Puppy Training 101 - Housebreaking

[Brittany-Mooie&Token]

Letting him out to go potty every 20 minutes to an hour is fine at this point, but he is getting to the age where he should be able to hold it for longer periods of time. Since he is having accidents while he is in the house keep a close eye on him while he is out of the crate. USUALLY (every pup is different) your pup will try to let you know when they need to go out, ex pacing, whimpering, becoming overly excited or affectionate. It is hard at first to figure out what your baby is telling you. I know when Token was potty training he would run up to us and then run away, run up to us then run away.. We had no clue at first what he was doing. He was telling us he needed to go out because it never failed that we would get up and see a puddle on the floor lol. How often are the accidents occurring?

[woocou0022]

I have a question.

How do you crate train a puppy. We want to crate train, I just dont know where to start.

[Ward]

How do you crate train a puppy. We want to crate train, I just dont know where to start.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4zsaBtr5Iw"]YouTube- Puppy Training - How to Housetrain Your Puppy[/ame]

[Brittany-Mooie&Token]

The theory behind crate training is the puppy will see the crate as his territory and not want to mess in it / do not like to sleep in their own stool/urine. Make sure your crate is big enough for your pet to turn around in and not much bigger. I know it sounds bad and its hard to do that for a growing dane lol, but if it's too big there will be room for the pet to mess in the cage and lay in a different spot. When you are out for the day or not watching the baby you are soposed to crate him. My Mooie is still in the crate (shes 7 months). At night and when we are at work she stays in there for chewing issues. For the most part puppies learn to like their crate and will lay in there on their own. All it takes for Mooie to get in the crate is a command we use "Kennel up" and she is running to the crate lol.

[rk05]

They are not happening a whole lot but it seems that if we don't get him to go out he will just go. When he starts playing around we will watch him and if he starts smelling the carpet we will get him out but then there are other times he will smell the carpet and just jump and take off running!

We have had a bell on the door now for about a week and he has yet to hit it, with nose or paw. We try to get his attention and hit it and say "outside" and then take him out.

Maybe he is just slow?

[Ward]

They are not happening a whole lot but it seems that if we don't get him to go out he will just go. When he starts playing around we will watch him and if he starts smelling the carpet we will get him out but then there are other times he will smell the carpet and just jump and take off running!

We have had a bell on the door now for about a week and he has yet to hit it, with nose or paw. We try to get his attention and hit it and say "outside" and then take him out.

Maybe he is just slow?

Do you hit it, or do you touch it to his nose? (I'd suggest not using the paw, since they can make big scratch marks on the door.)

[Brittany-Mooie&Token]

It sounds like you're doing all the right things.. The bell is a great tool to use! It may take him a little while to fully understand what the purpose of the bell is. But like I said it seems like you're doing a good job at this point

[rk05]

We usually end up hitting it but try to get him to do it with his nose.

Maybe we should take it off the door and touch his nose with it and then put it back on the door?

[Ward]

We usually end up hitting it but try to get him to do it with his nose.

Maybe we should take it off the door and touch his nose with it and then put it back on the door?

That's what I was going to suggest. Maybe he's just not getting the connection that ringing the bell = going outside.

[ErinMarie]

what is the longest she has gone without peeing in her crate?

she has gone 3-4 hours occasionally without peeing in her crate. Many times in that time she does pee in the crate. she sleeps through the night without needing to go out. she also rings a bell to go out, but she wants to go out at least every hour.

[nomad_95]

My new puppy refuses to "GO," any suggestions?

moved to new thread

[Jakhi]

Step-by-step guide on housebreaking

1. Play area/kennels. If you cannot directly supervise the dog it needs to be in a small area. An x pen would work fine, so would a gated off room. If you are not home the dog needs the be in either a safe room (puppy proofed), or kenneled.

2. Tethering. If people are home the dog should be tethered to you. Leash it up and attach the leash to your belt. That way you have no excuses if they potty right next to you, they will have some way of showing they are about to go it's up to you to recognize it and react!

3. Potty breaks. Make a point of taking the dog out to potty on the leash every 30 minutes at first, then gradually extend the amount of time between breaks. Keep treats in your pocket and only reward if they pee. It's important at first to only take the dog out on a leash. Outside is exciting, there's lots to smell, bark at, and explore. Take the dog to a specific area of the yard (the 'potty spot') and just stand there holding the leash and being boring. Once the dog gets bored they are more likely to listen to the signals their body is sending them. when they have done their business praise them, then allow off leash play time if you want. Potty time FIRST! (the play can be part of the reward for pottying outside)

4. Keep the house clean. I know, it sounds obvious. Use a pet mess specific product. These are usually enzymatic, so the enzymes break down the proteins in the urine to completely remove the accident. I use Nature's Miracle, follow the directions on the bottle. It works over time, not instantly.

5. Supervision, supervision, supervision! No explanation required.

6. Feeding in meals. If you know when it goes in, you know when it comes out! Take away free access to the water bowl and food bowl. (Unless your pup has a medical condition, in which case supervision must be doubled.) Feed them 2 or 3 times a day, depending on their age. IMO pups under 6 months should eat 3 meals, over 6 months 2 is fine. After the food has been down for 20-30 minutes pick the bowls up. If they are standing there eating obviously don't take it out from under them, but if they aren't interested then tough luck. They can eat later.
Water is different. I would still remove it, but offer it at regular intervals. Approximately once an hour. Also offer water if they have a playtime, during meals, if they act thirsty, ect; but don't leave it down. Puppies or untrained adults have never learned bladder control, so whenever they drink they will pee very shortly after that. Ditto for food, but water is more obvious.

How long can they hold it? A general guideline for how long a puppy can hold it in a kennel is: # of months in age + 1 = Total length of time.
So a 4 month old pup should be able to hold it a MAX of 5 hours. (over night can be a different story though) Untrained adults it varies. I suggest starting with 1- 1 1/2 hours and going from there.

If you must leave the dog alone for longer than you can expect them to hold it you must provide another option. Someone can come let the dog out, leave them in a safe room with a potty pad, ect.

There are a few things you should not do when potty training. Don't rub their nose in the mess, it doesn't work and it's unsanitary (and who likes puppy kisses after THAT!). Don't expect too much from your pup, set them up to succeed. If you know they can hold it for 5 hours make sure you let them out at or before that point. Not 15 minutes late.

I never assume a dog is potty trained under a year. Not because it's impossible but because I find if you believe your 4 month old is potty trained you are more likely to set them up to fail. no matter the age of the dog know their limits and don't push them too much at once.

[jeanielo29]

Help

Hi there. We have a 5 year old Dane rescue that we got back in March and just got an American Bulldog puppy a few weeks ago. He is about 3 months old and we are crate training him. Right now we are trying to figure out what to do during the night. Our Dane always sleeps in our room on her dog bed. She has a large crate in our great room that she stays in when we aren't home.

When we got the puppy, we were moving his crate into our room at night. Is this the right thing to do? Our problem is that sometimes he bangs on the crate, even when he doesn't need to go...basically he wants to get out and lay on Zoe's bed. He can go about 4 to 5 hours at a time but sometimes, especially early morning, he just wants out. We aren't getting any sleep, Zoe isn't getting any sleep and I am wondering if we should just crate them both in the great room during the night. I don't feel that is fair to Zoe but I don't know what to do.

Any suggestions?

[Dozerboy007]

Dozer is now 11 weeks old.. and is still not trained. But I feel that he has us trained. We take him out all the time, just in case. He does the classic stop what ever he is doin and pee. No signs, just a puddle. We have done the crate traing thing, and there is a problem. Dozer loves his crate, he lays in it all the time on his own, but he also pee's in it. He will actually go over to his crate... walk in and pee on his bed. GRRRRRR ....it is so frustrating. I wash his bed everyday. He will also pee in it if I take the bed out. I have now resorted to keeping his crate locked when he is not in it. He is sooo much harder than any other dog I have ever had. Is this seemigly impossible task common in danes?

[EmoAbstracts]

Dozer is now 11 weeks old.. and is still not trained. But I feel that he has us trained. We take him out all the time, just in case. He does the classic stop what ever he is doin and pee. No signs, just a puddle. We have done the crate traing thing, and there is a problem. Dozer loves his crate, he lays in it all the time on his own, but he also pee's in it. He will actually go over to his crate... walk in and pee on his bed. GRRRRRR ....it is so frustrating. I wash his bed everyday. He will also pee in it if I take the bed out. I have now resorted to keeping his crate locked when he is not in it. He is sooo much harder than any other dog I have ever had. Is this seemigly impossible task common in danes?

Dozer:

Since you posted on mine I'll add to yours. This is actually one problem I'm (thankfully) not having with Berkeley (YET). My Berkeley is 9 weeks old this week and he had a couple accidents in the house his first 2 days and one major accident in his crate (pooping everywhere and getting it all over him) after his first vet visit...but this has been it. I also take him outside a lot to make sure he knows this is where he is supposed to go but he has been letting me know on his own. He will go to the back door now and paw at the door or sniff at the glass and when I slide it open he runs out to the yard and does his thing.

He definitely doesn't go in his crate - the day that he had an accident in there you would have thought the world was ending with the noises he was making. I saw all of this very carefully because with Berkeley's patterns I could be totally jinxing myself.