Ahhhh....! Potty Training confusion

[CruiserCody]

When we first got Cody (at 12 weeks), we took him outside frequently or took him to the puppy pad. After he chewed a puppy pad and swallowed part of it before I get it out of his throat, we ended the puppy pads. We had an anxious time till it passed. I have a potty patch (like astro turf in a tray) that he can go to outside under cover if it's raining, otherwise he goes outside. He is crate trained and we only crated him when we had to go out or at night.

He's 6-1/2 months old now and pretty much potty trained EXCEPT when we got to someone elses house and he gets excited. Yesterday we were at our daughters and while playing with our daughters puppy, he had an accident outside on the lanai.

At home he lets us know when he wants to go out by going to the door. I've got to figure out how to get him to bark or something that gets our attention -- that's the next thing to work on.

[Alemany]

I read somewhere that sometimes, when puppies don't get all the nutrition they should from the food, they would begin eating grass, leaves and even poo. I remember Roxy did it once, so I began reinforcing her dry food with some home cooking made specially for her and so far she hasn't eat any more. All I can tell about the potty training is that sometimes I amaze myself about how fast she learns, but then she starts having accidents. I do not have so much patience, so I just tell her a firm NO and then take her to the cage and leave her there fom half an hour or so, until my frustration disappear. It is not ease to be a dad, but what can I say?

[annbags]

When you all say your pups are trained, does that mean they only go to the door to go out when they have to go or that they use pads/patches inside? I feel that dogs shouldn't go potty in the house at all. If I want them to go to the door and let me know they have to go, should I stop using pads/patch because it confuses them?

[AllDogBoots]

Originally Posted by Karrie

My approach to potty training was a little different.

We kept Bailey a crate only when we couldn't supervise her -otherwise, she was in the family room with us - playing and being with the fam. Our goal was to watch, supervise and catch her in the act. Everytime she went potty it was an opportunity to train (yay!). When we noticed that the started to potty, we scooped her up, said 'outside', tapped her paw to a service bell and then went outside. Praised and treated - and repeated several, several times. We repeated for two solid months. All our spare time was dedicated to potty training during these two months. It wasn't easy - but we were very successful!!!

We had blankets on the floor - so as soon as she soiled one, we swapped it out and washed it. We saved the carpet and removed the odor so that she wouldn't want to go back to it.

I'm not a big fan of taking out the dog at certain intervals - my goal was to teach Bailey to let us know when she wanted to go out (bell ringing) - we accomplished this simultaneous with potty training.

We both work - so during the day, Bailey was in an expen. No rules in the expen - it was always a mess when I got home. I just gave her a bath, cleaned up the area and started the daily potty training session. Hubby was great - we were able to tag-team the training sessions. I couldn't have done it without his help.

Good luck!

My 2 year old Cooper is bell trained and I'm working on that with 4 month old Max. Do you actually scoop up Bailey mid-potty?? With Max, we'll ring the bell, bring him outside and tell him potty repeatedly. We can keep him outside for 20 minutes and the second we come in, he goes. If he does potty outside I give him treats and do a whole Broadway dancing routine. He now rings the bell to go outside, but not potty. He also runs to me with excitement when he potties inside so he can get treats as well. I guess it will take some more time.