Help with Housebreaking....

[seib22]

Hello.

I have had my Bodi for about 4 days now & things are going pretty well. Well, except for the housebreaking. Bodi is 11.5 weeks old. He will go out to do his business when I physically pick him up & take him outside. But he won't tell me or give me any idea when he has to go. I have pretty much been taking him out every 30 minutes or so.

I work during the day & come home at lunch to let him out of his kennel to go potty. Normally, I carry him straight from the kennel to the backyard. This time though, I decided to have him follow me to see if he will go out without me carrying him. He is kind of shy & won't hardly come to me when I call him. Instead, today, he just stood right in the middle of the living room floor & peed as I have the door open & am calling him to come outside. I just don't understand. He knows what he is supposed to do out there. Yet he just peed right on the carpet as I am telling him to come. What the heck!?!!? I am so frustrated. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Jerry:confused:

 

[muttersley]

He is only still a baby and probably didn't realise he is supposed to do it outside. Belle used to let my husband carry her outside in the mornings until she was 5 months or she would have gone on the carpet. Even now she doesn't ask to go out but just stands by the door. If I were you I would continue to do what you're doing and take him out often. He will soon click on.

 

[Tucker's_mom]

When Tucker was that little we NEVER let him walk to the door by himself after being locked up in his crate. We learned very fast that as soon as he was clear of his bed, he couldn't hold it anymore. If we picked him up and carried him he'd hold it for those few remaining seconds until he was outside.

Also, when he's actually doing his business we'd tell him "good Tucker, go potty" and kept repeating the "go potty" part (or "go poopy" depending on which he was doing :D). Eventually he'll catch on that he's not supposed to be going potty anywhere but outside. He'll also be able to go on command (which really does come in handy!).

I know housebreaking is very frustrating (for us it was THE most frustrating part of puppyhood) but boxers are very smart and catch on pretty quickly. Tucker was good for 90% of the time by 4 months and hasn't had an accident in longer than I can remember (well I do, but we won't go there... )

Good luck with Bodi!!

 

[Yellowsnow.]

Keep doing what you are doing. I REALLY THINK THEY TRAIN US INSTEAD OF YOU TRAINING HIM.
1. If he has an accident take him out where he is supposed to go immediately.

2. Buy a carpet cleaner. I have a Dirt Devil spot remover (Electric) $50.00 Lowes best investment when housebreaking a puppy. You will use $50.00 in paper towels. Clean up ASAP.

3. When he goes outside give him praises and treats.

We are in the process of housebreaking Annie (12 weeks). Its going pretty good except she won't bark when she goes to the door so you have to be watching her. If you aren't there she will go on the floor. So we have started Bell training. I hung a couple of bells at each door. And we make her ring it before we let her out. She seems to be catching on.

Don't worry he will get you trained soon :D

 

[gilmore]

I have a 5 month old brindal male and they way we trained him is to take him out ever time he wakes up. Puppys sleep so much that just about when they wake up is the best time to take them out. He will obviously have to go other times but you just have to keep an eye on him. Gilmore (our dog) was not found of going outside on his own so we carried him until we got the grass and then he knew it was time for him to go and he did wonderfuly. And he has been so good, we have not had an accident in the house for months.

I hope that helps.

 

[terris37]

have patience

I know how you feel. We got our first boxer when he was 12wks. Our Cosmo is something else besides the fact that he is all white and deaf he looks like a white bunny, his potty training took us to the limit(got to the love the little bugers). Believe it or not he just turned 1 on August 6 and we finally got him trained.


Not to discourage you but we had to have alot of patience:confused: wondering what we are doing wrong. We bought books did the crate thing, talked to vet, we homeschool so we took out every half hour, we did treats and lots of praise, nothing seemed to work. Until he was ready. I guess like our human children that they all develop at different times so do our fur babies. Both my human boys were potty trained at 1 year of age my girl took till she turned 6. Crazy huh.

Well wishing you the best and I know most don't take this long.

 

[danelle]

I'm glad I am not alone in this housebreaking ordeal. Creed is 11.5 weeks and the potty thing is not working out like I planned. Maybe I will try the bells on the doors, that sounds like a good idea. He is so busy playing he doesn't realize he has to go until the last minute, then he's usually running over to the hallway. Then I scoop him up carry him outside and then he finishes....:confused:
Well I'm glad that there's an end in sight....somewhere

 

[Kaz]

As a word of encouragement...the first 2 years are the most stressful for an owner, I think, and things will only get better after puppyhood is over...keep reminding yourself of this, and what wonderful dogs they'll grow into, during the difficult times,just like you would a child.

At this age, they are still discovering new things, and their mind is far too busy to notice they need to 'go', until it is too late. Hence one of the biggest minset shifts needed is that the dog shouldn't be telling you it needs to go outside, you should be instilling this thought in the dog until it becomes second nature.

One of the best advice bits I ever read was to take a pup out after every meal, before every playtime, and after every drink and when they wake up. This was really difficult, as you need to keep a close eye on the pup, and it seemed I was forever taking them out, but less indoor accidents resulted. I kept doing this until they were about 4 mths old, day in and day out, and eventually they learned that after a meal or a drink, you go outside and 'go'. Until now at 3 years, they are waiting at the door while licking their chops, brainwashed into it but happy about the routine Boxers like routine also...helps them feel content

 

[AlexG]

We just got our female boxer last Saturday and we are experiencing same situation.

Here are what we have observed about our 9 week old boxer:

She will have to go after a nap, after waking up in the morning, after each meal and/or drink, after about 15-20 min of play.

She displays more than normal sniffing around the house before she does her business, if we noticed this, she is immediately taken outside. Of course, we have experienced a lot of false alarm. If we don't notice the excessive sniffing, then she will do it inside.

You have to deodorize the spot inside the house that your puppy used, they tend to do it again around these spots.

Good luck and we hope this helps.

 

[Helly]

potty training

I'm wondering how you know when they're potty trained.

Ollie is 14.5 weeks and we've had him for 3.5 weeks and he's been wonderful regarding eliminating. During his first week he peed in his crate once and started to pee in the hallway of our apartment building twice, but since then he hasn't had a single accident. As soon as we hit grass, whether we carry him or we walk him out, he does his thing and will usually wait for grass if we're in a parking lot or something.

From day 1 he's been in the crate all night (8 hours) with only the one incident and he's crated for 8 hours during the day with one break in the middle when I come home to take him out for a pee/poo and a walk or some play. In the evenings or weekends, he take him outside about every 2 hours or half an hour after eating.

We try to remember to say "do you want to go outside?" when we take him out for a pee and we say "go pee/hurry up" when he's in position. We're noticing that he goes to the door sometimes but we're not sure if he wants to go outside because he has to go or if he's there because someone is in the kitchen (entrance to apartment leads into kitchen).

I have no complaints as I think we've been really lucky but I'm just wondering if there's a point when you know they're reliable.