Puppy Training 101 - Housebreaking

[MamaKat811]

What about set backs with housetraining? We have a 5-month-old Dane that we have trained to a bell. He has always been VERY regular with his habits and does great with the bell. The last week? It's like he can't hold it. He either won't go when we get home, then pee on the floor without bothering to hit his bell or he'll poop somewhere. Not to mention, he keeps eating out of the litter boxes and now he has diarrhea, which is even worse! Any ideas?

[Desertnate]

Great information here, but my question is in regards to expanding the horizons of the puppy, i.e. increasing their freedom.

Our girl is 12 weeks old now and after two weeks of accident free living, we've run into some problems.

When we are home and there are several people around, she gets let out about once an hour. She will also let us know she wants to go our by barking, staring, whining, moaning, all of the above, and walking to the back door. The problem is when she is briefly unsupervised. This weekend the wife and kids were gone and I would go upstairs for a few minutes, or out of my site, and she'd pee in the house. Sunday alone we had two accidents...after two weeks of no problems. Have we given her too much freedom too quickly? Could she have been out of sorts with family being gone?

How do you expand her freedoms? Our previous dog was VERY easy to train, but this girl seems much more stubborn.

[lord seamus]

too much too soon

jmo.....no pup, esp. a gr.dane should be unsupervised at this age. too much can go wrong. supervised freedom as much as possible w/ many trips out for the bathroom. sounds like you have most of the basics covered, but back to the crate when you cant watch them. your pup is already telling you when they want/need to go out but how can you let them if they are unsupervised? be consistent and keep an eye on. wont take pup long to get right back in the swing of things. good luck

[Randrews]

our pup wakes us up every 2-3 hours at night to go out... Is this normal? How long will this phase last?

[Elizabeth&Scooby]

Ringing a bell to go out

I have been read a lot of post about training you dane to ring a bell when he wants to go out. Does anyone have any info how to train my dane to use a bell.

[Caesarsmommy]

I think I watched a youtube video about it? Our puppy is 3 months old and uses the potty bells. They hang from the door knob on the door he goes out. Before we would go out, while training, I would move his nose across the bells and say "Outside!" In a really upbeat ! voice. If he goes the the door to go out to go potty with out ringing the bells, now I say "Bells!" and point to them. Then he rings them and then I proceed with "Outside!"and we head out. Consistency is the key! Make sure he knows that he has to ring the bells every time he is going to pass through that door on the way out. Hope that helps!!

[Caesarsmommy]

our pup wakes us up every 2-3 hours at night to go out... Is this normal? How long will this phase last?

How old is Reaper?
Our pup did the same thing when we brought him home at eight weeks, and it gradually got better! He started sleeping through the night at about 11weeks, he would go to bed about 10 pm and wake up at 5am. Now at thirteen weeks, he goes to bed about 9/10 at night and wakes up at 6/7 on his own. I felt like I had a newborn baby for the first few weeks! You will get there!

[Caesarsmommy]

our pup wakes us up every 2-3 hours at night to go out... Is this normal? How long will this phase last?

How old is Reaper?
Our pup did the same thing when we brought him home at eight weeks, and it gradually got better! He started sleeping through the night at about 11weeks, he would go to bed about 10 pm and wake up at 5am. Now at thirteen weeks, he goes to bed about 9/10 at night and wakes up at 6/7 on his own. I felt like I had a newborn baby for the first few weeks! You will get there!

[Randrews]

Reaper is going to be 10 weeks tomorrow. Last night was sooo much better! He only woke up at 3:30AM and 6:30 when we woke up.

[Shabba]

Make sure that he/she doesn't have room to evacuate in one end of the crate and sleep/plan in the other. They have a natural aversion (usually) to laying in their own urine & feces, so a divided crate is the way to go during the early months. A popular option among Dane owners is this one from Midwest: http://www.midwestpetproducts.com/mi...eed-dog-crates

[whitneyeh]

Not peeing on other dogs smell?

So, we just brought home out sweet 12 week old Dane, Isabella. We, unfortunately had to put our Sophie girl down recently, like on Saturday. We knew we needed a dog in the house, so when Sophie got sick, we chose a puppy and the breeder said he would hold her for as long as we needed. When we asked the kids what they wanted, they wanted to get the new puppy right away.

Anyway, so far Izzy as peed or pooped in her crate or in the "back room" However, even with up to 45 minutes of staying with her in the yard after eating, she still wont pee or poop out here. Is it Sophie's smell that is keeping her from doing it?

Thanks!

Whitney.

[Walkerboy]

We are about to have a 8 week old Dane... is it ok to put a puppy pad in the crate with him during the day while no one is home?

[motocop729]

Walker boy I was going to ask the same thing.

[Loki Love]

Walker boy I was going to ask the same thing.

I wouldn't. In my opinion, that's just going to encourage peeing in his crate? Much better to have someone pop over at regular intervals during the day to let the puppers out for a quick pee.

[Greenmagick]

If you can't have someone let him out during the day, I would set up a long term confinement area, like a secure xpen or something that has a crate/bedding area and a potty area.

I can't link from my phone but look up the books Before You GetvYour Puppy and After You Get Your Puppy by dr Ian Dunbar. Both are usually available as free PDFs.