[elh1015]

I'm not sure if this is a question more than it is a complaint. In some ways I feel we've made progress with Oski and getting him housetrained. Crate training certainly helped train his bladder, he can handle going overnight or for 5 or 6 hours in the daytime if we are out. We had actually gone a few weeks without accidents in the house. Well, at least no poops. But then suddenly over the last few days he's pooping all over the place. Maybe that's an exaggeration of how it is, but I guess what I'm wondering is after having him for about 5 weeks, can I not let my guard down? Did he lull me into a false sense of security? I had felt good about being able to going about the house with him gated off in one area and just check in on him and let both dogs outside to run around in the yard and such. But this weekend it's like I couldn't turn my head.
We've had very nice weather in the afternoons, so both dogs have been spending a lot of time in the yard playing unsupervised and that's been going well. But do I have to go back to square one and return to supervised trips outside every 30-60 min? I haven't totally stopped going outside with him, but I suppose with having him run around outside for long periods of time without me the praise has reduced since I don't witness each and every time he goes. Do you think that is a factor?

I felt that I had low expectations for how long housebreaking takes. I guess I had built up some confidence in how it was going and let my guard down.

 

[jumpinjacuzzijoe]

Could he be sick?

 

[elh1015]

I had not considered that. He doesn't seem sick in terms of behavior and temperment and the poops have been when I/we should have known he needed to be out. And they're not loose. It's probably more our fault for not keeping on top of the situation. I just thought/hoped that we were getting to a point where we didn't have to keep up with the same diligence.

 

[DebBrown]

Charlie is 8 months and I still don't trust him completely. He does not have free reign of the house but this is in part due to chewing, not just potty training.

I'd say since about 6 months he's been reliable. Until then we'd go for weeks with no accidents and then have a bad day like you are having. After a bad day, we'd go back to more restricting gating for awhile.

I'll bet he's having so much fun playing outside that he's forgetting to do this business. Can you let him out first and have him stick to business before letting the other dog out to play? I think Charlie is like a young child in that way. He doesn't want to interrupt his play to go potty. When my granddaughter is over, he is really excited and I have to remember to take him out more often because I know he isn't going to tell me when he's ready.

Deb

 

[elh1015]

I think you're right Deb. When I open the door Marley always rushes outside too. But she is very easy to command to stay inside, so I will try that.

 

[sandy]

I don't know what to suggest. Nicky was about 10 weeks old when I got him and he has never peed or pooped in the house, except for a couple of episodes of submissive peeing. He got excited when a couple of his favorite people came to visit. I didn't have to housebreak him!

In the daytime he goes to the sliding glass door to the backyard and paws it when he has to go out. If he has to go during the night, he wakes me up by either licking me or pawing the bed. He hasn't been crated at night in several months. Last week I started leaving him alone uncrated for a few hours at a time when I had to leave the house. So far everything as been fine when I come home. Let's hope it continues!

 

[lmtoth2]

Dexter was very unreliable until 5 months. Hang in there - it just takes time and training

 

[doodleheaven]

We are in the same boat. My puppy is 13 weeks old. Got him at 9 wks. He does pretty good (my expectations aren't high either). Last week he had no accidents and then on Saturday I was preparing supper for company - and, like you said, let my guard down. He pooped in the basement. He had gone down there because that is the door he goes out of to the backyard. So he knew what he was doing - I just wasn't paying attention. He also tends to have most of his accidents with my husband who doesn't know Bailey's schedule yet. It is hard isn't it?

 

[elh1015]

It is hard! The recent accidents happened on other household member's watch, not mine. But this morning, I let them outside (at 5:50am mind you) and when they came back in, I just decided to doze in the recliner and let them play in the family room (which is where he always gets to be gated off and supervised) I swear I kept watching and listening (they were wrestling so even with closed eyes I could tell what was happening) but then I dozed off deeper for maybe 5 minutes and open my eyes to poop!! Grrrr...
Totally my fault, I know. I have to start schleping myself outside to supervise the morning "deposit" instead of laying back down to wait for barking.

 

[sandy]

When Nicky wakes me up at some unGodly hour and wants to go out, I put a leash on him and take him into the backyard instead of just opening the door and letting him out by himself. That way he knows he's not outside to play and I get to go back to bed quicker!

 

[MaxandMe]

we got Beau at 16wks he's now 18 weeks.....he doesn't poop in the house. But we keep a careful watch on him and still bring him out alot for a quick pee.

some dogs train very quickly others take more time to mature.
Max was good , Peanut OMG i was ready to buy her diapers, and Beau is really good but if he plays hard with Max and/or peanut we have to takehim out within 15min for a quick potty walk

 

[BAD]

Abbey (13 wks) is not house broken but she is doing pretty well. She sleeps through the night in her crate. We usually get her up once a night for a visit to her soiling area and put her right back to the crate.

We still have peeing accidents in the kitchen when she is playing. Even if she's just been outside. At puppy class last night they said to not interrupt them with praise while peeing, let them finish then praise. This helps to be sure they don't stop in mid-stream and then finish when they are back in the house.

 

[emilee]

the thing about housetraining a puppy is, the more consistent you can be, the faster it will go. dogs are amazingly good at following the rules, as long as they know what the rules are. even one occasion of eliminating in the house without *immediate* feedback and the rule the puppy starts to learn (i.e., it's ok to pee in the house sometimes) is NOT the rule you want the puppy to learn (i.e., peeing must always be done outside). every time the puppy has to eliminate can and should be used as a teaching moment, and if the message is consistent, most puppies will catch on quickly.

with kumo (who is now about 20 months old), either my fiance or i watched him constantly (and i really do mean every single second) until we were pretty confident that he had learned the "only pee outside" rule. if neither of us was able to watch him, even for only a few minutes, we put him in the crate where we could be sure he would try his best to hold it.

it can be difficult to be consistent if there are multiple people involved in the training and not all are as vigilant about the "watch the puppy every single second" thing. there are a few times when you can expect a puppy to have to go, especially before it has developed full bladder control, that make it a bit easier to anticipate "accidents" in advance: after eating or drinking, after waking up from a nap, and after vigorous play. preemptively taking the pup outside at these times can really help -- the fewer "accidents" in the house, the more consistently the rule of "only pee outside" is communicated. i can't stress enough that the more consistent you can be when training, the faster the housebreaking will go. once the pup knows the rule, it will start asking to go out on its own.

-em

 

[TexasDoodle]

OMG, I know, isn't it a pain! Just when you think they have the hang of it, you step in pee

Murphy is finally doing good, although by voicing that thought I have just jinxed myself It's amazing...Murphy can sit and lay down with hand signals, knows exactly what a cookie is, but couldn't get the hang of going potty OUTSIDE.

Puppies sure are a lot of work!

 

[Darwin]

I don't mean to brag (well, maybe I do!) but Darwin was completely house-trained within 3 days. He was 15 weeks old. Never had an accident since. :shock: He's now 16 months old.
We never used the crate either - he's always had free reign.
The new 17 week old baby (schnoodle) is not quite as bright. After 2 weeks, he holds it all night and when we are both at work - we stagger our hours so he's only alone from 10 - 3. But when we're home he still has accidents - mostly pee, but an occasional poop.
:twisted:

 

[MaxandMe]

I envy anyone who is great at housebreaking hahhahahaa if i had the money i'd pay someone to do it for me for 3 weeks

 

[DoodleDame]

TexasDoodle - you are SO right, puppies are ALOT of work.

We're *knock on wood* seeming to have success with potty training after 4 weeks (Alfi is just a little over 12 weeks old). Something that has worked for us is going with Alfi when we ask him to go "Potty" and then saying "Potty, Potty" as he goes. After doing that for a few weeks all I have to do now is open our back door and say "Go Potty" and he trots out to the backyard and squats. There definitely still is a big human component to it all and anticipating when he might need to go. I read "The Loved Dog" before we got Alfi and that has helped alot with so many basic training principles.