- This topic has 6 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
So we adopted a 7 month old pit bull puppy from a shelter. We have had her for about 1 1/2 months. We have been working very hard at potty training her and she does a very good job overall, but lately she has been having accidents in the house. We take her out every 2 hours and make sure she goes out an hour after she eats. Occasionally now she has accidents in between that time. I was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions of how we can teach her to let us know she has to go out. We tried using the bells on the door and she just didn’t catch on…or didn’t care to. I don’t think she liked to go that far away from us when we first got her, so going to the door by herself wasn’t an option. We can’t contain her in the house because she jumps over the baby gate we got her. Any other ideas. I do know that with her age and being in a shelter and never potty trained it can take time and much patience, but any ideas would be helpful.
An obvious suggestion would be to take her out every hour instead of two hours.. I have an 8 week old right now and a fully carpeted apartment so I’m dealing with the same thing. Do you crate train her when you are not home? This helps in potty training also, the second the dog comes out of the crate its right outside. Another thing is walking the dog to the door(I’m not sure if you have ever carried her outside to avoid accidents but shes also older than my pup so you probably can’t carry her but making sure she knows that walking out of the door gets her outside and how to get to the door helps a lot. I have my back door right next to my couch so its not hard to miss when my little girl heads over there. Honestly I think the best way is to crate train her and take her out every hour and plan accordingly to when she drinks/eats because in some cases she may need to go more than usual. Also praising every time she goes potty outside encourages the good behavior. Hope this helps and good luck!
Yes, she is crate trained. When we first got her she would go in the kennel, but we made it so that we could section off her kennel as she grows, so now it isn’t too big for her. After we did that she only had 1 accident in there and had to sit in it for an hour because we were gone, she learned not to go in there anymore. She does know where the door is because if I say go outside she will walk to the door with some encouragement, and yes we give her lots of praise for going outside. I can still pick her up, but make her walk to the door since I won’t be able to pick her up forever. I don’t know what size everyone elses dogs were at 8 months, but I am guessing our Libby is on the smaller side, she is just hit 30 pounds. Thanks for the input, we will just keep an eye on her and work with her and she will get it.
Our bobo is a year and 4 months and is just now hitting the 50lb mark, we had to carry him down the stairs until he was t least 10 months old, we had very steep stairs and he was just too awkward being able to go down them. Shes a pup so all you can really do is keep up what your doing, shes going to learn if your keeping up with her training.Good Luck
Take your puppy out as much as you can and make sure that you utilize the SAME door every time you go out, so the puppy will know which door to go to. Many dogs do not show signs of when they have to go out. I have a 2-3 year old, and she doesn’t really show a lot of signs. She will stop playing and kind of wander around. If we are sitting down, she will come up to us and just stare at us, typically tilting her head. Then we ask if she has to go potty, and then she trots over to the door. Some dogs just aren’t obvious. But since you have a puppy, you can train her. Right now, the important part is getting her used to pottying outisde and not inside.
One way that can be successful is to tether her to you. Use a short leash, and attach it to your belt buckles, or around your waist. Or, have a leash on your wrist. This way, she is always with you, and you can begin to learn her potty signs (circling, tail up, beginning to squat, etc.). Most of the time, housetraining is an owner issue and NOT the dog (unless the dog is ill). When she shows a sign that concerns you, scoop her up and take her outside to her designated potty spot. Say “go potty” as she is wandering around outside to potty. When she goes potty, make sure you parise her and treat her RIGHT OUTSIDE! Heck, even say “good potty!!!”. Don’t wait until you get inside to praise and treat, you have to do it when the act occurs.
By giving your puppy a potty party, it clicks in her brain that “hmmm…I go potty outside, and I get a party”. Eventually, she will figure out that going outside means treats. To this day, when my dog goes potty, I cheer and praise her. I always say “good pee” or “good poopie”. In fact, when she is pottying, she is always looking right at me, as if waiting for me to throw her a party. And gosh darn it, a potty party she gets. We have never had a mistake in the house.
You want to set your dog up to be successful in what she does. Positive reinforcement for the good things and ignoring the bad things are what will work. Punishment doesn’t work.
When you are taking her outside to potty, start saying “go potty” so that she associates with going out to door to mean “go potty”, and also say it as she is going. You will be happy when you can just ask her “Do you need to go potty”, and she will go to the door.
One thing to keep in mind to is that puppies, females especially, are prone to bladder infections and urinary tract infections, which will cause them to pee more and in inappropriate places. If the peeing is inside and frequent, please go to the vet and have a urine screen done.
I have a problem with my 3 year old Pit not wanting to go potty. She was a rescue and was horrilby abused. She was an outside dog when we got her but because of all the social issues she had I wanted to keep her inside. She loves to go in a crate but she will go potty in it and then barks and whines until someone lets her out. She also gets scared of random things for no reason and will refuse to go outside and at 94 pounds if she doesn’t want to go…I can’t make her haha! We have had a lot of strong wind lately and she has hung her butt out the door and peed on the porch but will not go out. I have tried everything from treats the minute she potties to catching her going in the house and scolding her and taking her straight out. We have had her about a year and a half and our other dog was completely house broken before we got her but now that one will have poo accidents in the house. I don’t know what to do and with her being 3 years old I’m afraid she won’t ever house break. Please help!
Hi Kayla’s Mom
You have given me lots of good advice so far about my little Ruby (and I have my older lady Kenzi) Ruby is still being a crazy puppy trying to engage Kenzi to play and thats been a full time job keeping them at a low roar, however I have been trying to potty train her, which has been a strange thing bc she literally holds her stuff in until i come back in the house & go the second we get in…she has started to pee outside, but not regularly, i have her in a crate when i go out (also to keep the 2 dogs seperate) and when i come in I take her out, along w kenzi, and praise kenzi when she goes hoping Ruby will catch on & shes not that interested…if i stay out with her for abt 45 mins shell finally pee, but not poop…the worst part is that i can see her holding it which is so sad 🙁 i tell her to “go peepee” and she looks at me and I tell her that again then she’ll start sniffing like shes gonna go then shell painfully hold it…when she finally goes (IF she goes) I praise her TONS but then we’ll go upstairs and shell poop….
I know she wants to be a good girl, but what can i do?? ive sprayed that puppy attractant that i spray on her weewee pads and that doesnt do it…i run her down 3 flights of stairs when i see her sniff, and she holds it so that isnt working…
any ideas?
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
