I have a question about house breaking puppies. Well Bacon turned 10 weeks old today and bou has he been acting different. So the first week we had him he was the angel puppy. He didnt go potty in the house at all. Then today hit. We've so far had 4 accidents in the house today. We've been taking him out every half hour or so.... And almost everytime he pees. Its like 10 minutes after he comes in from peeing and he pees on the carpet. Its so frustrating. Am I expecting too much from him? I mean the first week he was so good about pottying out side. At what age should I expect that he starts to get the idea of going outside? Any house breaking advice would be apprieciated.
I wouldn't expect too much just yet. I've been told that you shouldn't expect them to be fully trained until close to 9 months...but some are sooner...some later. I'll check out my books and online stuff and post back.
House Training a Puppy The quickest and easiest way to house train your puppy is to rely on your puppy's natural instincts and behavior.
What To Expect During the House Training Process Unless you can monitor your puppy 24 hours a day, don't expect the house training process to be completed until your puppy is at least 6 months old. It's normal for a young puppy to be a little 'input-output' machine. Since puppies are growing and developing rapidly at this stage, they eat more food, burn up more energy and seem to need to eliminate constantly! They also have not yet developed bowel and bladder control, so they can't 'hold it' as long as adult dogs. House Training When You Are Not Home Confine your puppy to a small, 'puppy-proofed' room and paper the entire floor. Put his bed, toys and food/water bowls there. At first there will be no rhyme or reason to where your pup eliminates. He will go every where and any where. He will also probably play with the papers, chew on them, and drag them around his little den. Most puppies do this and you just have to live with it. Don't get upset; just accept it as life with a young puppy. The important thing is that when you get home, clean up the mess and lay down fresh papers. Passive House Training or Paper Training While your puppy is confined, he is developing a habit of eliminating on paper because no matter where he goes, it will be on paper. As time goes on, he will start to show a preferred place to do his business. When this place is well established and the rest of the papers remain clean all day, then gradually reduce the area that is papered. Start removing the paper that is furthest away from his chosen location. Eventually you will only need to leave a few sheets down in that area only. If he ever misses the paper, then you've reduced the area too soon. Go back to papering a larger area or even the entire room. Once your puppy is reliably going only on the papers you've left, then you can slowly and gradually move his papers to a location of your choice. Move the papers only an inch a day. If puppy misses the paper again, then you're moving too fast. Go back a few steps and start over. Don't be discouraged if your puppy seems to be making remarkable progress and then suddenly you have to return to papering the entire room. This is normal. There will always be minor set-backs. If you stick with this procedure, your puppy will be paper trained. House Training When You Are Home When you are home but can't attend to your puppy, follow the same procedures described above. However, the more time you spend with your puppy, the quicker he will be house trained. Your objective is to take your puppy to his toilet area every time he needs to eliminate. This should be about once every 45 minutes; just after a play session; just after eating or drinking; and just upon waking. When he does eliminate in his toilet area, praise and reward him profusely and enthusiastically! Don't use any type of reprimand or punishment for mistakes or accidents. Your puppy is too young to understand and it can set the house training process back drastically. Don't allow your puppy freedom outside of his room unless you know absolutely for sure that his bladder and bowels are completely empty. When you do let him out, don't let him out of your sight. It is a good idea to have him on leash when he is exploring your home. He can't get into trouble if you are attached to the other end of the leash. Every 30 minutes return your pup to his toilet area. As your puppy becomes more reliable about using his toilet area and his bowel and bladder control develops, he can begin to spend more time outside his room with you in the rest of your home. Begin by giving him access to one room at a time. Let him eat, sleep and play in this room but only when he can be supervised. When you cannot supervise him, put him back in his room. Active House Training The most important thing you can do to make house training happen as quickly as possible is to reward and praise your puppy every time he goes in the right place. The more times he is rewarded, the quicker he will learn. Therefore it's important that you spend as much time as possible with your pup and give him regular and frequent access to his toilet area. Key to Successful House Training Consistency and Patience. Never scold or punish your puppy for mistakes and accidents. The older your pup gets, the more he will be able to control his bladder and bowels. Eventually your pup will have enough control that he will be able to "hold it" for longer and longer periods of time. Let your puppy do this on his own time. When training is rushed, problems usually develop. Don't forget, most puppies are not reliably house trained until they are at least 6 months old.
You've got quite a few more weeks ahead of you before you'll even come close to being able to say Bacon is housetrained. He is a baby. You just need to continue taking him out as you have been. If you notice that this is continuing on a daily basis after having been better in the past, I'd suggest taking him to the vet for a quick check-up to make sure he doesn't have a UTI that might be causing him to go so frequently. Another thing you can try is after you have taken him out, when you bring him back in keep him on his leash with you so that you can keep a close eye on him & react very quickly should he start to show signs of going in the house. If it appears that he is going to clap your hands and make a different noise to interrupt him and rush him back outside to finish up. When he does go outside praise, praise, praise!
Make sure you use a product that is made for cleaning up his accidents inside to insure that all of the scent is gone. One product that works well is Nature's Miracle which you can get at a pet supply store.
Each week you should start seeing some improvement. The main thing to remember when you have a pup is keep your sense of humor, have loads of patience, and enjoy the puppy times - there will come a day when you will miss having a puppy around even though Bacon has matured into a well mannered furpal and is your best pal.
Make sure you use no-go by pet organics, to spray cleaned areas. He was intimidated at 1st. Now he is showing his real colors. He should be crated when in the house. Or confined to one area. Otherwise both of them will be doing it, everywhere, in no time...
Julie that was some great info! I agree the pup should be either crated or in a papered room when 'not in use'. Too often, we want out puppies out playing with us and snuggling with them when they really need to be in the potty/paper training process. It's had to shut them in a room by themsleves, but in the end your rewards are huge. You'll have a happier, healthier life for you and your pup.
Great info. everyone! I personally use a crate and accidents still happen now and then but for the most part it works. Piper is 6 months now and still has accidents......lol but she is mostly house trained. She even has a doggie door....lol I use Resolve for pet stains. It is fairly cheap, at walmart and works great! Good luck with Bacon. He will get it
Thanks everyone for the wonderful information. We've been keeping Bacon confined in the kitchen when we are not at home and he is paper trained. He never messes on the floor only on the paper/wee pads in the kitchen. We do however let him roam in whichever room we are in and normally watch him like a hawk. I was just kind of wondering if it was too early for me to be training him or disciplining him for going in the house. I know I was expecting way too much out of him. I think I was just expecting more because I have never had a puppy. We got Beeper when he was 6 months old and pretty much already potty trained. I do have a bottle of no - go and have been spraying it after I clean wherever he went. Thanks again everyone.
10 weeks is too early for discipline, other than showing him your displeasure, and breaking him to routine. I had better luck with her brother, but Kitty was not housebroken until at least 10 months old. Problem is they go outside and fart around instead of getting down to business. If you don't SEE that they went, they probably didn't. I like the way mine go potty on command. Megan, I even ask at the back door[truth test] and send her back to go poo if she only peed. She knows the words. If she wants back in, she complies...When there is an accident I stress the words OUTSIDE and GO POTTY when I am explaining the problem to them, the problem is not merely that they must GO POTTY, but they must go OUTSIDE. Of course, whenever they go out, I say OUT so they start learning simple words, NO POTTY IN MY HOUSE, is more what they hear in case of a mistake YOU GO OUT TO GO POTTY. Eventually, they have a fair vocabulary, as an adult. I can ask DO YOU WANT TO GO OUT? or DO YOU WANT YOUR DINNER? and get a yes or no response. I usually ask, even if I know the answer, just to build on their communication skills. Recently, I was at my mom's, she has one of my adult bitches. I found when explaining something to my mom, in order not to evoke a response in the dog, I spelled out the word, the same as you would do to a young child, that speaks but does not spell. She is astounded by the dogs grasp of English. The trick is not to babble at the dog, but to make short simple repetitive command sentences. One guy at a dog show commenting on his wife's ability to do this joked, he said, I feel like peeing, myself, when she says it that way. Also, it may help if potty times co-incide with feeding times at this age, pups often empty bowels after they eat, and then play, then sleep. Let them back in for the sleep part, they begin to treat the house more like a den, or a place of refuge and quiet. OUTSIDE is for play and potty. Inside is for quiet and sleep.
You just need to continue taking him out as you have been. If you notice that this is continuing on a daily basis after having been better in the past, I'd suggest taking him to the vet for a quick check-up to make sure he doesn't have a UTI that might be causing him to go so frequently. Another thing you can try is after you have taken him out, when you bring him back in keep him on his leash with you so that you can keep a close eye on him & react very quickly should he start to show signs of going in the house. If it appears that he is going to clap your hands and make a different noise to interrupt him and rush him back outside to finish up. When he does go outside praise, praise, praise!
