she went outside and went potty. She's been doing it ever since. She hasn't had an accident in the house in several weeks. I'm hoping to keep reinforcing the behavior so she's completely trained before winter.

Good luck with your little one. It's really frustrating when they're not potty trained. My husband told me about an article he read that said there are thousands of dogs in shelters because their owners couldn't housebreak them. Every dog can be housebroken with a lot of love and a lot of patience.