Potty Training Problems solved.
 

It seems that most of the posts in this area are in regards to potty training. Instead of answering every single one, I'm just going to start a new thread. Hopefully it'll help someone.

The key is confinement when you can't watch them & consistency. Like, clockwork consistency. Setting yourself an alarm if you need to. Buy the book "How to housebreak your dog in 7 days by Shirlee... This book worked miracles for us.

If you can't afford to buy the book, a Vet has made a .pdf file of the schedule from this book that you should follow. The key is to tweak it to fit your dog's schedule once you figure out their body's natural rhythm. Then, STICK to it. This has worked wonders for us. Please look this over if you're having potty training issues. It's very highly rated & even recommended by trainers. If you can, definitely buy the book. It's only a couple of bucks and it's packed with good information. It's also a very quick read. :)

Hope this helps & good luck!!

thanks!!!

That was a really helpful article on house-training. Thank you for posting it.

Hmmm.. I can't seem to get the .PDF file to work! I'm really curious to read this!
Can you repost or check the link? Thankee!


I DID find a link I wonder if it's similar...? How to Housebreak a Dog in Seven Days | eHow.com

thank you! I am going to print this out and put this in my puppy packs that i send home with all my puppy buyers...

So glad it helped! :)

AvyQuinn - Yes, this is very similar. It uses the same philosophy. However, there are actually 6 different schedules on the .pdf, depending on how old your pup is & whether or not you work.

The .pdf is a large file, are you allowing enough time for it to load? Here is the .html version - though not as pretty. :) Should be easier to open. If for some reason that doesn't open, google "How to housebreak your dog in 7 days." The link will be one of the first to pop up. It will be under ltah.net. Be sure to click "html version."

Another thing I forgot to mention earlier (sorry, tired!) is that the book actually has a section on pee pad/litter box training, as well. So, it has something for everyone! :)

Awesome! Thanks for the link!! =D

[quote=AmeliaBadelia;2423226]So glad it helped! :)

AvyQuinn - Yes, this is very similar. It uses the same philosophy. However, there are actually 6 different schedules on the .pdf, depending on how old your pup is & whether or not you work.

The .pdf is a large file, are you allowing enough time for it to load? Here is the .html version - though not as pretty. :) Should be easier to open. If for some reason that doesn't open, google "How to housebreak your dog in 7 days." The link will be one of the first to pop up. It will be under ltah.net. Be sure to click "html version."

Another thing I forgot to mention earlier (sorry, tired!) is that the book actually has a section on pee pad/litter box training, as well. So, it has something for everyone! :)[/quote

Thank you! I am getting the book! I just hope it gets here QUICK! I am already starting the pdf. schedule though. Did you see my post on how to get my dog to go on her pee pads without taking her there? Any ideas on that?

i started on the schedule today. I am currently unemployed but wanted to get charlie started on the work schedule. I changed it a little. Here is my own schedule for charlie. Please give me your input..Thanks.

5:30am--potty
5:40am--feeding/play time
6am--crate
11:30am--potty time (mom-in-law will take him out)
11:40--play time
12--crate
6pm--potty
6:10pm--feeding/play time
7pm--crate
11pm--potty

Charlie won't go potty after play time so i didn't include potty after playtime. We started the schedule today. Charlie has been doing ok. He did bark for a little while this afternoon but is ok now. I feel so bad for crating him. I am so tempted to take him out so many times but his daddy won't let me. I can't wait until this whole potty training thing is over and he can have his freedom around the house. I will be one very happy mom when this day come

I got the book Housetraining for Dummies - it had the same crate concept. I loved the book - but adopted my own procedure.

We crated Bailey everytime we couldn't watch her - that is a must!! But we opted for more free time in the room with us (more than the 15/20 minutes per the schedule) so that we could catch her in the act, scoop her up and tap the bell. This allowed more time for training as opposed to just a potty schedule. We did this for the following reasons:

1. I want her to tell us when she needs to go out
2. I didn't want her to spend her puppy days in the crate

Of course we didn't accomplish this in 7 days (lol) - but she was trained at 4 mos and reliable at 6 mos. It was a lot of work - but well worth it!!

Is this an actual time of day?!
People are UP at this time of day?!
TOO early for this girl! lol :cool:

I don't really have anything constructive to contribute to your thread. :(

Looks like a decent schedule though!
I made a thread myself a little while back with my schedule and stuff in it. It's changed obviously since Hiro is acquiring more freedom!

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/tra...ing-wrong.html

Oh, by the way, I was thinking about Hiro and his playtime -- I always give him an opportunity to go piddle after playtime... if the playtime was especially exciting he would usually have to go outside before I crated him. Always good to make sure he has a chance to go before you crate him. Less chance for accidents. :D

yes 5:30am in the morning..i know it is too early for me too but i have to start getting use it to just in case i get a job...charlie did really well today. He was able to hold for 6 hrs without any accident. I am proud of him. He was well behave today inside his crate too.

abock - Oh gosh -- We do outdoor potty, so to be completely frank: I have no experience, whatsoever, in that area. However, I can tell you that the book says you're supposed to take them there yourself, according to the schedule. As well as when they're sniffing around as if they want to go potty. I think you would have to take them there yourself until they learn that this is where they go potty.

NewProudmom- I think this looks ok, but I wonder - is it possible to allow your dog more time out during the feeding/play periods? I think the point of allowing them that hour - 2 hours of out time is to allow them to explore their home & know that it is theirs (dogs naturally will not soil their "den" - they just have to learn what exactly their den is). They will be empty, so they will not have the urge to go. They will simply be exploring. I will say that after feeding, be sure to keep an eye on your dog until you learn how quickly they have to go afterwards. Amelia could hold hers for forever -- Rosie? Not so much. She had to go out within 10 minutes of eating/drinking. I learned that quickly.

Karrie - I have that book, as well. I read a lot. :) I am glad to hear that it worked for you. That's great! Housebreaking for Dummies is a good book, filled with a lot of great information; but it is also very long. Not that this is a bad thing - but for someone who is looking for a quick read, or who doesn't have a lot of time to read, or is just looking for quick answers - I highly recommend the Kalstone book. It's no thicker than an Archie comic, at 79 pages a VERY quick read (I finished it in an afternoon) and it's packed full of great information: no fluff whatsoever. Very much to the point. It has also been around for 20 years, so it's a tried and proven method.

Thanks for sharing. I'm sure it will help a lot of people.

Thanks for posting this! :thumbup: I read "housetraining for Dummies" at the bookstore this weekend and it had TONS of great tips as well if anyone's interested. Even gives suggested schedules for puppies based off their age. :)

Would this work to "retrain" your puppy? Milo is 9 months old and ever since we got him, he has been confined to a play pen with a pee pad where he poops and pees and when we let him out to play in the room, we leave the door open so he can go in and pee when he needs to and he does that most of the time (like...95% of the time when he's in the bedroom). Pooping is another story...he gets on the pee pad but he walks while pooping so it goes everywhere and it's gross even though we have a shower curtain laid down, which is why I'd like to start training him to go outside. Would this method work or would he go back to pooping inside the house once we stop using this schedule?

Also, for those who used this method, how long did you use the schedule for?

My goal is to take out the pee pad altogether and have him pee and poop outside, but still leave him in the playpen when no one's home until we can trust him to not chew on stuff (hopefully by the time he's a year old?). What are your thoughts on this?

Thank you!!

Skitterdoodle -- Yes, it will work to retrain. I got Rosie this past May. She was 5 years old and not housebroken, whatsoever. Amelia was 1 - and was pretty good, but still had accidents. This book worked for me. You just have to be really consistent. You are retraining their bodies when to go poop & pee, so consistency is really important.

I did it until I felt like they were getting the hang of it. Then, I gradually started letting them stay out longer and longer. You will ultimately have to decide when they're ready for longer periods out - but you'll know when they start getting it! Good luck!!

I will have to say that I have been very fortunate with Lilly. We crated her the night we got her. We have her on a pretty tight schedule, here is her schedule during the week.

6AM - Potty
6:05AM- Feeding/Play
7AM - Potty/then Crate
7:45AM - Potty / I have to go to work
11:45AM - Potty
11:55Am - Lunch/Play
12:45 PM - Potty/Then Crate
5:00PM Potty
5:10 or so - Dinner
5:30PM Play
6:30PM Potty
7:00PM to 9PM pretty much is playtime, Lilly has learned to run to the sliding door to go outside. Many times it's to play but I don't mind since she knows that I will let her out when she is by the door.
9:30PM Potty/Bedtime
1:30AM Potty
6:00AM Potty

This has been her schedule since day one. She has had a few accidents in her crate but mostly because we waited an extra few minutes or so. She has had a few accidents in the house but just potty, she signals at the door if she has to poo, go figure. For the most part she is watched like a hawk out of the crate.

I can't wait for the day that I can sleep through the night and not get up at 1 or 2am to take her potty :)

i'd love to read the pdf, but the link is dead. does anyone have a copy of the pdf or an direct me to an active/new link/pdf?

Now that is a good way to handle not only potty training but all the posts about it. To bad we could not get this locked to the top of the page so it was always around to refer to it.

JL

response to newproudmom
 

You and your husband are clearly committed to helping little Charlie become housetrained! :-) It's great to see that you're building play time into his schedule, too. But, from the schedule, it looks like you're leaving him in the crate for two separate 6+ hour sessions during the day, followed by a 4 hour session in the evening, and then sleeping in the crate. Socializing a puppy as part of the family is incredibly important, and I wonder if you and your husband think that Charlie is getting enough socialization. I know you know your dog and his needs, I'm just wondering. :-) Have you heard of house leashing? The puppy is on his leash, but one end is attached to you (through your belt loop, or around your ankle if you're sitting, etc.). That way, the puppy is able to socialize and become part of the family, but you also have him near you at all times and can be aware of what he's doing and any indications that he might need to potty. I haven't tried it, but I've read about it on some training sites.

Sophie is 21 weeks old and is being crate trained and clicker trained, too. We have a good schedule going and she has only had 3 very small pee pee accidents in the house in the 3 weeks since I've had her. I think she has been doing a good job for a few reasons: 1) Like you, I stick to a potty schedule; 2) Like you, I crate her whenever I can't directly watch her or play with her; 3) Every morning I walk her 6/10 of a mile (lol, all she can do at this point :-) so she can exercise, get rid of some energy, do her poo-poos, and have special bonding time with me... then we take a short walk in the evening, too; 4) I do clicker training with her and she now knows that potty outside means a click and a treat; 5) She is mentally stimulated with clicker training in the morning and evening; 6) She has plenty of opportunity to socialize and bond with me because we play several sessions fetch & drop (which she LOVES) throughout the day; and 7) I put one of her baskets on the window seat in my home office so that she can snuggle in for a nap or enjoy watching everything out the window while I write. She knows "lie down" and "stay," so she stays there and I can keep an eye on her, plus she's able to spend more time out of the crate. I don't feel guilty for crating her because, like you, I know how effective it is for potty training and it keeps her safe when I'm not watching her (she only weights 2 lbs.)... but, like you, I don't want her puppyhood to be spent mostly in a crate. Ah, the balance we're trying to achieve, right? :-)

I really want to try the potty bells so that I can transition to having her let me know when she has to potty, but I've only been able to find cheap holiday jingle bells in the stores (and they make a quiet tinny sound, not loud enough to hear really). I'd love to hear if anyone has found some small bells that are actually BELLS and make a decent volume sound.

oops... She WEIGHS 2 lbs. :-)

hey everyone,

So I'm new to Yorkie Talk, and I'm coming to you ladies as a desperate yorkie owner!!

Loki is my love and my life.. I'm a 26 y/o single female and Loki is my 3 y/o son!! lol

Heres my dilemma. My ex got him for me as a christmas gift and didn't help me potty train loki. I just bought a new house, and loki has been in the kitchen most of the time gated (minus out during play time and watching scrubs with his momma.. lol ) but at night he had free reign of the kitchen. The puppy pad was laid, and he'd use it sometimes, but not so much.

So... being that he was in the kitchen for potty and all, the house had the smell, and obviously I don't want it to be like that for the new house. I have a fenced in backyard, so that's going to help quite a bit. I work for the army, so sometimes I have long hours. So this tight schedule might be tough for me to pull off...

I just want to know if I can actually potty/house train him being he is 3 y.o and with the tight schedule I have. Anybody have any kind of advice??!! Please help!!!

Thank you all so much.. I'm so glad I've found this site.. you all will be hearing from me!!! Thank you again!!:)

Thank you for recommending us the potty training books.

Please help!!
 

Thanks!
 

Thanks for taking the time to share this. I'm purchasing the book on Amazon today...many thanks for the hope!

Thx
 

Thanks for the tip! I'm sure Athena and I will be grateful!

So this is probably a very old thread but I'm struggling with my potty training. I want my girl to tell us when she needs to go. By either tapping a bell (but she wears a bell so maybe tapping the back of my hand?) and I need to figure out how to make her 1 and 2 in the litterbox since she only likes to 2 in it...lol
And my litter box is in the garage so I need to figure out how to train her to let us know when to go.

Yikes!
thats allot anyways I was hoping the pdf would help? but it seems to be not on that website anymore.
can someone PM me the PDF if you still have your copy?
if not maybe I'll just make a thread to find some help.
thanks for your time
-TASthetherainbow

NONE, of the links are working!