Not Getting the Potty Training!

[Lots]

I can tell you what worked for us. When Sindee was smaller she was always on leash beside me while I was cooking, cleaning, or just sitting on the chair in the living room. If I could not have her attatched to me then she was in her crate. She did not have the freedom to move about the house alone. She caught on to doing her potty outside pretty quick. If your puppy is always with you then you can watch them and know when they need to go outside. Sindee is nine months old now and has not had an accident in the house in about four and half months. (Sindee was on pain meds and I don't think she realized what she was doing until it was too late to stop.) She will even lay by the kitchen door and wait on me if she needs to go out and I am busy. Sindee sort of knocks on the door with her paw and then will look at me, if I tell her to wait I am busy she will lay down on the floor and wait. If she really needs to get outside then she will stand there and paw at the door until I get over there and let her out. Good luck your puppy will get it one day if you work at it long enough. Just be patient.
Tricia

 

[apollosdad]

oh absolutely. boxers are very intelligent and sensitive. they live to please their owners, so when they sense a slight change in your voice that signals disappointment, they very well understand that something isn't right. however, they might not know what exactly caused the disappointment, so that is why it is so crucial to send them the right signals.
since you mentioned that she had recently had diarrhea, that might very well be the reason why her habits had been thrown off a bit.
try using the treats to help her get the idea that going potty outside brings rewards and treats in addition to the petting and praise. sometimes that is not enough to get them on the right track.
try establishing a potty training schedule and abiding by it, in order to get her into a routine.

 

[gwalch]

G'Day All!!
I'm just starting out with Heidi.. who is 9 weeks.. and she is getting the idea pretty well. We probably have 1-2 little accidents a day inside.. and that's only pee. Have not yet had a poo inside.. and she even goes to the back door and rattles it when she wants to go outside for a poo (most of the time).
My query is: when she is outside and does the deed.. when do you praise her.. during or after? Treats or no treats??
Best part of all.. she sleeps 8 hours most nights, at worst she is awake at 0300 for a pee.. then back to bed.
Then when we get up in morning.. we take her outside and away she goes.. gotta be happy with that.

Thanks
Nich and Heidi!!

 

[Checkers]

Since you said you take her out at 7, try taking her out more than once in the morning. Like as soon as you wake up, right after you feed her, then just as you are leaving to go to work. Its likely that she is not completely empty the first time, so a few more breaks shortly after the first should empty her out

 

[boxer]

... but why does she seem to know that she has done something wrong? is she picking up on my mood or something?

Yes, she is picking up on your mood and actions. Nothing more.

I have noticed over the years when housetraining puppies, that if I have to clean up an accident, even though I never yell or hit, they pick up the fact that I'm not happy and slink away. You might be fooled into thinking that they "know" they did something wrong, and specifically what that something is... but you'd be wrong. If the cat throws up and I'm down there cleaning the carpet, I get the exact same reactions from the dogs

Have you thought about either crating her any time you can't be watching her, or else tethering her to you? I think what you need to do now is eliminate any opportunity for her to get things wrong. Another thing you should do is give her more frequent potty stops when she isn't crated. Every hour would be appropriate, and do not let her out of your sight in between those potty stops. The problem here is that unless you catch her in the act, then there is no possible way for you to show her that what she did was wrong. And every time she potties indoors, it reinforces in her mind that that was the appropriate thing to do.

So potty training comes down to three basic things:
1. She must be taken out very frequently, and praised lavishly for doing the right thing. This is how she gets to know that something she did was "good" (might take a while for her to work out exactly what though);
2. If she potties indoors, you need to right there to let her know it was "wrong". Effectively that means never letting her out of your sight when she is uncrated, and taking her out so frequently that she shouldn't ever need to potty indoors.
3. Just an extension of (2) - you have to eliminate the opportunities for her to make mistakes, because every successful indoor potty reinforces the idea that that is appropriate. If you don't catch her in the act, then too bad, it's your fault and all you can do is clean it up.

Lastly - if you know that there are particular times of day when she is more likely to have an accident indoors, then use that knowledge to your advantage. Take her out twice as often during those times. And don't take your eyes off her in the meantime.

Actually, you might find it helpful to make a diary of when she potties. It sounds silly, but it isn't. If you find out, for example, that she always potties 15 minutes after dinner and then again 65 minutes after that, then you can make sure that you take her out at those times

 

[TheBoxerCrew]

Have you tried to tether her? I mean, put her on her leash and somehow attach the other end of the leash to YOU? She then has NO CHOICE but to stay with you, and cannot sneak off and go to the forbidden areas. You will also learn her "signals" that her body gives when she has to go. I know it sounds odd, and I know you won't appreciate the bathroom audience, but in the end, it works.

Boxers are as sneaky as they are clever. Why go outside in the hot/cold/wet/etc when they can go potty inside, right? They will find an area FAR FROM YOU to do this. Barracades don't work long, the determined dog will find a way over/around/through it if they really want to.

I am working with Kelly on this right now. She is still trying to master the whole crate-training thing, but on the days I don't work, I am able to tether her to me and then her 2 pups stay with her or follow my housebroken dogs around. Kelly has about the same control and bladder capacity it seems as my 5mo old coonhound mix......which means they go often - almost hourly when not crated.

I have Kelly's leash on her, then got one of those D clip things at wal-mart in the camping section to attach the handle part to me in some way. She has a 6'lead, which means she is never more than that away from me. It also helps with teaching her some manners and commands, because she is attached when I cook (she sits in front of the cabinet next to the stove, so she is not where she can get anything spilled or splattered on her). About every hour, I take her outside, unclip the leash and let her go do as she wants to. I will probably have to do this another week or so, then will test her without tethering and see how she does. The pups already learned the trick of sitting at the door and giving ONE quick bark like Lillie and Emma do. Mack, well he his unique.....he will use his muzzle to push you from behind towards the door....he is quite persuasive too. But he too is learning I go to the door faster if you bark once. Kelly......well, she just doesn't bark, so I don't see her at the back door for the split second she is there - so she goes to my livingroom floor to get my attention.

When I have the back door open and the dogs have free access, Kelly no longer opts to urinate in my livingroom. She is NOT tethered, and she chooses to go outside to go. My main goal now is to teach her to give me some kind of audible signal so I know she needs out. She obviously had the snot beat out of her for making noise by the idiots who previously kept her at their home. She does not whine, bark, growl or play.

Another option I have not trained with but friends of mine have, is bell training. I am not sure how exactly they do it, but they have a bell of some kind on the doorknob, and the dog is trained to ring/play with it when they want out. I just taught mine to bark once, since that works better for me, especially if my son is playing with certain toys of his (which have bells). The only downfall to this method is that many Boxers are jokers, and will play with the bell and give false alarms, then when they REALLY want out, you are so miffed with them for goofing you ignore it or take your time getting there and it is too late.