Hi, skellington! I'm sorry you've backtracked, but remember, your pup is very, very young. I think potty prodigies are MAYBE trained by 4 months, smarties by six months, and the rest by a year.

I would keep him crated inside until he's consistent again. It will most likely only be a few more weeks, since he's shown so much progress already. He has his whole life to run around without ruining your floors. And he'll be motivated to get his freedom back. :)

I feel like such a bad mommie. I have 3 rescues and all three I hate to say are in diapers. I've been trying to get them to use pads for years with no luck, I've tried litter boxes no luck. two of them are terrified of outside. So now my neighbors know me as the crazy lady who puts diapers on her dogs.

The bad thing about it is when they have a poop they come right to me to change them. Whats up with that.

Won't go on pads or outside but will come and pester when they need a diaper change.

I think I have just raised myself little monsters :eek:

I am having issues with my Abby.
She does let me know when she has to go out so we do pretty good during the day and evening. It's during the night we have the issue. She messes in her crate. Her crate is only big enough for her to stand up, turn around and lay down. This makes me crazy!!
I was so upset early last night. I had just taken the old paper (with pee on it ) out of the drop pan in her crate, wiped down the drop pan and bottom grate in her crate with Nature's Miracle ( of which I should buy stock in ). I left the door open to her crate. I turned around and she was in her crate. I thought ok, but as I looked closer she was peeing. She just walked right in there and peed:eek::eek::eek:. I am just beside myself. She didn't even tell me she had to go.
I don't know what to do with her anymore. Right before I put her in the crate at night, about midnight, I take her out to potty. I get up about 5:45a and take her out. Sometimes, (most times) she has already messed in her crate. She is 8 months old and I would think she would be able to hold it longer than 6 hours. She is not fed late.
This just makes me crazy as the other 2 yorkies I had, never did this. I was so very lucky with them and I NEVER had a problem with potty training them. I guess I was just very, very lucky.

Well, you are an angel for taking the rescues, so that more than balances it all out. :) I would think it would be extremely difficult to train three untrained dogs at once. Though obviously they are trainable since they know to come to you for a change....

AbbysMom08, I don't have an answer for you, but I am looking for one. Hang in there!

One last post for the night. Thor is having what I hope is his last creative potty inspiration. Now that the micro-pees aren't getting him tons of treats, he is working on the micro-poop. Usually he goes once a day. The past few days, he's been going more than four times, squeezing out things barely visible to the human eye.

Loli will soon be 8 months and I think we are finally getting it! (maybe!) She has now scratched on the door two times in a row! It's great! My husband and I both go running when we hear that wonderful sound! There are definitely good days and bad days though! Sometimes I wonder if she truely gets it! I try not to get discouraged when she has an accident. Things are definately better then they used to be. Good luck to you all!

in response to puppy abby:

sounds like ur puppy thinks the crate is a safe area to go potty in now. maybe try putting her in the crate right after she goes potty outside during the day. then take her out ~1-2 hours later. keep repeating the process so she learns to be in a clean dry crate? she can hold it. mine has held it for 10+ hours before in the crate (i overslept) and she is almost 9 months old. can she see you when she is in the crate at night?

Day one again. Poor Bella had an upset stomach yesterday evening, but thank goodness she is feeling well this morning :). I am optimistic about today because my hubby will be home with her all day while he is post-call. I think we are ready to get it right this time.
Helen and Bella :aimeeyork

Big Problem
 

So I have a big problem.... Kobe is 1 year old and is not fully potty trained yet and I just don't know what to do. When I'm at home with him he does pretty good about not peeing or pooping on the floor. He's not to the point where he is telling me that he has to go so I just take him out every few hours and that seems to be working. I tried the bell training method but everytime I would make him ring it he would back away like he was scared or something so I just stopped. I would like him to tell me at some point but that's the least of my concerns right now. The problem is when I'm away. I used to leave him in a xpen that is about 2'x4'. His bed took up one half and the pee pad frame took up the other half. Well I'd get home and he would have ripped the pee pad to shreds despite the fact that it was in a frame. (By the way I've tried 2 different types of frames/holders so that's not the problem.) My mom said that he was probably just rebelling because he was mad that he has to be in a xpen all day (9 hours while I'm at work) and then a 2'x2' crate all night (8 hours) when we're sleep. (I've tried letting him stay our overnight confined to my bedroom but I would always wake up to poop on the floor.) I figured that she may be right so I decided that I would let him have the finished basement as "his area" while I'm away and I just close it off with a baby gate. I have his bed down there, a radio, food and water (I have to leave the food or he'll just eat his poop instead), a variety of toys and his framed pee pad. As of today he's been staying in his area for almost two weeks but he will NOT pee or poop on the pee pad while I'm gone despite the fact that he's knows that he's suppose to be going on it and he's been going on it for the entire year that I have had him. To make things worse, for the past two days I've had to come home to the pee pad that he decided to start destroying again. I just don't know what to do :-(

Quicksilver, I LOVE your posts!!! I'm new to the forum and went right to the training thread since it just isn't happening with my 5 month old "Elf". Well, besides learning that it might not just be my own inabilities, which helps, I got hooked on your posts!! They read like a comic novel! Not that I don't sympathize with your plight but you are so clever and funny with your discriptions. I envy your accomplishments even though you sometimes only make a day or so. I can't even make more than a couple of hours and that's most likely because the urge just isn't there or I happened to be lucky and catch him. The only plus is that since his first day with us at 9 1/2 weeks he has not had to go all night long and then when he gets up in the morning I take him out and he does eveything. He gets lots of treats and praise but he doesn't seem to catch on. I take that back to some degree. Often he will go over to his special spot and squat like he's going, does nothing and then runs over for his treat. I can't decide if he is smarter than I or not too swift at all...............

day 8 :)
 

Yay! We've made it through day 8 (so far). Bella even used her potty pad this morning before I woke up when she usually goes only outside!!! :) I was so excited and happy I could have cried. Even my hubby was so proud of her. I'm still driving home at lunch every day- which I actually really look forward to and haven't gotten fired yet, so we'll just see if I can continue without getting in trouble.

Day 8 is HUGE! Congratulations!

Thor now has access to all but 1/2 of one room, which has a ton of stuff on the ground, and I want to get that cleaned up before I let him in - I don't want him to confuse all the paper with a new type of potty pad.

He's been doing pretty good at work too - I think he may at this point have gone 30 days without an accident there. He knows to look for the potty pad and will go on it unprompted. Unfortunately, the last time I let him loose, he tried to sneak a pee in. He was walking around all casual, like peeing was the last thing on his mind, and then he lifted his little leg next to a chair. I DID correct him before he let loose, and put him on the potty pad, and he did go there, but I don't think I can consider him to be completely trustworthy yet. :rolleyes: I don't know, I guess I'll go another 30 days for work?

I'm guessing he would still go inside if he was brought over to another house with a dog. I'm not sure I'll ever be confident about that, so I'm looking into getting him some belly bands for those special occasions. The weird thing is that he has neverEVER tried to potty in a store. I wish I knew what they were doing right!

As always, Thor is hilarious! I just thought I'd stop in and see how everyone's potty adventures are coming. I don't get on much anymore. Curly has apparently decided she is a full fledged potty trained girl. YAY!!!! But, there is one thing. She will almost always "go" on someone elses floor when we go visiting. I hear it's cuz they have pets or whatever but it's still not fun.:rolleyes: All in all though, what a great pup we have! She is under my feet 24/7 which I don't understand either. She's supposed to be my sons dog but she latched on to me! Oh well. Everyone loves her and we love her right back.

Well......here we are again:(
This am I was so happy because Abby had 3 ( count em' 1,2,3,):) nights in her crate where she didn't mess in it. So happy about that. Well.....I took her out this morning about 6:15am and she did pee and I kept her out as long as I could to see if she would pooh. I had to get in and take a shower so I could get to work. I planned on taking her out again after my shower. Well.....I went to take her out of her crate and there it was just staring up at me.......a turd. :eek:(Sorry for the language). I was so upset with her. I am just beside myself (as usual). So that is my sad story for now. I so hope we have a clean crate in the morning.:mad:

Yaaaaaay! That's so wonderful! We finally have a potty graduate! Yeah, I think it's very common for dogs to pee around other dogs. It's their version of announcing their presence.



Bummer! I can imagine that turd smirking up at you from its turdiness. Well, 3 days is a good start. When Thor had an accident after two days, he went 17 without an accident the next time. So there is always tomorrow. I am wondering if you should take her into the bathroom with you when you shower. Would she go on the floor there, or is this something she reserves for her crate?

Also, do you have a potty command word? If you can get her on a command, you won't have the long waits outside wondering, will she or won't she.

I never thought of taking her into the bathroom when I take my shower.
I don't know if she would potty on the floor in there or not.
I do have a command word, sadly it is "potty" (said many times) and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Depends on her little mood:)

The other day I thought we were going to make it a whole TWO DAYS with no accidents. Lo and behold, as I was brushing my teeth right before bed, I found a poop on the kitchen floor. Silly dog. By the way, we've been trying to just forgo the potty pads and start over with the training being completely outside.

However, last night, we had a breakthrough. Riot ran down the hall and stood by the door leading outside. He ran back into the livingroom where we were and then again to the back door and started scratching. I took him out, he peed, pooped and cam ZOOMING inside for his treat! HE LET US KNOW HE HAD TO GO!!!!

We are holding our breath that today will be a real day two with no accidents!

Way to go, Riot! I'm keeping my fingers crossed with you. :xfingers:

Thanks! You're always so supportive in everything!

Potty training with a car seat?
 

Hello YT mommies
I am potty training my 12 week old male yorkie with an Outward Hound Pet Look Out Booster seat. How? you may well ask. Well, I purchased the booster seat last week. It is made from nylon and mesh materials so it come in a flat box ( you hang it off the head rest of the passenger seat and secure it with nylon straps) So I took the still flattened seat and set it out near Angus' toys so that he could become aquainted with the smell of the seat. At first he laid on it and chewed on his toys, so I figured "this is a good thing" but then he began to use it like a wee pad. So I cleaned it with "puppy clean up spray" to remove the smell and put the still flatten seat near the front door. Again he began to both pee and poop on the booster seat. So finally I put the seat in the middle of 4 wee wee pads in my utility room, which is where I want him to relieve himself, and what do you know!! he is running into the utility room about 60% of the time without being reminded. I guess it was worth the $30 I paid for the booster seat just to house train Angus, but I have never seen anything like this before with a puppy.
Angus' mommy
Jeanne D

day 12!
 

That is too funny that your puppy prefers to use the booster seat as a potty! LOL. :p

Bella has made me sooooo proud!!! She is on day 12!!! YAY! We even made it through some rainy days. I finally have her pottying on comand (still working on the word for #2, but no accidents in the house).

I hope everyone has a great week!

Helen and Bella:aimeeyork

I got Sylar when he was 3 months old and hardly trained. When he was 5-6 months he was great. He's 8 months old now and he thinks the whole house is the toilet. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.. :( He goes to the bathroom outside then he also goes inside..

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGH!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGG GGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH HHHHHHHHHHH!!!!



So, as you may have guessed, there's been a setback. I have been moving some furniture around, and I gave Thor access to a bit more of my bedroom, bringing his access up to all but 1/4 of one room of my apartment.

I just stepped barefoot in some poop on the kitchen floor. ARGH! #1. This is the first time. I also spot a big piece of poop on his pad. Okay, I remembered that a few days ago when I was cooking something, I turned around to find him squatting right behind me in the kitchen. He's a "poop walker" so I figured that he started on the pad and ended up ten feet away.

I clean that up and walk into my bedroom, where I FIND MORE POOP on the newly unrestricted rug. ARRRGH! #2. This is NOWHERE near a potty pad, this is just plain bad manners.

Thor of course is blissfully unaware that he's done anything wrong and is lounging in the sun. Oh, and he just peed on his pad, so I have to give him a treat despite the fact that he has broken all my hopes and dreams forever. ARGH! #3.

I cannot BELIEVE he messed up. ARGH! ARGH! ARGH! I literally just broke his crate down last week and put it away because I thought we were completely done. I was so close to calling him completely potty trained. I think he might be a devil dog.

I guess you could say I'm disappointed. Excuse me,


AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH!


So. Deep breath. How far back do I need to restrict his access, and for how long? I've closed the door to my living room (AGAIN! ARGH!), and I figure I'll give it a couple days and then give him access to the hallway again. And then I guess the bathroom. Then the large closet. Then the dining area. Then the kitchen. Then part of my bedroom again..... It's going to take FOREVER. Why'd you do it Thor? WHY?

Awwww, hang in there. I am sorry for your disappointment though. You are always there for us, we will be her for you too.

Thank you! I'm over it, mostly. Day #1 tomorrow, again. My little devil dog crept over and curled up to sleep behind me, so all is forgiven. He is sooooooooo lucky he's so darn cute. And okay, he is very sweet, when he's not committing Poops of Evil.

:DI know exactly what you're going through... Chuck is completly pee pad trained and pees only on his pad. But he's also a "poop walker" so I find just very small pieces of poop around the room where his pad lies.
Also once in a while he just squats and poops right where he is:rolleyes: I correct him when I see him doing it, other times he just gets away with it... Hopefully in time, he will learn to only poop on his pad but I have no idea on how to stop the evil poop walking:D

Hang in there, I have faith in Thor!:p

Sigh. Thor continues to mystify me. I was playing with him in my office, when he stopped and squatted, MILES away from his pad. He hasn't pooped off-pad in my office in months. I have no idea what prompted him today.

Have you guys ever thought about clicker training your dogs to pee/poop in the right place? Do you use crates? Seems everyone is just giving their dogs too much freedom before they are housebroken. Every accident they have is reinforcing to them that they can pee/poop anywhere they want.

clicker training for potty training
 

Pardon my ignorance here, but you mean you train them to only go on command? They hold it if you forget? I understand clicker training for sit, stay etc. I just don't understand how you use it for potty training. I am very interested in how you do this.

Not sure if you were asking me specifically, but Thor is scared of the clicker. I do praise and treat when he goes in the right place. He definitely knows to go on the pads, 99% of the time anyway. It's that last 1% that's killing us. I have been expanding and contracting his range depending on his success. At this point, he went 45 days with no accidents, so I don't want to return him to the crate.

Also, even though I was very sad to see him squat, I did move him before any damage was done.