Potty Training help
 

I am having a problem correcting Buddahs potty accidents because he is doing them either when I am not around or when I cannot see him, so I do not find it until later and the "no" doesnt really have the same effect. I know that he knows he isnt supposed to do it because when I am in the room he wouldnt dare. For instance one of his new fav places to go is in the kitchen or right outside of the kitchen in the hallway. When I am in there cooking he makes sure to walk outside and go, but soon as im in the living room he pees in there! I live in an apartment so it is hard to block him off because all the rooms are like one big room.

Any Advice?

It's pretty simple:

NEVER EVER take your eyes off him. If he is allowed free range of your home, you need to be absolutely in constant vigilance of his activities. If you are watching him 100% of the time he is left to roam free, you WILL catch him in the act and you can begin to reprimand him and teach him where he is allowed to go.

For those times you cannot keep you eye on him (i.e. cooking, bathing, etc) x-pen him or crate him.

These are your only options to successfully housebreak your puppy.

I feel so bad putting him in his x-pen because he is in there all day while im at work.

When I put him in there he crys and barks non-stop if I'm not in my bedroom. It makes it impossible if I have company over and seriously annoying if I am trying to cook or read.

There are some things you are going to have to sacrifice if you want a housebroken puppy.

1. You may have to move his x-pen out into the living room where all the activity is and he can see you. Make sure he has things to keep him occupied in the x-pen.

2. Since he is in it all day while you are at work, you need to limit the time he is in there while you are home. You need to give up some "me" time and spend it instead watching his every move.

3. Read a book? Until he is fully trained you are going to have to put off book reading until your puppy has been put to bed for the night and you are going to bed.

4. You are just going to have to restructure your life to accomodate your puppy, friends included.

Puppies are a lot of work. You have to pay attention to them every waking moment. You need to be focused on his training and make that the priority in your and his life.

Please understand, that this is only temporary. But training includes many other things beside just housebreaking. Your puppy has to be trained to behave, to wait for things to accept his x-pen, to have proper manners. If you ignor these things right off you are going to have problems for the rest of your life. BUT if you make the sacrifice now, you will have a lovely companion that you can truely enjoy by the time he is 1 or 2 years old.

I agree with the above. You have to keep an eagle-eye at all times.

The other thing I'd like to say is this. Be careful. By reprimanding him when he potties (even a sharp "no" is enough in some dogs), I'm afraid that you've taught him that it isn't safe to potty around you. That's why he won't go when you're in the room.

If you catch him pottying inappropriately, pick him up and quickly take him to the appropriate spot. If he finishes there, yippee! Smart puppy! Time for a party. Other than that, you really can't "correct" his accidents. There is absolutely nothing you can do if you find an accident after-the-fact except sigh and vow to watch him closer.

What you really want to do is to try to set him up for success and catch him being successful as often as possible. Give him really yummy treats when he gets it right and loads and loads of excited little-girl voice praise.

I'm sorry if I am taking your advice the wrong way, but it kind of put me on the defensive.

1. I have given up ALL of my me time. I dont go anywhere after work that I cannot take him. I dont watch TV and I dont do leisure anything. My time is spent with him. However not everyone is retired, has a maid, or a cook and there are just some things that HAVE to be done.

I cannot not move his pen because as I explained I live in an apartment where every room is the same room except my bedroom. I cant put him in there because he crys all night while I'm sleeping.

He has MANY MANY toys, chews, food, water, blankets, bed and anything else he could want (me excluded in his x-pen)

The problem I am having is he is holding it until the right moment that I have to answer the phone or go to the rest room, make a sandwich anything. He doesnt even go the rest of the time I am with him or watching him.

Again i am sorry if I took your post the wrong way, but it seems sometimes on this site it is hard to ask for help or advice because you feel attacked. Like im so neglectful and a bad pet owner! If I was I wouldnt waste my time trying to figure out how to fix these issues the right way. I don't think it is fair to jump to assumptions.

The best bet is to start crating him. Even if he cries, if you ignore the cries for a while, he'll stop. You cannot take him out unless he's quiet or it teaches him that crying gets him out.

OK. So now, when you can't watch him, and of course there are times you can't watch him. You have things to do and there will always be times when you can't have your eyes on him 100%. So during those times, crate him.

Now. What you do then, is take him out to potty, and if he goes potty, then he gets to be "free". If he doesn't potty, in the crate. Try again in 1/2 hour. Take him out only if he's not crying. If he's crying, wait until he stops. Take him outside or to the pee pad (whichever you do) and have him potty. Again, if he does, he's "free" if not, back in the crate.

It seems mean, but they really catch on pretty fast.

hope this helps.

PS...I sent you a pm, but it shows you haven't gotten it yet :) check your pm box! :)

I agree with the crating suggestion above. I tried this on a weekend when I had more time with her. . It didn't totally train her, but it got us started in a good direction.

And I know what you mean about feeling guilty 'cos they are in a pen/crate all day. Molly is in a crate while I work all day. I felt the same way (still do sometimes) but there are times I've got other things to do and can't watch her 100%. If I crate her for a 30 minutes, I can get some of my stuff done, then spend one-on-one time with her. She may be back in the crate after that again for me to get a few more things done, but then she's back out for playtime with me. The time that she is out now is getting longer and longer as I can trust her a little bit...not on the carpet though!! :D I'm not that brave yet!

Good luck, and let me know how it goes!!

Carla

What about during my time at work? I cant let him out every couple of hours. I do go home for lunch but it isnt always at the right time. I work in sales so
I go when I get a free moment and on the weekends I am not allowed to leave. Should I just put him in his xpen? he does fine with going outside while he is in there (i have it attached to my sliding glass door so he can go on the porch I have his potty pad out there.)

Would this work the same if I keep him in the xpen or it needs to be a crate?

I got your pm on my email :) THank you!

I would leave him in the xpen while you're gone. :thumbup:

A dog kennel works great. If you can get a BIG dog kennel, and have a pee pad in it it will work good or If he isn't neutered he may be marking his territory. If he is neutered it just might be that he can't controll his bladder.

I have a small crate from Big Lots
 

I have a small crate from Big Lots. It probably is big enough for a 20lb dog, while mine is 3lbs. When she was smaller I made the crate 1/2 the size with a cardboard box. Basically I just shoved it in there and created a "wall" so she didn't have room to sleep and pee.

She has reverted a few times, so we had to recrate her for like a week. She loves her crate, and she goes in there when she wants to sleep... So her crate is her bed and when she needs to be confined we re-confine her at night or in the day so she can have a refresher on holding her pee.

Did she not chew on the box? I need to divide Molly's and see if that helps her while she's in her crate. I had tried rolling up towels, but she just pulls them down.

Thanks!

Carla

Yorkie's are hard to housebreak. I have the same problem with Kayli. She picks the dining room to do her poo pooh and occasionally pees. She knows better! I let her outside about every 2 hours and she goes. Still the accidents, at least every other day. I'm so glad I have hardwood floors! Kayli is a year old. Her mother, Savannah, has far fewer accidents, but she's 3 years old now.

I thought they were supposed to like their crates or xpan. One I let buddah out he only goes back in to eat or drink. If he naps he jumps on the couch or on the floor somewhere. 'm not sure why since he has a great cushy little bed in his xpen

i know this might sound crazy, but it could be him trying to punish you for not spending time with him or giving him attention when he wants it.
my dog punishes my husband this way (for example he couldn't lay still and was put in the front room to sleep. i woke in the morning to a lovely mess and edgar just staring at me like, "and what??")

do you let him drink freely? maybe you s hould control the amount he drinks and at what times and take him out about 10m after. (i'm not saying to cut back on water, but what you save by taking him outside vs. 20 minutes of paper towels and doggy carpet odor remover...)

hope that helps.
t

I let him both drink and eat freely. I had such a scare with hypoglycemia that I never wanted him to be without and get sick

no she didn't eat the cardboard
 

What I did was I got a larger piece of cardboard than the area in the crate (where the wall would be) and shoved it in the space and had the sides fold into the back of the area where she wouldn't have access. So it basically lodged itself into the space and it was pretty sturdy cuz it was hard cardboard. I did have openings on each end of the crate, so this made it easier to stuff it and have the excess cardboard fold against the top/bottom or sides of the crate.

I keep my crates open during the day and they areback in the dark laundry room. When either dog gets tired (at night), they will go back there and get in their crate. But during the day, they nap out where we are because they want to be part of the family.

I just talked to a trainer today at PetSmart. I was at the checkouts and overhead her talking to another lady about housebreaking her dog. I went over to get in on the conversation because I've had trouble with the younger Yorkie going potty in the dining room, sometimes right after I bring her in! She said that you should not react when they have an accident, just clean it up when they aren't around because if you react, they are getting attention. She said their bladders are not like ours and it takes them more times to pee before they are empty and should not be brought back inside until they have peed several times. She said they have 10 minutes to potty and if they don't, she puts them back in the crate and tries again every 1/2 an hour until they do. She also said not to let them run out in the yard freely to potty, but to put them on a leash and take them to one corner of the yard, which is their potty place. She also stated that she potties her little dogs before she takes them for a walk because she doesn't want them pottying around the neighborhood. I can see that her way of potty training would probably work, but it sure seems time consuming. I suppose once you have them trained, it wouldn't be. I ask her if Yorkies are harder to train and she said absolutely not!

I used to have a Lhasa that I taught to ring a bell when he wanted outside. I hung the bell on the door knob, low enough for him to hit it with his nose. If he hit it, he went outside whether he wanted to or not, to teach him that ringing the bell means going outside. I had a friend whose dog rang a bell and I thought it really clever. Wish I had done that with the Yorkies! Maybe I will try it with the new puppy.

This is a great idea for me. My Eury is a little over 3 months old. When she's in her x-pen she is perfectly trained to use the pee pad. When she's out, she's about 25% trained. Also initially when we take her out it can take 30 minutes for her to finally use the pee pad so the above idea sounds like it will help with that.

I do have a question though. When she is out and about playing with us, what is the best way to train her to pee on the pee pad? When we see her squat should we take her immediately to the pee pad with a firm NO? I ask because she tends to "piddle", meaning when she's playing she squats and pees a tiny bit and every time I catch I say a firm "NO" and take her to the pad, but at that point she's done pee-ing. This method is semi-working.

:aimeeyork Chelle

water option idea
 

I purchased the little rabbit/gerbil water container at the pet store and put it in either the crate or x-pen if I'm leaving the house for any length of time and won't be able to take them out to potty. They can get a drink from it in the amount that they want to keep licking it to activate the water release....but you don't have to put a bowl of water down so it gives them fresh water with out a huge supply. (Plus since I have several - they would dump it playing) That is only if I'm going to be away. They learn very quickly how to lick the small spout for the water to come out. Just be sure and watch it and keep it refilled for them.
Just a thought - I also use it in the small crate when we got on trips so they always have water - the little plastic trays to snap on the wire always seem to spill:rolleyes:
Hope that helps.
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I would think your idea might work. That's what I would do. I think if you catch them in the act, grab them and say no and put them where you want them to go. I think her idea of ignoring it if you catch them is silly. But if you don't see them do it, then ignore it because they will have no idea what you are upset about. They might react to the tone of your voice and look contrite, but it's just the tone of your voice that is effecting them. They really don't know why you are upset.

I do not think you should let him eat and drink whenever he wants. I think that would make it impossible to potty train him. I think you should have water down at all times, but food should be taken up after 15 minutes, or when he walks away from it for awhile. Otherwise, not only will he be snacking constantly and needing to poop more, he will get fat! Savannah started gaining weight and the vet told me to only feed her twice a day (she is 3 years old) and take the food up after she eats. Until she got pregnant I started doing that, as well as putting her on maintenance food to help her lose some of that extra weight. When they are pregnant and nursing, the vet recommends giving them puppy food because it helps with milk production, but once the puppies are weened, back to maintenance food.

I have two xpen-type areas in my very small living areas. The crate fits in the corner of both of them. One is a gated area in the bathroom. The other is a petplaypen that is portable that I got on ebay. I have a potty area and her toys and water in each one. I feed 4 times a day and keep the food up when it isn't one of those times.

I try and keep Gidget in whichever x pen type area is closest to where I am working - cooking, making beds etc. I move the crate each time, too so she can sleep there if she feels like it.

She will bark a little now and then, wanting attention, I ignore her. No eye contact and I raise my chin and look away. If she gets a little frenzied, about it I say NO BARK firmly and she usually stops. If she continues one more time after I say that, she gets a mist in the face from a water bottle and it ALWAYS ends for good after that.

You have to be able to get your housework done and she will have to accept that. I agree that there is no way you can do it AND watch her for potty training at the same time. I also try and leave the TV on where she can see or hear it while I am occupied in the house or else out of the house.

housework-I use a baby stroller
 

I have a little umbrella stroller from when one of my grandkids was tiny that is now the puppy stoller. I put them in the stroller and move them from room to room with me - they will not just down....if they accidently do - just pick say "stay" firmly and they will lay down and sleep or chew on their play toy. They like being in the same room with me.:)

My sweet husband went out to his shop and came back with a piece of plywood he cut to fit her crate, with a piece nailed on the back to keep it at a certain spot...isn't he a sweetie!! :love:

Carla