Hey everyone, recently I've been having some issues with my husky puppy Maya. I am a first time husky owner and could use all the help I can get. She is almost 5 months old and has been peeing inside...A LOT. while I'm in school she stays with my girlfriend who lives about 2 hours away, so everything is what I'm hearing from her. According to her, Maya will go outside and potty, then immediately come inside and go on the carpet, or will look directly at my girlfriend and pee on the carpet. While I was there she was learning and doing better, but now it seems like it is getting worse. My girlfriend wants Maya out of her house, and with me being in class all day she wants to get rid of her which would kill me. What can we do to help potty train my sweet puppy??

Howdy! Sounds like you are having a real dilemma here. From my own experience, Zhukov had a bladder the size of a thimble. Since he is very non-verbal, I hung bells on the back door handle and rang them every time I took him outside to potty. Not if I was taking him outside to play. Pretty soon, he was ringing the bell every time he needed to go out (which for a while was every 5 minutes).

Huskies are also VERY intelligent but need constant training and need to be aware of their place in the pack. It does sound like she is in a bit of a power struggle with your girlfriend. I did have "regression" issues with Zhukov's training as far as crate training. He was doing great for a while and then I broke the cycle. It was like going back to day one.

Is your girlfriend involved in the training? If so, have her browse these forums. She will see the trials and tribulations involved with having a Husky, but she will also get to see the joys. Good luck!

Thanks for the input! Yes my girlfriend is primarily the one training Maya. She has tried hanging up a bell and the puppy seems to ignore it. I feel like part of the issue could be that she drinks a massive amount of water.
I would happily bring her to where im staying but I stay in a 1000sq ft apartment and am gone all day. i dont have the heart to lock her up 8 hours a day, especially as a puppy.

What kind of schedule is she taking the puppy outside on? Puppies should be taken outside to pee every couple hours (at 5 months old your pup should be able to hold it longer but for training sake stick to the two hour rule for now), after they eat or drink, and after they have played because these are all the times they are most prone to need to pee. She has to be dedicated to this kind of schedule. She also needs to make sure the puppy isn't free roaming her place. The pup should be confined to the room she is in when it isn't being crated so that she can correct the peeing the instant the pup squats. Having a puppy is a time consuming job and you should make sure that she has the dedication to be on top of the puppy pretty much all the time and isn't just getting frustrated that the pup pees when she is too busy doing other things to watch the pup. She should also being cleaning the pee spots with a good enzyme spray to get rid of the smell so that the pup doesn't start thinking that is a place to mark when she is upset.

At 5 months old your pup should be allowed to start going to things like doggy daycare, so if you have to bring the dog to live with you and you can't come home at lunch to let pup out of crate, doggy daycare might be a good option for you if you have one near by. Many here crate their dogs all day while they are at work so these dogs can handle it as long as the exercise needs are being met. Something else you girlfriend needs to be attending to if she isn't already. Boredom or frustration from having too much energy could make your pup pee out of spite if she knows your GF isn't keeping up with her.

Artemis loves peeing and pooping in the house while staring at us. She does it as soon as she comes back inside. She used to go to the door and whine, but she doesn't do that now. It is extremely frustrating, as she is close to a year old and should have it together by now.

Pasha does not let us know when he goes out, but I take him out every hour. If I catch him going in the floor, I scold him and immediately take him outside. It hurts his feelings if you sound stern with him. Our house training has kind of taken a detour, because he's got some stomach troubles. Before that, having a schedule and being stern really was working. Try that perhaps?

Get a rag big enough for your furbaby, put it on the corner or the place inside your house you want your dog to pee and poo. If she pees and poos on the wrong place, wipe it with that same rag then put the rag back to the place where you want your dog to do it, theeenn let your dog sniff that rag for 10 or more seconds. Do that again and again and again every single day, I assure you it works. It worked for me, now my furbaby only pees or poos on that spot where the rag is. AND DONT FORGET! Clean the place where your dog had accidents again and again and again so she never smells it again and mark it as a permanent spot. Spray citrus scent on the accident spot so she never comes back there, dogs hate citrus smell. And remember to be patient, everything takes time and continuous practice.

Doggo, this is the equivalent of using puppy pads - which are great if you *never* want your dog to be house trained.

Let's take a few basic premises:
1) Dogs are the descendants of wild breeds - they live outside.
2) When they're in their den, they rarely mess in their den. The exceptions come in when they're very ill, when they're very young - in which case momma cleans up after them, and when they're forcible restrained - left in their crate for *many* hours, for example.

Assuming that your dog is in good health and assuming that you've exercised a reasonable training protocol as they're growing, most dogs will want to go outside (your house / their den) simply because they see your house as their den - it's home and you don't shit in the house!

On the better side of your comment, once the dog has messed in the house, you're quite right, they'll return to that same spot since it's marked as "okay".

As an aside I recently got a little girl who has never been satisfactorily house trained and I'm playing bloody 7734 getting her to understand that the place to do her business is outside. Obviously the woman who lived in this trailer before me (who was in very ill health) allowed her dogs to mess in the kitchen. There is no tile, it's simply the 'particle board' subflooring. As soon as I finish the steps (when the wind / rain cooperate) and have them painted, I'll paint the kitchen floor and see if that helps cover the history.

I am currently in the puppy stage as well! We have been working really hard potty training and my girl has been doing pretty well and is not having very many accidents! I think one of the major keys to her potty training has been being proactive with her potty time. When I first started potty training, I would try to take her out after she eats, drinks a lot of water, had been playing a lot, immediately after naps, etc. I am trying to trust her more now that she is almost 14 weeks and she has been doing very good. Recognizing when she will most likely need to go has been a huge help. I also have the bells because I thought it would be good to mentally stimulate her in that way. She picked up on it very fast and now will go to the door when she needs to potty. I find that usually when she has an accident it is because I did not recognize that she needed to go out quick enough. Definitely being proactive has been the most helpful thing for me!!!