Folks:

I am the proud new owner of a husky pup. Pup is female, 10wks old, born on 10/15 and arrived at my house Xmas day. Was purchased from a breeder next state over and is triple papered (AKC/CKC/AP??). I have done a lot of research and homework on how to train my little girl. I have LOTS of questions but I will try to keep it just to two or three for now. I really appreciate any and all help anyone can provide so thanks so much in advance and happy holidays!

1. She urinates in the house -constantly-. It is literally almost every 15 minutes, sometimes even closer together. It's to the point where I have to follow her around every second just in case she go's and try to clap/say NO to interrupt her, pick her up and take her straight to her potty spot.

She is also going poop in the house as well. I believe I have been following a good routine based on everything I've read yet she still does not go outside very often (it has happened a couple of times for which I've praised and given her treats).

* I take her out first thing in the am, before bed in pm, after naps, and after meals.
* I give treats and praise right as she is going if it does happen outside.
* I never raise my voice or do anything negative or rub her nose in it when she has an accident (probably 6-7 times a day so far).
* I take her on two 1 mile walks per day.
* I have tried the scent cloth thing.
* I crate at night and for naps in a large crate with a divider to try and discourage her from going where she sleeps (yet she has done it anyway)

So between rushing her out on every accident, the walks, the potty trips, the following her around the house, and the cleanup, I can't get anything else done. I absolutely know that having a pup requires a lot of time but I do have a job and a family so at some point (like when I go back to work after xmas) I have no idea what will happen.

- I realize it has only been two days, but does anyone have ANY ideas/advice/suggestions?
- Is this normal?
- Am I doing something wrong?
- Might she have bladder issues (I've read she should be able to hold it her age in months plus 1 - so at least 2 hours - we're talking not even 10 minutes sometimes between one accident and the next).

I have absolutely no problem investing time to walk her, take her potty, etc and since I work at home it's not a huge deal. But I can't have her monopolizing my job and risking my work. I can't imagine others do either since there are plenty of successfull husky owners in the world.

2. Just this evening I was outside at her potty spot trying to get her to go by throwing some balls to her. She got pretty excited and started doing the whole "head shaking thing they do to rip apart prey" (not sure what that's called) with it pretty fiercely. I said No several times firmly. I then decided what a good leader would do (as I would with my kids) is just remove her from the situation to a timeout. When I went to pick her up in the middle of her tizzy she definitely did more then nip at me and was growling and yipping at me kinda like a wolf (I get it, they are descendants). She didn't break the skin but she came close. I have 6 kids and I can't tolerate this kind of behavior for the safety of my children.

- Was this normal for a young untrained husky pup?
- What could/should I have done differently?

Frustrated and concerned, and appreciating ANY advice/help,
Scott

Biggest mistake I made with my puppy is I didnt crate train him in the living area. Take your crate to the living area and take her out of the crate to your potty area as frequently as needed.
In the early days my pup would pee everytime he drank, so we were outside very often.

Do not distract your pup from your toilet mission. Do not play with her. Tell her 'go potty' or whatever you like to say, and be stubborn and dont do anything else til she does what you want - could be best if she is leashed for this...
You may stand there or half an hour. But if you want a dog that is house trained you DO have to make the time in the first few weeks.

'Yelp' very loudly whenever she bites you, and cease interaction immediately. This will teach her not to bite.

As for peeing every 10 minutes, If she has had a drink just before hand this is normal. Is it very hot where you are? this will mean she will drink more frequently. Basically, 'in it goes, out it comes'.. if she isn't drinking that frequently, I would take her to the vet. She may have a urinary tract infection, or something else may be going on. Seems to me she is a little to old for this to be normal.

Oh and not sure what the distance of a mile is, we use KM where I am, but you shouldnt walk your puppy for longer then 15 minutes at her age.

How much water does she drink? If she is drinking a lot all the time, that might be the reason she is urinating so often. I suggest using those enzyme cleaners on all the spots where she goes potty inside the house. If she smells the previous urine/poop, it can make her more inclined to go potty in the same spot again. Crating is always a good thing, especially with housebreaking.

As far as walking, you are definitely walking her too much. She is too young to be walking 1 mile a day, especially if it's on concrete.

Carissa is also right about the potty training. When you take her out to go potty, give her a command such as "go potty" or anything that works for you. Don't make it play time. Keep praising her every time she does go outside.

As far as the 'head shaking,' that is pretty normal for any dog, not just huskies. It's something a lot of them do when they get excited, especially with toys. Although, you obviously don't ever want her doing that with people.

She might be teething which can explain the biting and nipping. You have to teach her boundaries and show her that it's not okay to play with human hands like that. A lot of people yelp something like "ow!" or say no, and give them a toy that is ok to chew on instead.

All of this is normal puppy behavior in my opinion. You just have to stay patient and consistent and you should be ok.

Hi. I am going to try to answer your questions since my pup is just  like 6 weeks ahead of yours haha
Regarding potty training, it is totally normal that the first days she will go everywhere ALL the time. I know it is frustrating but believe me, it will pass and you are not doing anything wrong, in fact it seems you are doing great. Just give the pup some time to adjust to her new home. I spent the first week with the mop and an enzyme cleaner glued to my hand. And when she pees like 3 times in 20 minutes? Just take a deep breath   
The growling and biting thing... You should put it to an end now. It is normal and ok for them to be very mouthy and all (Read some of the posts on biting) but what you are describing should not be allowed, because if she gets away with it she may start doing it any time you bother her (Take away a toy, invade her space while feeding, etc). When my pup did it to me I just growled back and showed my teeth while calmly looking him in the eye. It may sound silly but it was advised by a very experienced breeder and it worked! One time and he has never done it again to me. In fact I think they understand growling so much better than No.
Good luck and if you have any more questions just ask!
I am not a fan of the thumb rule (5 mins of walk per month of age), since I find it to be way too short (I discussed it with the breeder and two vets and they agreed). Just walk letting her sniff and stop sometimes and look for any signs that she is tired (If this happens you went too far, reduce the distance next time). Basically go at her rhythm and I think she will be okay as long as you don't walk her for hours straight.

The two hour guideline is how long she can hold it when she has the idea... when they're new to housebreaking, they will go whenever. When they kinda have to go. When they're bored. When they're excited. So it sounds like she's not going out enough.The best thing we did is embrace the every hour, on the hour rule.

I won't lie, it sucks, but its the best and fastest way to a housebroken dog.

For just a few days, carry around a timer or alarm. Every 60 minutes, take her out, and stay there until she goes. Once she does, play for 5 minutes, come back in, and start the clock again. Take her out extra after she eats, drinks, or naps.

You luck out at night... you can go two hours!

I know it sounds like overkill, crazy, and exhausting, but my family (we train service dogs) has 100% trained housebroken over 60 dogs in this way in a week. After one week of this insanity, they were all reliably housebroken, even learning to ring a bell when they needed to go out.

After 2 or 3 days, shell get the idea, and will go to the door. Then you can start adding 15 minutes to the time... but if you mess up and she has an accident, go back to the hourly.

Good luck!

histi wrote:

Biggest mistake I made with my puppy is I didnt crate train him in the living area. Take your crate to the living area and take her out of the crate to your potty area as frequently as needed.
In the early days my pup would pee everytime he drank, so we were outside very often.

Do not distract your pup from your toilet mission. Do not play with her. Tell her 'go potty' or whatever you like to say, and be stubborn and dont do anything else til she does what you want - could be best if she is leashed for this...
You may stand there or half an hour. But if you want a dog that is house trained you DO have to make the time in the first few weeks.

'Yelp' very loudly whenever she bites you, and cease interaction immediately. This will teach her not to bite.

Crate in living area - check.
I did stand for 45 min tonight with her waiting. Nothing happened and had other things to get to.
Thanks for the advice on the biting!!

histi wrote:

As for peeing every 10 minutes, If she has had a drink just before hand this is normal. Is it very hot where you are? this will mean she will drink more frequently. Basically, 'in it goes, out it comes'.. if she isn't drinking that frequently, I would take her to the vet. She may have a urinary tract infection, or something else may be going on. Seems to me she is a little to old for this to be normal.

She is drinking quite fine I would say. She drinks several times a day and a lot of it.

histi wrote:

Oh and not sure what the distance of a mile is, we use KM where I am, but you shouldnt walk your puppy for longer then 15 minutes at her age.

1mi = about 1.7K My walks her this am was like 45 minutes. Then my wife walked her and my daughter later.

Thanks so much for your reply!!!!

Rocio_Caballero wrote:

How much water does she drink? If she is drinking a lot all the time, that might be the reason she is urinating so often. I suggest using those enzyme cleaners on all the spots where she goes potty inside the house. If she smells the previous urine/poop, it can make her more inclined to go potty in the same spot again. Crating is always a good thing, especially with housebreaking.

As far as walking, you are definitely walking her too much. She is too young to be walking 1 mile a day, especially if it's on concrete.

Carissa is also right about the potty training. When you take her out to go potty, give her a command such as "go potty" or anything that works for you. Don't make it play time. Keep praising her every time she does go outside.

As far as the 'head shaking,' that is pretty normal for any dog, not just huskies. It's something a lot of them do when they get excited, especially with toys. Although, you obviously don't ever want her doing that with people.

She might be teething which can explain the biting and nipping. You have to teach her boundaries and show her that it's not okay to play with human hands like that. A lot of people yelp something like "ow!" or say no, and give them a toy that is ok to chew on instead.

All of this is normal puppy behavior in my opinion. You just have to stay patient and consistent and you should be ok.

Enzyme cleaners - check, have been using Nature's Magic
I will try to cut back on her walking.
I have been using "Nala, go potty" and if she goes giving the treat praise and saying "Good potty"
Thanks also for your reply!!!

Javier77 wrote:

Hi. I am going to try to answer your questions since my pup is just  like 6 weeks ahead of yours haha
Regarding potty training, it is totally normal that the first days she will go everywhere ALL the time. I know it is frustrating but believe me, it will pass and you are not doing anything wrong, in fact it seems you are doing great. Just give the pup some time to adjust to her new home. I spent the first week with the mop and an enzyme cleaner glued to my hand. And when she pees like 3 times in 20 minutes? Just take a deep breath   
The growling and biting thing... You should put it to an end now. It is normal and ok for them to be very mouthy and all (Read some of the posts on biting) but what you are describing should not be allowed, because if she gets away with it she may start doing it any time you bother her (Take away a toy, invade her space while feeding, etc). When my pup did it to me I just growled back and showed my teeth while calmly looking him in the eye. It may sound silly but it was advised by a very experienced breeder and it worked! One time and he has never done it again to me. In fact I think they understand growling so much better than No.
Good luck and if you have any more questions just ask!
I am not a fan of the thumb rule (5 mins of walk per month of age), since I find it to be way too short (I discussed it with the breeder and two vets and they agreed). Just walk letting her sniff and stop sometimes and look for any signs that she is tired (If this happens you went too far, reduce the distance next time). Basically go at her rhythm and I think she will be okay as long as you don't walk her for hours straight.

I do think that she was pretty tired today. I tried to take her just down to the stop sign (about 500 ft away from the house) this pm before bed and she literally refused to move. She just sat down. Actually she turned back towards the house and sat down. So I tried the other direction and she did the same thing. She wanted in. Think she had had it. Thanks so much for your advice and good luck with your puppy!!!!

AnyaLuv wrote:

The two hour guideline is how long she can hold it when she has the idea... when they're new to housebreaking, they will go whenever. When they kinda have to go. When they're bored. When they're excited. So it sounds like she's not going out enough.The best thing we did is embrace the every hour, on the hour rule.

I won't lie, it sucks, but its the best and fastest way to a housebroken dog.

For just a few days, carry around a timer or alarm. Every 60 minutes, take her out, and stay there until she goes. Once she does, play for 5 minutes, come back in, and start the clock again. Take her out extra after she eats, drinks, or naps.

You luck out at night... you can go two hours!

I know it sounds like overkill, crazy, and exhausting, but my family (we train service dogs) has 100% trained housebroken over 60 dogs in this way in a week. After one week of this insanity, they were all reliably housebroken, even learning to ring a bell when they needed to go out.

After 2 or 3 days, shell get the idea, and will go to the door. Then you can start adding 15 minutes to the time... but if you mess up and she has an accident, go back to the hourly.

Good luck!

Thanks for your response - so I did the clock setting thing today. But she peed in the house in between my intervals so that kind messed things up!! How long would you say I should wait outside for her to pee in her "potty area" when I take her out a) as part of a scheduled potty time and b) if she's had an accident and I take her out (fyi she has never gone AFTER she had an accident and I took her outside)?

We stay out until they go. That's sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes an hour haha.

You may need to get a smaller crate, and in between potty breaks, just keep her in the crate until she gets the idea.

Hi Welcome to the forums! I didn't read through the entire threads comments, some of your questions may already have been answered pretty well, knowing that everyone here is awesome :)But I would like to give some thoughts and suggestions for you that may help. I will answer in order of appearance of your statements above.

If she is urinating every 15 minutes give or take, there is two things that pop in my mind. Firstly, too much water. Water should only be given as needed- With meals, or after play. Be aware of how much you give, they have tiny stomachs when they are little :)If you notice panting, that is a good time as well. Water should never be freely given, i.e don't ever constantly fill it if you see it empty. Huskies have an, "I am going to eat and drink it all!!! I don't care if I am going to pop!" mentality. The second thing that comes to mind, if you slow down on the water intake, and your pup is still peeing every 15 minutes, go to the vet to check for UTI.

The defecating as well in the house as urinating tells me that the breeder has not been working with her on at least paper training or did not take her outside to start the training. It really isn't that big of a deal, it just means more training for you!

I realize you work what not, but there is something that you absolutely have to do before you go back. Put your pup in the crate, and enzyme clean all the potty spots. What I did at potty training time... this is a little time consuming when you have a lot of them to do. Go around the areas that you know it happened at, if you don't remember all of them, here is the fun part! Sniff around for all of them and put post-it notes down to mark suspicious territory. Also, mark the ones that you do remember, just so you don't forget. (Obviously this is just my way, I found it to make it easier.)  Okay what I do to each individual potty spot, I pour a little bit of vinegar on it, and spray <--- That stuff on it. Then I use a carpet steam cleaner if you are dealing with carpets. If you are dealing with hard floors then the stuff I just showed you a picture of, that company makes a hard surface enzymatic cleaner as well. You don't really as much need to spot clean, but just do the whole dang floor if it is hard surface lol...Then just mop the floor like normal after. The enzyme cleaner needs to set for like 10-15 minutes to break down all the urine for both of the products.

The reason why you should do all this, is because you need a reset button. You must spot clean each one after it happens, so it doesn't get out of hand again. They also make sprays that you can create a potty spot to encourage her to go in a specific spot outside. And I realize after you are done with all of this your pup may have urinated or #2ed in the crate, this is alright considering what you just did was reset everything. So if needed give her a bath if she got herself messy.

The next suggestion that I have, and I cannot stress this enough. Keep her on a leash at all times unless if in crate, even outside. If you are tethered to your pup, you will see that you can start to tell her signs that she needs to go. Also she will feel that she doesn't want to go in front of you as much as when she could freely roam and do business.
I wonder if you have a 3rd and 4th hand or if you are training by yourself? The reason why I ask, you do not want your puppy to see you cleaning up after her. She will get the idea in her head that, "Oh?! That human is just going to clean it up! So... it is okay now right?" Huskies are very smart, and can put things together like that. It is like having a toddler lol. So here is a line of order, in example of what would have happened at my house if Okami peed or pooped on the floor.
#1 Okami Peed.
#2 I stomp on the floor and not yell, but firmly say "NO! We go outside!"
#3 Take her outside and let her finish her business.
#4 Come back in and hand her off to my fiance and they go play out of sight from the area that I have to enzyme clean... Or sometimes the roles would be reversed and he would enzyme clean it while I was outside with her.

If you don't have a set of extra hands around though, one thing that I have found useful for when I am by myself, I have two crates. One in my bedroom upstairs and one downstairs in the living room, after you come in, you could just put her in a different crate so you can take care of the mess.

I know it sounds like a lot, but I promise it is all worth it when you get potty training done. Here is a note: Your pup is not potty trained until you have gone a consecutive month with no accidents. I think with the method I gave you above, Okami was potty trained in as little as 2 months. Oh and yes, way to go on all the treats if she goes outside! You really have to act like a crazy person that just won the lottery. I used to jump up and down celebrating...

I would really cut the distance of your walks down to more like 10 minute walks at the most. Maybe walk up and down the street once or twice... Their joints are really fragile for a long time. Here is another note, no running until 11-12 months old. You can severely give her some long term health issues if you do it before she is ready.

Play time and potty time should be separate. That would be another suggestion. If you are taking her out to potty then no play time till she goes. If you distract her from going potty you undermine yourself.

The head shaking thing is completely normal with pretty much every dog. Mine still does it, I think it is cute. Okami would never hurt me, she is way too loving for any of that nonsense... but dogs just need to kill something sometimes, if she is taking it out on a toy, then that is perfectly okay and natural... now if it was a person, cat ect, then I would suggest you seek a trainer immediately.

Husky puppies are usually teething when you first get them, that is why it is suggested to have a million x a million toys of several different kinds of textures. They will nip at you sometimes that is a completely normal reaction to a lot of things at this age, they are extremely oral fixated. In the wild, if a wolf would come up and bite another wolf, the bitten wolf will cry with a high pitched yelp. So I suggest that every time your pup puts her mouth on you anywhere, yelp with a high pitched, "Ouch." I got the mouthy-ness to stop in a couple of days doing that.

Hope all of this is helpful. Good luck.... Would love to see some pictures!

Standing outside for 45min is not going to make her go. And this may not work if she doesn't mind going in her crate but with both my girls, if they didn't go after 15min, back in the crate they went. Wait five minutes or so, take her out again. This worked well with my lab puppy who had diarrhea issues after we got her. And definitely tether her to you when she's out of her crate. With our lab, the biggest issue was catching when she had to potty during play, otherwise she'd just squat, go, and then go back to playing.

Thank you ALL for your answers!!! I really appreciate your time and expertise. I want to respond to some things that @lillith87 said above but we have a pressing issue that I would really appreciate input on...

So the biggest issue right now is that tomorrow starts back the work week and though I will be home she can't have my every minute. I have gotten input from a bunch of folks and I would really appreciate the advice of you all. Basically I see a couple of options.

1. Should I keep her in her crate at all times between potty breaks until she learns? (this seems somewhat cruel but it has been suggested)
2. Several people have suggested to me to keep her on leash at all times until she is potty trained and have that leash under a chair leg or something while I am working - that way I can see when she starts to get restless or starts sniffing or some sign of having to go and take her right out
3. Another option is to get some sort of doggie gates that can act as a sort of "kennel"/"pen" and have her in there until she is potty trained.
4. Just let her have the run of the first floor (which is what we have been doing thus far) and deal with the zillions of places she will have an accident.

What do you think??

@lillith87 A couple of things...

1. Thanks for your advice on the frequent urination. I DID in fact have the water constantly available to her and she was indeed drinking a lot. I've stopped that per your recommendation and will only give her water with meals or if I see her panting a lot.

2. Re: the "reset button" - I totally understand this and it seems super reasonable but I will admit that is a giant effort and I'm not sure I have the patience or will to do that. Would you settle for just getting the carpets professionally cleaned and maybe washing my hardwoods? :-)

3. Re: the leash, see above re: what to do with her until potty trained - I'm guessing your vote is the leash thing.

4. I have 6 kids and a wife so there are plenty of hands. We have been working very hard to not let her see us cleaning up. I had read that somewhere as well (btw, congrats on the marriage or engagement).

5. Cut walks down to make 20 min now.

6. No playing in our potty spot - check.

7. The head shaking - check, I wasn't real worried about it although it did remind me of documentaries I've seen of wolves and lions tearing their prey apart which -is- slightly scary. I hope that doesn't become my cat someday. :-)

THANKS again for your input... really really appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to help others. It means a lot.

dewittsc wrote:

@lillith87 A couple of things...

1. Thanks for your advice on the frequent urination.  I DID in fact have the water constantly available to her and she was indeed drinking a lot.  I've stopped that per your recommendation and will only give her water with meals or if I see her panting a lot.

2. Re: the "reset button" - I totally understand this and it seems super reasonable but I will admit that is a giant effort and I'm not sure I have the patience or will to do that.  Would you settle for just getting the carpets professionally cleaned and maybe washing my hardwoods? :-)

3. Re: the leash, see above re: what to do with her until potty trained - I'm guessing your vote is the leash thing.

4. I have 6 kids and a wife so there are plenty of hands.  We have been working very hard to not let her see us cleaning up.  I had read that somewhere as well (btw, congrats on the marriage or engagement).

5. Cut walks down to make 20 min now.

6. No playing in our potty spot - check.

7. The head shaking - check, I wasn't real worried about it although it did remind me of documentaries I've seen of wolves and lions tearing their prey apart which -is- slightly scary.  I hope that doesn't become my cat someday. :-)

THANKS again for your input... really really appreciate it.  Thanks for taking the time to help others.  It means a lot.

Lol yeah professionally cleaned would do it! lol I guess I am too used to being a penny pincher and come up with creative ways to DIY.

I am glad to see the water is not at a constant availability. You will notice a difference almost immediately.

I actually am a big fan of keeping pups on a leash until potty training is complete, but I understand that your pup can't have your constant attention... I also have a room barricaded with baby gates, she is still a year old and I keep them up when she is out of the crate, because I have a cat and I need to keep all the animals happy and safe. Baby gates prevent the sneaking off to do business. But considering they wouldn't be tethered to you, you may see a few more accidents than if tethered, but fewer than not barricading.

I would enlist your older kids (assuming there is a couple-ish) with a few responsibilities with the puppy for sure. Smaller kids (I would say till about 10) should not really take too much responsibility with a husky in my opinion, but that is purely my own. I mean I let my 4 year old play with Okami, but I would never let her take her outside or walk her, but she can come with me! It is recommended that all family members share an equal part in relationship building with a husky. They are a very pack oriented creature, and should feel like they are apart of the family. Maybe make a schedule with outside times and have everyone take turns so you don't have to do it every time?