Not catching the accident happening

[AngelFae]

I agree, PUNISHMENT after the fact is not helpful. What is it with DH's and "time outs" for dogs?
My DH and I were not on the same page at first. I was on the "if you don't catch it you must ignore it" bandwagon and he was old school with "stick the dog's nose in the pee and smack his butt" bandwagon. I won the compromise of SHOWING the mess to the dog, telling him "no" then taking him outside for potty and praise. THAT is what worked for us. Blazer is now 8 months old and I can consider him potty trained while I am home. He has made it about 5 hours, out loose in the lower level, with no accidents while I am away, so I think that THAT is pretty good, too!
Obviously, you have to know your dog and his temperment and figure out a solution that works for you. I'm in the mindset that dogs, like children, need to know their boundries and what is expected of them. I wouldn't let my daughters get away with having accidents on the floor while potty training (I'd take that time they'd have an accident to have them tell me where pee was supposed to go and give them the chance to do it properly. It worked, they were all potty trained by age 2.)

[kjc]

Originally Posted by AngelFae

Ok, I know this goes against current popular belief but with Blazer, when I didn't catch him having an accident and didn't show it to him, just cleaned it up, it would happen again. When I would show him his mess, tell him "NO!" and take him immeadiately outside, tell him "Go potty!" then praise him, he stopped having accidents. I don't agree that dogs don't understand what they are getting in trouble for. They know their own scent, they know their own puddles and piles. If they are being trained to potty outside and you show them a mistake they made inside I think they know and they learn. Yorkies are notoriously smart dogs.

My dogs were all older when they came to live with me, and all had a different set of baggage. Two of them would hide for hours if they thought I was being the least bit harsh with them.

I think it depends on each individual dog/puppy, but I always recommend Positive Reinforcement, bc truth be told... it's not the pup's fault if he goes potty in the house, it's always the owner's fault... either by not paying close enough attention to the pup, or not seeing/recognizing the signs puppies make when they have to potty.

And I think Positive Reinforcement is the better way to go, bc potty training can be a difficult time in a home, tempers can run short and situations can go bad quickly for the dog.

Just like when teaching a pup to 'sit', one does not scold them for not sitting... one rewards them when they do sit. If they aren't understanding what one wants, then a different approach made be needed.

I could not catch my Sapphire in the act to save my life. I decided she needed to learn what 'Go Potty' meant, then I would work on the where part. After two months I did catch her going on the rug, I said "Go potty... Good Girl", (lol, totally against my better judgement. I thought oh no, she'll be going on the carpet all the time. Wait a mainute, she's doing that now!) But then when I said "Go Potty" Here.... she knew what I wanted her to do. In maybe 2 days, she was pad trained to be 90% reliable. Now she's at 100% (with poops too and she's a PoopWalker).

Just saying if what one is doing isn't working, there are other ways to go about it. And I agree, Yorkies are smart, and many learn with no harshness nor being told 'no' ever.

[AngelFae]

Originally Posted by kjc

My dogs were all older when they came to live with me, and all had a different set of baggage. Two of them would hide for hours if they thought I was being the least bit harsh with them.

I think it depends on each individual dog/puppy, but I always recommend Positive Reinforcement, bc truth be told... it's not the pup's fault if he goes potty in the house, it's always the owner's fault... either by not paying close enough attention to the pup, or not seeing/recognizing the signs puppies make when they have to potty.

And I think Positive Reinforcement is the better way to go, bc potty training can be a difficult time in a home, tempers can run short and situations can go bad quickly for the dog.

Just like when teaching a pup to 'sit', one does not scold them for not sitting... one rewards them when they do sit. If they aren't understanding what one wants, then a different approach made be needed.

I could not catch my Sapphire in the act to save my life. I decided she needed to learn what 'Go Potty' meant, then I would work on the where part. After two months I did catch her going on the rug, I said "Go potty... Good Girl", (lol, totally against my better judgement. I thought oh no, she'll be going on the carpet all the time. Wait a mainute, she's doing that now!) But then when I said "Go Potty" Here.... she knew what I wanted her to do. In maybe 2 days, she was pad trained to be 90% reliable. Now she's at 100% (with poops too and she's a PoopWalker).

Just saying if what one is doing isn't working, there are other ways to go about it. And I agree, Yorkies are smart, and many learn with no harshness nor being told 'no' ever.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all in this. =) I also mentioned it in my second post that what works for one dog or one family won't always work for another. You have to know your dog and what works for him as well as for you and everyone involved in the training process for each dog has to be on the same page. =) I fully agree with postitive reinforcement over punishment.

[ladyviola]

Originally Posted by AngelFae

Ok, I know this goes against current popular belief but with Blazer, when I didn't catch him having an accident and didn't show it to him, just cleaned it up, it would happen again. When I would show him his mess, tell him "NO!" and take him immeadiately outside, tell him "Go potty!" then praise him, he stopped having accidents. I don't agree that dogs don't understand what they are getting in trouble for. They know their own scent, they know their own puddles and piles. If they are being trained to potty outside and you show them a mistake they made inside I think they know and they learn. Yorkies are notoriously smart dogs.

I'm gonna agree with Angel. Yorkies are VERY smart and I always had a hard time believing that a dog would poo/pee in the house and then forget 5 minutes later that they made the mess. If they can be trained to "remember" that outside=good and trained to remember all sorts of commands, they must also remember that mess they made 5 minutes ago. I just don't believe their memory span is that short. Having said that, I believe that if the dog is going in the house, they simply have too much free reign OR they have not been taught to remember that going inside=bad and going outside=good. Until they are housebroken, they MUST be tethered at all times to make sure you can see them doing the deed, to correct that behavior. Something that helped expedite housebreaking for me was hanging a bell and teaching her to ring it when it was time to go out. After she learned to the ring the bell, accidents were far and few in between and usually only occurred if I didn't respond to her request to go out fast enough.

[MarliQQ]

I too was having difficulty with potty training my pooch, he had reached a year old and was still having accidents, I truly believe he knew I would get upset with each of his accidents because he would demonstrate this with his following behavior, which became later an alert for me to look for pee and poop. I mean it became down right indignant behaviors he would show, peeing on feet, excited peeing, peeing on beds, kitchen floor while standing there cooking. And magically I got him to stop, by making one change, scheduled outings, he goes three times a day 7am 1pm 7pm, pee pads in house for hours in between, now he rarely pees on pads and seems to be a happier dog. I can trust him more around the house now