Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

Advice potty training puppy?

Upgradable

Upgradable

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
5,537
We just adopted (from shelter) a five month old female rhodesian ridgeback puppy. She's learning commands well and is quite happy. But we're having some problems with housetraining. She was seriously underweight when we brought her home. She has been totally checked by the vet. Now we are on recommended food and her stool is better.

However, we're having problems with her soiling at one spot in the house, both poop and pee. We've used Nature's Miracle, but I don't think that is discouraging her from that spot.

I would love to hear any advice you have house training her. She's a darling thing, and this would make us all happier.
 
I don't really have any sage advice but will say our lab just stopped for no reason one day once she hit 6 months. I'm not sure if she just become more comfortable with us and our home or what but overnight it just stopped.

Sorry I'm not more help!
 
Her name is Ginger.

1000004_10201372386407368_936099688_n.jpg

581764_10201372386887380_305437228_n.jpg

1173710_10201372388167412_885422851_n.jpg
 
Oh she is such a cutie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :appl: :appl: :appl:
 
Awww.
Sorry I'm no help, but I want to send Ginger a doggie kiss. :love:
 
:wavey: Uppie!

Our Lily is now almost 10 months... the in house puddles have ALMOST stopped and if she goes, its because WE missed her signals. for the longest time, she was still peeing in the house. Turns out,she had a bladder infection - that may be worth monitoring on Ginger. Our breeder suggested Vitamin C pills on a daily basis until they are about a year - helps w urinary tract flora and somewhat preventative.

Otherwise, we take them out regularly - never more than 2 hours where they are loose in the house and unattended. If we do leave her for a period of time, she is in her crate and puppies rarely soil their "dens". A rough guideline is # of months + 1 is how long they can hold their bladder for. In Gingers case that would be 7hours or thereabouts, at night, but during the day, they get distracted/excited/forgetful...

It will settle... but your floors may not like the journey they are on until that happens!! Good luck!!
 
We had one person suggest using the "puppy training pads". Just set one on the floor in the favorite potty spot and get her used to going there. Start shifting is so she knows to go on the pad and then start taking the pad outside for her to potty on.

BUT --
The trainer we used said that was about the worst thing EVER to do in that it teaches them it is okay to potty in the house and doesn't really get the right message across. (we also found the one time we used this that our puppy drug it around the house :knockout: )


What we did that worked is get her on a schedule and stick to it. As she got older, we were able to start cutting back from every hour (she had intestinal issues) to every couple of hours to every 4 hours. By following a specific routine (we'd leash her and then take her to the front door), she found her own ways to signal us that she needed out.
Our trainer suggested first thing in the morning, right before bed and about 30 minutes after each feeding. (plus whatever in between until you learn her signals)
 
Where is the spot that she's going? Is it someplace out of view? Can you close it off in some way or put something there (heavy furniture)?

I ask because my sister and parents both have dogs and they both tend to sneak off to certain areas of the house to do what I call "a surprise pee/poop" and so when they haven't done their business outside on command like they usually, do, we close the doors to those areas and then they can't sneak away. If they can't do it in secret, they won't do it inside at all.

If you can't close off that spot or block it, I'd try to watch when she goes there and catch her in the act. When we catch one of the dogs squatting, we yell "NO!" and immediately take them outside. They don't get scolded beyond the "NO!" and going outside, though--we consider it more of a failing on our part that we missed their cues vs. blaming the dog for doing what's natural.

We act crazily, ecstatically happy when they do go outside, and they get a treat (or other reward, like throwing the ball for the ball-obsessed dog). It can't be like when giving them regular treats, though, it has to be the very instant that they finish their business, so at the beginning, we carried a treat or two outside with us. Now they both know to stop, sit, and wait by the table that has the treat container on it once back inside the house.

I don't know exactly what happened, but my parents' dog got a lot more consistent with her potty training when she hit about 1.5 years old (this spring). She now goes on command, just like my sister's dog. We use one word commands, one syllable when possible, so the command is "pee" or "poop" and they seem to both know what those mean. I notice that my parents' dog will go much more quickly if I go and stand on the lawn with her in the semi-designated area just outside the front door, so I walk out with her, stand by the bush where she usually goes, and she almost immediately does her business. We are also consistent in taking them out at specific times, (right after eating when they were younger, now 1-2 hours after eating) and watch their signals. Both of the dogs tend to wait in a specific spot when they want to go out, and they get praised for "telling" us when they want to go out.
 
Rubybeth, you've pretty much nailed the situation head on! The spot she goes is just out of sight, so she knows it's a no no. I think my problem may be that I'm letting her out too often and she's not associating going out with going potty. I'm guessing I need to be more on a schedule with her, and to lead her out to, what she has already established, as the potty spot. It also looks like I am going to have to keep literally constant eye on her. I am in her presence, but not in a direct sight line.

Thanks for the tips. I'd love to hear any others.
 
Upgradable|1376512186|3503051 said:
Thanks for the tips. I'd love to hear any others.
Click to expand...
My first schnauzer (who now lives with my ex) was a sneaky in-house pottier in the early months. The thing that helped us (other than patience, consistency, and time as she got older), was simply not letting her out of our sight.

That sounded really hard, but the trainer told us to keep her on her leash in the house and I kept the leash tied to me (usually tucked around a belt loop or just tucked the handle in my pocket or something). When she couldn't be more than 6-8 feet from me, she couldn't sneak off to go in another room when you're not paying attention to have accidents.

Once we were settled into the living room for the evening, I just tied the handle of her leash around one of the feet on the couch and she could lay with us on the couch or play around on the floor, but not wander out of sight. We had too many place that couldn't be actually closed off with doors but were sneaky spots for her so keeping her with us by using her leash worked well. Within a week she stopped sneaking off and learned to just hang around us when we were home.

She had a bigger problem with overnight accidents, but we fixed that with extra long night night walks so she could really get it all out of her and taking her water bowls up around 8pm.

Good luck! Training a puppy is definitely not for the faint of heart, but you'll both be happier once you figure each other out and get your on groove going.

ETA: Ginger is beautiful! Thank you for adopting her!
 
I adopted my now 5 month old puppy when she was 10 weeks old. She was always good with going potty (hasn't had an accident in 2 months but I've heard we're not out of the woods til she's an adult) but we were really zealous about taking her outside. Anytime she sniffed inside, one of us would bring her out to her potty spot (the same area each time). She went out 7 times a day for a very long time. When she was inside, we'd confine her to only one floor (you could try just the room you're in) so we could see her at all time.

We put her in the crate at night and for naps. Like others have said, when you're not watching her, put her in her crate as they don't like to go there. Every time I let her out of her crate, I take her outside immediately. Your dog hopefully gives you some warning signs - mine sniffs the ground repeatedly, looks down the stairs towards the door, sometimes paws at her leash or comes whining towards me.

If your dog is consistently soiling one area, I think you should restrict her from going to that area until you trust her more. My brother's dog liked to pee on the bathmat so he started keeping the bathroom door closed. Once he saw her trying to head into the bathroom, he'd know to take her out.

When puppies are young, they need to go almost immediately after eating so we'd give her a meal, and take her outside 30 minutes later to poop. I also restricted her access to water at night when she was younger (no water for 2 hours before bed time). The general rule is that puppies can only hold pee for the number of hours as their age in months (some say age in months + one, so 5 month old puppy can hold it 6 hours). No dog should be made to hold it for more than 8 hours, though there are plenty of dogs that can hold it for longer during the day (not sure if this is good for them though).

My dog won't use pee pads, she thinks they're toys and will shred them to little pieces.

Your dog is adorable! My dog is not a ridgeback but some people think she is because her hackles are very pronounced when she's playing.

Good luck with training! The day will come (for you and me) where the dog will magically know where the potty is, once and for all. and we can relax. :twirl:
 
Awww shes so sweet. You weren't kidding about her being underweight. ;(

I know this sounds crazy, but is it a place where you can temporarily move her food and water to, in addition to the comments from previous posters? That would discourage her naturally from soiling in that spot.
 
I did peewee pads for years, and my dogs would always miss the stupid pad. As adult dogs, I crate trained them. My baby rarely has any more accidents.
 
I put a row of upside down ladder back chairs right in front of her chosen spot. When she went over there and I heard her rattling around the wood I immediately asked "outside?" and she ran to the door. So far, 2 voluntary poopies, and only accident this morning before I put the chairs up. I've still not caught onto her pee schedule.

She has really taken to the crate well, which I'm very happy about. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I didn't mention that we have an older dog who has always had access to the whole house, so I'm trying to figure out how to balance the two. They play well together, but the puppy is very much the annoying little sister, and Roxy wants some time alone.
 
Upgradable|1376520972|3503230 said:
I put a row of upside down ladder back chairs right in front of her chosen spot. When she went over there and I heard her rattling around the wood I immediately asked "outside?" and she ran to the door. So far, 2 voluntary poopies, and only accident this morning before I put the chairs up. I've still not caught onto her pee schedule.

She has really taken to the crate well, which I'm very happy about. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I didn't mention that we have an older dog who has always had access to the whole house, so I'm trying to figure out how to balance the two. They play well together, but the puppy is very much the annoying little sister, and Roxy wants some time alone.
Click to expand...

My brother has a 10 year old senior dog and a 5 month old puppy and he baby gated the house so that the senior dog can escape from the little dog if she wants to (he'll open the gate for senior but not for junior). Senior has learned to sit by the baby gate to be let in/out.
 
Upgradable|1376520972|3503230 said:
I put a row of upside down ladder back chairs right in front of her chosen spot. When she went over there and I heard her rattling around the wood I immediately asked "outside?" and she ran to the door. So far, 2 voluntary poopies, and only accident this morning before I put the chairs up. I've still not caught onto her pee schedule.
Click to expand...

This is a great start - let me make a suggestion.

You're still relying on you noticing that she has to go out, but she doesn't yet seem to have a way to signal you. I had this problem when I was training my sheltie - the door he was running to was out of my standard sight line, so he couldn't signal me.

Once I realized it, I hung a sleigh bell on a cord from the door handle, and when we were going out, I'd go to the door and ring the bell as we went out. Pretty quickly, he figured out to go to the door and push at the bell with his nose. Voila - he now had an audible way to tell me he had to go out.

Agree with all the other great suggestions about watching for cues and restricting access to better predict the need to go, but I think you'll also be more successful if you can give your pup a way to tell you she has to go.
 
As a shelter baby, there's no telling what her prior experiences were... If it's the same spot, I wonder if it's like a security blanket for her. Maybe pottying makes her feel vulnerable and that spot makes her feel ok. Be sure to give her PLENTY of opportunities to go potty outside and make it exciting (praise, treats, etc.) Also, I would expect that she will grow out of needing to potty inside. She is, after all, still young and maybe it just hasn't "clicked" that she's not supposed to do that.

Good luck and enjoy the puppy time!
 
More really good suggestions!! Things have improved much in just one day.

I think I'm going to try Alj's bell idea. With the outside door being out of sightline, I think it would be really helpful. I may even put one outside to let me know when they are ready to come in. (I can't always hear the scratching at the door, and I'd rather not encourage scratching in the first place.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top