house breaking

[MrLennon]

This has been discussed over and over through every dog forum in the world but here's our situation.
We have a 3 month old brindle, and we have built a schedule around when he goes 'potty'. Let me say, its not at all easy.

These are the times when he goes, so these are the times when we plan to take him out.
5:00 or when I hear him take his first foot steps, sometimes 4am!
He comes back in to nap for another hour or so and then he gets fed around 6am.
After he eats, its outside again.
I then leave for work at 7 and my girlfriend takes him out.
He usually naps sometime between then and 10 when she feeds him again and then out again.
Pretty much every hour or so he is taken out.
There is a gap from around 12 to sometimes 3 or 4 where no one can take him out though.
Most of the time we have someone come in to take him out.
I get home at 5 and take him out.
We say "outside" when we take him out and scratch the door.
Is this something good to do to get to let us know when to go out?
We have had Lennon for about a month or so and have really on it with this schedule but he'll pee and poop whenever and wherever if we dont keep a close eye on him.
Somedays I'll get home and there will be a small spot of pee, and Ill be so happy.
Today, however, there was pee and poop everywhere.

My question is, are we going in the right direction?
Sometimes I feel like we are totally lost and none of our "training" is really working.
I just wish we could see some signs of progress.
Again he is 3 months, so can someone please tell me it will get better.
O and he only goes in the backyard, we cant take him out to street yet.

 

[Althea]

I second badaxe -- I feel you. Suki is 6 mo, and while she is pretty good, she still poops in the house. :sigh: My fault, but there are days when that little squidgy face just tortures me, as I want to be mad at her, but I know it is on me. Be patient, and keep doing what you are doing. He'll get there. but definitely look into a crate if you don't currently crate.

 

[Caney Creek]

We have had Lennon for about a month or so and have really on it with this schedule but he'll pee and poop whenever and wherever if we dont keep a close eye on him.

Bingo :D He is only 3 months old so he's got a ways to go, but if you want him to be fully housebroken by the time he's 6 months old you have to be catching EVERY accident right when it happens, or even better, before it happens. It is sometimes difficult for us humans to grasp the concept that dogs don't think like us. Wouldn't it be nice if puppies could understand English and had the same thought process and deep understanding of things as we do but, fact is they don't. By the time you get home and see all those messes on the floor, he's completely forgotten about it, and there is absolutely NOTHING you can do to get through to him. "See there where you piddled on the floor, I understand I wasn't here to let you out but in the future let's try not to do that OK?" Wish it worked like that but it doesn't. You have to remember what you're dealing with -- a dog, and a baby dog at that. It's going to take lots of time and consistency doing it RIGHT before he understands that that's how it should ALWAYS be done.

Have you considered crate training? I know that a lot of people who have never tried it are very against keeping their dog in a "cage" (I was most definitely one of those people a few years ago), but when used *properly* it is a safe-haven for your pup and a lifesaver in housebreaking. There are tons of threads here about crate training, I'd look into it if you haven't.

 

[MrLennon]

Thanks so much for the replies.
Lennon has his crate but we never close it. His free space when we're not home is a section of the hall way thats gated off.
He sleeps in his crate and has never soiled it.
Its the middle of the day thats tough because we both work and he's alone for a maximum of 6 hours, so theres no way to close the gate in his crate.
When we're home we let him roam around where we are only.
The tough part is catching him in the act, He's so quick!
Thanks again for any help.

 

[bradford]

Bingo :D He is only 3 months old so he's got a ways to go, but if you want him to be fully housebroken by the time he's 6 months old you have to be catching EVERY accident right when it happens, or even better, before it happens.

I agree with Caney Creek. Tucker is finally getting to that point of where he's not having accidents (he's almost 5 mos, now). While I wouldn't be surprised if he did, I think what helped him was me watching him all the time while he was out of his crate. I would watch for his subtely frantic, I gotta go look. Then I would also look for his hind leg air shake (signs he needed to poo). Once I caught on to what he was doing when he needed to go, I was able to get him out in time often and frequent enough for him to finally catch on that outside is the appropriate place. I also stopped getting angry with him when he did poo or pee inside. I made the mistake of getting angry with him the first month or two, but once I stopped reacting, something in his behavior changed, too. If you can, you may have to spend a great deal of time outside with him for him to catch on. I was told that if he's not going outside, to get him very active so his bowels loosen and has an accident out there. Then of course praise him for his accident - that worked wonders.

 

[Sansal]

You can do 6 hours in the crate. Its not a cruel thing at all, and its way better then finding his roaming area a disgusting mess when you come home.

I think you can start using the crate when you are gone during the day, however at this point I wouldn't use it for 6 hours. At 3 month he probably won't be able to hold it for 6 hours. And once puppies start soiling their crate and get used to it it can become a habit that is very hard to break. I don't think crate training is cruel but a puppy having to sit in their own mess.... kinda cruel. I would start to leave him in there when you are gone for mabye 1 or 2 hours and then gradually leave him in for longer periods of time and see how he does. Within a month or two he might be able to stay in there for 6 hours.

 

[MrLennon]

So Lennon is not housebroken...he is 4 months old now and for the most part lets us know he wants to go out.
Sometimes he'll scratch on the door or whimper. Thats fine.
He received all his immunization and we can finally take him on walks where he can relieve himself instead of just letting him "go" in the backyard.
The thing with Lennon is that he only goes in the backyard, we'll walk around a half hour maybe more and he'll hold it in until we get to the backyard.
I have even brought a soiled newspaper for him to sniff.
Today we got home, we went grocery shopping for an hour, then I took him out.
Walked 4 blocks, and back, and then 2 more blocks, we were out about 45 min.
I took him to the backyard where he got distracted by neighbors bbqing, nothing!
Come back inside, PEE. Very frustrating.
I keep telling myself, "he's just a puppy".
Dont get me wrong, I love him to death and would never ever get rid of him, im just venting.
Thanks for reading/listening.

 

[eliboxer]

Well I will say that I would bet he would try harder to hold it for that six hours in a crate, then in a space that has roaming room. Boa is in a crate for 4 - 5 hours at a time, twice per day. (Work, home for lunch, back to work). He has been crated for that length of time since we brought him home at 8 weeks. While there were accidents in the beginning of course, he got used to it in a few weeks, and stopped going in his crate completely pretty quick, well before he stopped having accidents in the house.

You can do 6 hours in the crate. Its not a cruel thing at all, and its way better then finding his roaming area a disgusting mess when you come home.

Hello,
It sounds like our story. We just got our boy (10 weeks now) and we have to crate him (only when we are at work and at night). I was wondering if you can please let me know what you did to make your puppy stop going in his crate? We take him out very often when we are at home, but yet he keeps peeing in his crate every night (and during the day-when we are at work, betwen 8:20 am-12:15 pm). Usually the last walk outside is at 10pm every night, and the first one at 6am every morning. He doesn't drink water before he goes to bed. I don't hear him cry/bark or being awake durnig night, so I don't ever think he needs to go outside. But every morning his bed is wet :( Should I wake him up at 3am or so to see if he needs to go?

Thank you,
Eli

 

[Sansal]

@eliboxer: I would wake him up at least once or twice every night. At ten weeks there is no way he can hold it through the night.
Even the four hours during the day might still be too long for him. A puppy at 10 weeks does not have the capability to hold it for that long.
Unfortunately, if a puppy gets used to peeing in the crate and laying in it's mess it can become a habit and just the normal thing to do. And it will become very hard to break that habit and delay the whole house breaking process. Besides the fact that laying in it's own mess is very unpleasant for the dog.
Crate training is about teaching the puppy bladder control. Therefore a puppy should never be left in a crate for longer than it can hold it. For a 10 week old puppy that might be only 45-60 minutes. (Usually longer during the night when puppy is sleeping). When you take the puppy out after spending an hour or so in the crate the puppy will have to go to the bathroom and now you can take it outside and praise it for relieving itself in the appropriate spot. Success! However, if a puppy is confined to a crate for longer than it can hold it and ends up having to pee in the crate you are not helping the puppy to establish bladder control, you are teaching the puppy that it is okay to pee in the crate. See what I'm getting at?
Is there a way that someone you know could take the puppy out once or twice in the morning while you are gone? At least for now? Once your puppy is a little older 4 hours in the crate should not be a problem anymore.

 

[MrLennon]

Quick question...should my dog, who's 4 months, be peeing outside?
We walk for hours and nothing until we get to the yard or inside on the carpet.
Is it ok to just keep letting him go in the yard? We take almost hour long walks and he'll hold it or just forget cause of whatever else is going on outside.
I know he's very young and adorable but is this behavior ok?