Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Amy & Miles on July 22, 2009 at 5:32pm

Hahaha. Farley's still not totally housebroken at 4 1/2 mos. We probably are inconsistent or something. He's 100% with the pee, but poo remains an issue. Any suggestions?

Permalink Reply by Nancy and Harley on July 23, 2009 at 3:03pm

Do you measure out his food, and feed him at the same times every day? Or do you free feed? Free feeding can cause that kind of trouble. He might be eating too much, too often. Also, consistency is important.

Permalink Reply by Kathryn Graham on July 22, 2009 at 9:57pm

We brought Madoc home at 12 weeks, and he was pretty reliable by 4 months. He only pooped twice in the house in the first two weeks home, but puddles were more frequent! We tried to stick with the standard advice-- get him out first thing in the morning, half an hour after his breakfast, after a nap, after an excitable play session, after dinner, before going into his "den" at night. Maybe we were the ones who got "trained." He was great from the start at night in his crate-- never any accidents there. He loves his crate; it's cute to watch him settle himself in there with a biscuit and his two soft toys at bedtime. Hope you'll have an easy time of it! It's worth it!!

Permalink Reply by Nancy and Harley on July 23, 2009 at 3:04pm

We are mostly worried about night time. We hate the idea of crating him at night, because he might just do his thing in his crate. But, we also hope that we don't have to get up every couple of hours to let him outside. I guess we'll just see how it goes...

Permalink Reply by Dennay & Barkley on July 22, 2009 at 10:11pm

Barkley was about 2 1/2 months old when we brought him home, he pottied a lot in the house for a while, the puppy training pads worked great to get him to go in one spot, and since we have linoleum by the front door getting him to go to the bathroom by the door helped us ease him into going outside. He never pees in the house anymore, sometimes we have issues with poo, but only when we're gone all day at work. He never poops inside the house when we're at home. He just needs to develop the ability to hold it until we get home. He's 4 1/2 months old now and while we're home he always goes to the bathroom outside.

Permalink Reply by Meg Jones & Indiana on July 22, 2009 at 10:22pm

I'm glad you guys started this poll, because I've been wondering if I'm doing something wrong! Indy was 4 months old when I brought him home on June 6th, now he's about 5 months old. He was always outdoors after leaving his mother and before to coming to me, so he lost those weeks when I guess younger-adopted puppies are starting to learn how to behave in the house.

Just when I start thinking he's got it, there'll be another accident... I take him out at the predictable times (morning, night, after food, after play, after a period of isolation or sleep, etc). The accidents happen at "in between" times when I'm not expecting it. Sometimes he'll bark to show he wants out, other times he'll skip that and just take a dump on the floor without warning. I'm not sure what I can even do, other than keep on keepin' on and hope he eventually prefers grass to carpet.

Permalink Reply by Nancy and Harley on July 23, 2009 at 3:08pm

You must be sure that you are thoroughly cleaning up his messes, so he doesn't get the urge to soil the same spot over and over. When my 4 year old beagle mix was younger, we had trouble with him repeatedly using the same room in the house as his poop room. We had to use really strong chemicals to take the odor out. After a while, he realized that the room was not his toilet.

Also, feeding scheduled meal times helps.

Permalink Reply by Nicole, Stanley and STELLA! on July 22, 2009 at 10:59pm

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for starting this poll! I brought Stella home when she was almost 9 weeks old. I think that she started asking to go out consistently at about 3-3 1/2 months. She just turned 4 months old today! She's only had about 4-5 accidents and she's actually never pooed in the house. I also take her to my parents house to visit--and they have carpet and she's free to roam the whole house--and she always asks to go out when she's there, too. Hopefully she'll stay as consistent as she has been in the past month!

Permalink Reply by christy fry on July 24, 2009 at 12:06pm

Hi everybody Teagen turns 12 wks tomorrow and we've been timing ourselves to take her out every 30-45 mins but she still pees in the house at least 1 accident a day so far. We've put poddy pads in a couple locations and when/if I catch her at it I'll put her on the pad. Jordan(2yrs) was poddy trained by 16 wks same with my lab (8 yrs) but they had far fewer accidents than Teagen is right now. She never poos in the house though.

Permalink Reply by Mary on July 26, 2009 at 1:04am

Hi Nancy! We brought Nibbler home a few days after she turned 8 weeks old. I took her out very often initially, about 10 times a day at least. She probably would try to potty in the house 2-3 times a day but I would interrupt her and bring her outside, then reward her. She is 13 weeks old now, and she will tend to walk to the back door if she needs to go potty. She tends to hold it until she is let outside, and then she relieves herself. She doesn't seem to know how to let us know she wants to go out. If I say "outside" and she has to potty she will dash to the door. But in general, as long as I let her out every now and then she'll hold it until she's outside.

Sometimes when it's extremely hot outside, she'll try to sneak into the hallway to go potty. And she doesn't seem to have a way of letting me know she needs to go out, besides sniffing around or looking at me uncomfortably. Ha :). So we're trying to work on having her let us know she wants to go out. I have been trying to get her to bark at the back door but it doesn't seem to be working too well.

I guess that's a good question to ask everyone. How does your dog let you know they need to be let outside? How did you train them to do this, or did they do it on their own?

Permalink Reply by Boo Buchheit on July 26, 2009 at 7:13am

I brought both the boys home at about 8 weeks. I do crate them at night and if the crate is the right size puppy should not soil it. Mine have never had an accident in their crates. I taught them to use the dog door to get outside. With a new puppy you should expect to take him out every few hours at least, even at night for awhile. Leo was housebroken (no accidents in the house at all) by 10 weeks. Randy has never had an accident in the house except once when they closed the backdoor, locking themselves in the house for who knows how long while I was at work. Randy was about 10 weeks old at that time. Having the dog door and a safe backyard for them to go to when they need to potty is a real help but the most important thing was training. With both pups I constantly would take them outside every few minutes and never let them out of my sight the first week they were home. Every time pup would go outside I would quietly praise him while he was going (I still do this even though they are older if I happen to be outside when they go) It was also helpful for Leo to lead Randy outside when I was gone...he is a good puppy trainer. Hopefully your breeder has started housebreaking with your pup.

Permalink Reply by Adriana, Henry, & Catherine on July 26, 2009 at 4:42pm

Henry is a little over 3mths and he does occasionally pee on the pee pads still. When I am home I take him out around every two hours, after he eats, when he wakes up, and before bedtime. Hopefully that helps.

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