Help! Opinions on potty training please?
 

Bailey will be 12 weeks old on Friday. She has been doing SO well with pad training. Last night she even went all night with no potty breaks. In the day I keep her contained in the kitchen with gates, and when she's recently gone I let her into the living room to run around and play. She LOVES living room play time. However, in the last 4 days or so she's had several accidents in the living room on the carpet, including 2 today alone!

What I'm starting to worry about is that pad training is just teaching her that going on soft, fabric surfaces is okay. Eventually I want her outdoor trained. When I first brought her home I started taking her outside but she would never go outside. She would just stand there or start putting rocks and things in her mouth so I'd give up. Then my vet made it sound like even just taking her in my backyard before she's vaccinated is dangerous. So I decided to stick to pad training until 16 weeks, then try to switch to outside.

So I have several worries. Should I start training her outside right away? Is it safe? She will need to be able to use pads too because when I work I'm gone 8 hours. I have 4 weeks off work, which would be a great time to be getting her outside trained if it's okay. But I just get too nervous since she puts everything in her mouth! I'm afraid that when I go back to work and she turns 16 weeks it'll be so hard to switch things on her.

Oh, and one little side note. She has also started eating her poop. I've started feeding her pineapple hoping it'll get rid of this, but going outside would help with that too.

all I can say is good luck

Congratulations on your successes so far!! :)

Personally, I would teach her either the pads or outside. Don't teach one and then switch mid stream - its too confusing - JMO. Bailey started going outside at 10 weeks - we have a private back yard.

Playtime in the family room -yay. Now make it potty training/play time. Potty training is about letting them have accidents and then correcting their behavior. So, let 'er go! Ha, that said - lay down some blankets in the family room so you can save the carpet and wash out the odor after the accidents.

When you go back to work - your baby will probably have accidents and chew the pee pads, etc. Keep her area confined (ours was a 4x4 expen)Expect a mess when you get home - but no worries, just take 5 minutes, get some pet spray and clean it up. (a shop vac near by is a plus!) In time, your baby will stop chewing up the pads and will learn to hold it as dogs naturally don't like to soil where they live. Bailey started holding it all day at about 8 mos.

Bailey ate her poop when I fed her commercial dog food. Now she's on a homemade raw diet and its no longer a problem. I don't know if that's the answer for you - but it works for us.

Housetraining for Dummies - excellent resource!!

Good luck!

Thanks. Well she was already on pads with the breeder. She'd never even been outside, so that was part of the problem. When I took her outside she just wanted to explore. The other problem is my backyard is currently all dirt. I have a lot of concrete/landscaping people coming this month. I even bought a couple pieces of sod to try to train her on but she just ate it, and I wasn't sure if it had been fertilized so it freaked me out.

What do you suggest for correction when she has an accident? I am always right there and most of the times she's had accidents on the carpet I run to her. Out of habit I seem to go "no,no,no,no,no" and it definitely seems to stop her. Then I grab her and take her to the pad. By the time she's on the pad though, she never goes more.

Some of the times she's had accidents on the carpet it's only a little bit or she had just gone. It's almost like she's marking more than she can't hold it. :confused:

She's only 12 weeks old -so she doesn't understand bladder control. Right now, if she feels the urge then she'll just drop trow and go!

Here's how I corrected Bailey: All eyes on the puppy. Soon you'll notice certain behavior traits when she needs to go - i.e. sniffing the ground and going in circles. But right now, you're probably not getting (or noticing) any signals. As soon as you see a squat - then say "no" and simultaneously go to pick her up and say "outside" (we added a service bell. We took Bailey's paw and tapped the bell on the way outside. Expect resistance at first (the puppy will pull her paw back to avoid the bell). The bell is PRICELESS - thats how she tells us she needs to go potty)

Next take the puppy out the door (always use the same door - always). Carry her to the grass and set her down and say "go potty". You may choose to put a leash on so that she stays on the sod pieces you purchased. Give her lots of time and patience and soon she'll squat again. AS SOON AS she squats outside say "go potty, go potty" and PRAISE, PRAISE AND PRAISE SOME MORE. Have some treats ready in hand so that you can treat her outside. Very soon she'll associate pottying outside with treats.

Actually pottying on command was very easy to teach - you'll see results very quickly. The hard part is getting the puppy to not potty inside.

We (me and hubby) were dedicated to the process. Bailey was never free in house unless someone was watching/training her. If we had chores to get done, then Bailey was put in a crate. Never multitask while in potty training mode. They learn too quickly to pee when your back is turned, so never turn your back when potty training. Every unnoticed accident just makes your job that much harder.

Bailey was trained in 2 mos. reliable in 4 mos. The blankets came up in 4 mos. and we expanded her space to include the kitchen. Gradually, she was given full run of the house.

You may want to adapt this process for pad training or you may want to choose other key words. I aways say "a few weeks of undivided attention right now will lead to years of trust". Its an easy process - just lots of work. Good luck!! :)

Thanks for the informative post! I'm still torn about whether to start outdoor training now (my yard is fenced, but there are dogs on both sides and a walking trail behind) or continue pad training until she has all her shots.

I definitely know her signs, but on the carpet it can be tricky to identify because she's ALWAYS sniffing (tracking the cat I guess). I think the problem with the last few accidents were that people were over and she was too excited to remember where to go.

She is also very good with bladder control. At night I crate train her and she always whines and wakes me up when she has to go. Crate training would work very well for her, but I fell bad keeping her in the crate in the day, so she's in the kitchen instead. She also seems to understand that she can't come into the living room until she goes.

Whenever we do switch to outdoor training I will definitely use a bell. I think the hurdle is just going to be getting her to go outside for the first time. The breeder never took her outside, so she doesn't even seem to consider it a possible potty spot. :rolleyes:

You are soooo off to a great start - keep up the good work and you'll find a system that works just for your Bailey. :)