Potty Training

[Daisy&Dixie]

We just bought a couple of 8 week old female Boxer puppies. I have never potty trained a puppy before, so I am not sure what is the best route to go. I feel like all I do is walk around cleaning up accidents. We give them praise & treats when they potty outside, but that's not getting anywhere with them. It seems like they "hold it" for the front room carpet. I know they're young, so I guess my question is, how long will I be cleaning up accidents before they start to catch on. I work in a school cafeteria, so I'm only gone 4 1/2 hours a day during the school year.

 

[Boxer_21]

When housebreaking my boys I would take them outside every 15-20 minutes while they were awake and expoloring. I also brought them out right after they ate and right after they woke up from their naps. I would bring them outside and tell them to go 'potty'. Once they started to 'go', I would praise them. I never waited until when they were finished to praise them because I wanted to praise them at the moment they started to do what I had asked. It took some time, but they caught on and now both of them will go on my command.

Some signs to look for while they're roaming your house would be sniffing the floor (like they were on a mission) and walking in circles. I found that both of my boys did one of these two things as they were picking a spot. Watching their body language helped me to see what they were up to before they went.

Another thing you may want to try is to block off some of the rooms of your house until they're housebroken. This will help you to monitor them closer and help to prevent some accidents. You might also want to start crate training them for when you can't supervise them. The crate should be big enough for them to stand up and turn around comfortably. Any bigger and they'll most likely start using it as a toilet.

The topic of house breaking comes up a lot. You can do a forum search to find some of the older threads.

Good luck!!
- Mandy

 

[tcarlisle]

It seems they are already potty trained -- trained to potty on the carpet :(

I advocate a housebreaking method that involves scheduled feeding & watering, scheduled outside walks, 100% supervision, and crate confinement when 100% supervision is not possible.

You need to create the circumstances where the dogs go outside, and never has the opportunity to go inside. If they are fed endless food & water supplies, they will need to go at random times. This makes it more difficult to manage the situation. Feed and water at specific times, and then take them out immediately afterwards. The chances are very good that they will go within 15 minutes after being fed & watered.

Feeding 3 times a day is probably sufficient as they are pups.

Since these are young pups, they need bathroom breaks in addition to after feeding times. 8 week pups need to go out every 2 hours.

Once they are on scheduled feeding/watering and bathroom breaks, that maximizes the chance of success (going outside, according to schedule). In addition, you can minimize the chances of failure by providing 100% supervision or confining them to a crate when you cannot supervise.

When supervising, you catch them getting ready to go and you simply say "Outside!" and you take them outside. If you are intercepting accidents between scheduled bathroom breaks a lot, then you are probably overfeeding/watering or don't have enough bathroom breaks in yoru schedule.

If you cannot supervise, they are confined to a crate just large enough for them to lay down, stand up, turn & around. They have to be acclimated to the crate, and of course they can't be left in the crate longer than they can physically hold it (2hrs max at 8 weeks).

Under this method, if accidents still happen guess who is at fault? Yep -- the trainer

In addition to developing a housebreaking plan/routine, you also need to untrain the already learned behavior of going in the house. The plan described above will do that, but I also recommend that the spots they have used in the house be cleaned thoroughly with water & vinegar to completely remove the odor. If their scent is still there, they will continue to go in those spots.

 

[Daisy&Dixie]

Thanks for the advice. Today we are taking trips outside every half hour or so, and immediately after napping. We ran our errands while they napped in the crate so we could be here when they're awake. So far so good, only one accident. I hope everyday is as easy as today has been. I might have them potty trained by the time school starts back up in 3 weeks.