Hi,

Kaia is 9 weeks old. I live on the 4th floor of an apartment building so you can imagine the margin for error in her having accidents being so young.

First and foremost I am trying NOT to carry her outside because when she gets big this won't be a reality.


I am finding that when we are outside for walks or play she will usually pee no problem outside. When asleep (over night) for 4-5 hrs at a clip when she wakes up I am having a hard time getting her outside with enough time. She usually has an accident on the carpet in the hall way.

I am wondering if I should try potty pads when she wakes up in the morning?... or will this confuse her more and delay her being potty trained? I worry she might try and rip them apart too, which would be a waste.

Also she has pooped on the cement flooring of our parking garage a few times and on the gravel parking lot. Maybe 4 times she has done this. However she has also pooped on the grass no problem but last few times have been the garage/ parking lot. I am assuming that my not correcting her when poops in park garage or pavement is telling her it is ok to do so. I guess the lack of sleep has made me just realize this.

Any and all suggestions for correcting this would be greatly appreciated. I want her to know that pooping anywhere but grass is unacceptable.

(I am thinking until she starts to "get it" I should carry her to the grass areas and wait for her to go... if she really has to go she will right?

Side note: At my parents house she has quick and easy access to grass yard where she has no problem pooping and peeing. She even a few times has pawed or sniffed at the front door before relieving herself once taken out. Obviously house training and potty training a pup in an apartment complex isn't super ideal and has its challenges.

I understand that my letting her poop in the areas i dont want her to without correction is reinforcing what I dont want and she is smart... she is prolly associating why should i walk all the way out there to poop when he is letting me poop here much closer.

This is my first time as a dog owner... so im learning as a go with all your help and support.

THANKS

SCOTT AND KAIA

My only 2 cents are to make sure that you positively reinforce that peeing outside is good, so while on walks when business is done in a suitable place immediately give a treat and praise. Also associating words while she is going to the bathroom, things like potty, outside, or whatever you would like, it sounds silly but they respond really well. Also I have been told that puppys do not gain full control of their bladder until around 6 months so she maybe trying her hardest but can't quite hold yet.

Just keep fighting the good fight and it should correct itself over time

Howdy Scott,

Committing to a puppy comes with all sorts of challenges. One of the first you are going to have to deal with is indeed house breaking. No matter what advice you receive you just need to understand it will take an understanding on your part. There is no overnight fix for any puppy related issue. It's all about being consistent and working through it together.

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First and foremost I am trying NOT to carry her outside because when she gets big this won't be a reality.

I can see were you are coming from on this, But I don't think you would have to worry about that. Your main goal should be getting her to an "acceptable" location to eliminate as fast as possible right now.

It is fine having her walk there herself but if you need to carry her mid stream I would do that as needed. Once her smell is on the area she will start going in that spot over and over again, maybe not right on top, but she should start to associate it with pee time eventually.

Huskies in and of themselves tend to be a stubborn yet proud breed... Just my personal experience talking, but I have yet to meet one that LIKED being picked up once fully grown... And once Kaia develops more she shouldn't need you to carry her at all and I would be surprised if she expected it in the least.

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When asleep (over night) for 4-5 hrs at a clip when she wakes up I am having a hard time getting her outside with enough time. She usually has an accident on the carpet in the hall way.

2 Notes on this.

1) Your pup is 2 months old. Though SOME PUPS CAN hold their urine for a considerable amount of time generally you are looking at a very defined rule. Don't take the bold as me yelling at you I just want to make sure you know this is an important point. A Puppy should only be expected to hold their bladder for one hour per month they are old.

At 2 months I would suggest setting an alarm clock to wake yourself up every 2 hours or so to let her out and then come back in only AFTER she has eliminated. I know it sucks, and many of us have been there... But making them hold it longer then that can in fact lead to other issues like UTIs which will cost you a great deal more then just a couple of hours of sleep a night.

2) Is she allowed free roam at night? If she is walking about at night you might want to think about crate training. A normal healthy pup will not eliminate where they sleep. If Kaia is crated during the night it may help you from finding wet surprises when you wake up.

Crate training, though another thing that is indeed trying at first, can also be very good to practice as young as you can so they get used to it. It can save you a great deal of trouble when they get old enough to teeth, or anytime really you can't be there to supervise them. Many of us on the forums are advocates for crate training and starting as young as you can.

Limiting her water intake before bed will help as well... Have you tried picking up Kaia's water bowl an hour or so before bed? She shouldn't need to drink while sleeping, and if you get her to pee RIGHT before bed, which you should be doing, you can limit the amount of mistakes that happen.

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I am wondering if I should try potty pads when she wakes up in the morning?

To each their own, but I find pee pads do nothing more then allowing the human easier clean up whilst teaching your pup it is okay to eliminate in the house. Though they can learn that they are only to go on the pads, making the switch when you want it to stop can and does lead to the exact same issues you are dealing with right now.

Retraining is just as time consuming if not more so then doing it right the first time, from my point of view.

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Also she has pooped on the cement flooring of our parking garage a few times and on the gravel parking lot. Maybe 4 times she has done this.

I can see how this could be a challenge. I would start to associate a trigger word with her peeing and saying i every time she does it.

Kaia go pee
Kaia do you need to pee?
Good PEE Kaia!

eventually they pick up on the word and can associate it with eliminating. Tika will pee on command if she has to. 90% she will only go on grass, through she has put on her breaks while skating before to drop a load.

We just used our backyard and allowed her to always go on any grass she could, We then refined which grass was acceptable later on. The first step is reinforcing what kind of material is acceptable to go on.

Lastly your not alone. Come to these forums and vent, talk it out with other people. A Puppy is a VERY VERY trying time for even the most experienced of dog owners. It is a very demanding time for both your pup and yourself. Take it slow.

PRAISE AND REWARD when she does stuff right. Give her as much love and attention as you can.

If you CATCH her in the act of doing something wrong be firm and gentle but make sure she knows she isn't to do it and you were disappointed in her. They are quick to catch on and very smart as you have already noticed.

Take it slow, breath, enjoy the cute / fun times and help her through the bad times. The reward you get for just being there and being kind, caring, and gentle is WELL worth the trouble you are going through right now.

Best of luck!!
~Chris~

Chris,

Thanks so much for all of the advice.

I guess I need to take a step back and not have such high expectations of Kaia being only 9 weeks and being with me only a little over a week.

I have been using the word "Kaia Potty" whenever she is on the grass. From your response I guess my mistake would be allowing her to walk the 5 minute trek from my apartment to the eliminating grass area. I am going to switch with letting her walk and when we get to the parking garage pick her up carry her to the grass and let her do her business on the grass. Obviously tons of praise and a treat.

I have begun crate training her since the night I got her home. I did a fair amount of reading/research before getting her and was glad to come across the general rule for her holding her bladder based on months of age. She was exhausted the first night and I set my alarm for 2 hours and she got up went outside and peed. The second night she wailed her head off all night, however I don't think she was tired when we put her in the crate. Since there after she has been getting better and better. I have been getting her into a habit of whenever she falls asleep in my place I will pick her up and place her on the edge of her crate. Sometimes she will walk in and lie down other times I use a treat to entice her to go in. "Knock on Wood" her whining during the day and at night is minimal maybe 1-2 minutes and it isn't nearly as bad as that second night when she screamed her head off. Unexpectedly she even walked in to the crate on her own 2x and fell asleep!

I think she is starting to settle and become more used to her crate. I try my very best to tire her out as much as possible before she goes or before I want her to go in.

I was quite skeptical myself regarding the potty pads and going outside. I am glad my hunch of sticking to taking her outside prevailed. It will be a process and a challenge like you said but a fun one.

For the past 4-5 nights I have been not setting an alarm once she is settled and on average she stays asleep for 3-4 hours. Her rustling after 3- 4 hours wakes me up and I get up go to her crate and she is awake but not whining or crying. I let her out strap on her collar and head outside.

She "knock on wood" again has yet to pee or poop overnight in her crate. obviously Huskies and dogs in general do not want to eliminate where they sleep and keeping her sleep area partitioned is helping I think.

Throughout the day she is never in her crate for more than 3 hours at a time. I make sure she gets let out by me or someone to potty because obviously the dangers of forcing her to hold it are very real.

My question to you is... Am I at risk for making her susceptible to get a UTI by not waking up every 2-3 hrs at night? I figured if she really had to go she would holler to get out or urinate in her crate. I do agree that waking up every 3 hours would make it easier to avoid accidents in the hallway etc, but for me its a catch 22 in regards to sleeping 4-5 hours a night versus 2-3.

So far "knock on wood" she doesn't seem overly in discomfort by my allowing her to sleep and just wake me up when she gets up.


This is my first dog EVER and I am sure there is a learning curve for me and her.

Overall I am very very pleased with her behavior and progress.

Thanks

Scott and Kaia

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From your response I guess my mistake would be allowing her to walk the 5 minute trek from my apartment to the eliminating grass area. I am going to switch with letting her walk and when we get to the parking garage pick her up carry her to the grass and let her do her business on the grass. Obviously tons of praise and a treat.

If she is peeing in the parking garage and that is a big no no, then yes I would try and limit the access she had to doing that. You will see one phrase repeated on the site a lot.

Set your dog up to succeed, not to fail.

Though like you expressed in your original post you don't want to carry Kaia forever due to a number of reasons, doing it for a little while isn't going to hurt anything. Once she starts to grasp the fact she should be going on the grass then you can take a step back and fully let her walk the 5 minutes to the grass itself and correct any mistakes that happen from there.

If it were me however before I started correcting anything I would want a base I could work off of that was solid. I see as her eliminating on the grass as my starting point. Personally. I would focus on getting that down first... even if it meant I had to carry my dog to appropriate location for a little while.

I WOULD HOWEVER force her to walk back through the parking garage instead of being carried. You don't want to associate it with anything negative so allowing her to walk back through it should help solve this and help when you no longer need to carry her to the appropriate location.

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I did a fair amount of reading/research before getting her and was glad to come across the general rule for her holding her bladder based on months of age.

We are always glad to read a post like this, or at least I am. Doing your research is huge and I'm glad you took the time to do it. Reading what you are doing for crate training is spot on. Keep at it!

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I was quite skeptical myself regarding the potty pads and going outside. I am glad my hunch of sticking to taking her outside prevailed. It will be a process and a challenge like you said but a fun one.

Some people have had success with them, personally however I don't enjoy them. You never know when you are going to be over at someone's house and something just looks TOO MUCH like a pee pad for your pup to resist is my thinking.

I would much rather my dogs know not to go while inside a house.


Quoting from two posts on this one.

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My question to you is... Am I at risk for making her susceptible to get a UTI by not waking up every 2-3 hrs at night? I figured if she really had to go she would holler to get out or urinate in her crate. I do agree that waking up every 3 hours would make it easier to avoid accidents in the hallway etc, but for me its a catch 22 in regards to sleeping 4-5 hours a night versus 2-3.

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When asleep (over night) for 4-5 hrs at a clip when she wakes up I am having a hard time getting her outside with enough time. She usually has an accident on the carpet in the hall way.

Can I say for certain if it will cause a UTI? No. Some do, Some don't. In truth it can even happen to us provided we hold it in too long. There is no way to know if Kaia will develop a UTI, but the risk is there.

However I think you answered your own question in your first post. If you are having "A Hard time getting her outside in time" then you are in some way asking her to hold it too long.

Either the amount of time before you take her down in the morning, or the length of time since the last time she got to void.


At this point of time she doesn't know any better then what her instincts are telling her. "I don't pee where I eat or sleep". She doesn't understand if she whines you will let her out because that trust and learning hasn't been established yet. I know she showed signs of it at your parents house in signalling to go out, but she is too young to have that down pat yet.

Everywhere is fair game until you get it under control, and right when you get it under control, she'll regress out of no where and force you to start again .

Puppies are FUN!!! hehe

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but for me its a catch 22 in regards to sleeping 4-5 hours a night versus 2-3.

The hard truth is; Unfortunately that's the price you need to pay right now to house break faster and move onto the next step. limiting the times Kaia CAN pee in the house will only allow her to understand she she always go outside faster.

Like I said at the start.

Set your puppy up to succeed, not to fail.

Sure they learn from their mistakes as much as we do, but they just want to please you and for you to be happy... They don't want you to be disappointed in them at all.

I know losing sleep sucks, and in the end it is your call. No guilt trip here trust me. I can only attest to what I would do, and what I did with Tika at that age. Either way it won't solve your problems over night. Just stay strong and committed (works both ways because if you lose your mind raising a puppy you can still stay committed just in a different facility) and eventually it will sink in

~Chris~

When I first got Kota she was 8 weeks old. She was small enough that I carried her around all the time, partially because she was a scared of stairs, and things high up, but I would also pick her up and carry her from her crate outside. She never pee'd on me, or anything like that, and now she is 45lbs and there is no way I could carry her and she does just fine going outside! I wouldn't worry about carrying her.

Accidents are going to happen, and probably frequently as they did with Kota, but knowing her "habits" makes it easier to know when she will need to go. We got to the point that we knew when she was going to have to go before she knew she had to go, and were already outside and prepared. It took a lot of work and time but it was worth it. If she played with us, she would have to pee about 15 mins later. If she ate/drank, 15-30 mins later she would have to pee. Little things she did EVERYTIME she had to pee was a tip that she needed to go! Eventually we got her some training bell to hang on the outside doors, and everytime we took her out we would ring the bells, or urge her to ring them. She got to the point that she rang them on her own. Now shes 7 months, and just barks and pesters us till we let her out.

Its hard training a puppy to potty outside but I assure you will have no issues. Just dont punish her for her accidents because that may just set her back. Good luck!!!

Just want to point out that the hour for every month old for potty breaks is just a guideline not a hard and fast rule. That said if your 2 month old pup sleeps for 3 hours, instead of 2, and then potty's you shouldn't worry too much about UTI's. While UTI's are more likely if your pup holds it too long, an extra hour while asleep probably isn't going to increase her risk so significantly that you should worry too much (especially if she is doing it on her own).

That said, if she is consistently sleeping for 4 hours and then having trouble making it to the appropriate potty spot, try waking at 3 1/2 hours to give enough time to make it without an accident. Then as she gets it down gradually lengthen the time between potty breaks.

Saphire was sleeping through the night by about three and a half months. It just happened naturally so we didn't fight it. Watch your pups cues (which will become more obvious the longer she is around) and let things happen naturally from there.

I have a similar thread. We kind of have the same issue. Instead of her elminating in the hallway Lexy just does it in her crate. I would hate to jynx my self but after alot of praise and alot of belly rubs seems like Lexy is starting to understand a little. For example for the last 3 days we have been on a set schedule.

Eat at 7pm
Bathroom
Play or be around the family till 11:45 pm
Bathroom
12pm is bedtime
3am bathroom
630 am breakfest
Bathroom
8 am Doggy Day Care

She seems to like that schedule now. Around 6:30 if dont wake up she howls to wake me up and now she is starting to put her paws on her crate or the door to let me know she needs to eliminate. Im not saying she is fully tained but trying to avoid time she can have accidents has help a great deal for me. Trust me when I wake up in the AM and go for that 630 howl I pray there is nothing there or when she is just around the house sniffing I still freak out and put the leash on her and go outside.

Yes we are TRYING to crate train.

Hi lexy and owner,

Kaia is on a very similar schedule. She eats bfast btw 630-7am, lunch at noon or so and dinner around 630pm. For Kaia i have noticed she isn't in dire need to potty right after eating. I let her chew a raw hide for 15 minutes supervised of course, and then we go out to potty.

I am finding she does well responding to a key word or
phrase, i use "Kaia potty"- and it seems to be working (knock on wood).

I am also working on crate training with her. I have found that she has no issue (so far) being in her crate and sleeping when she is very tired b4 hand. I try my best to tire her out before the crate time. I've noticed a few times where she isn't tired and still has energy if she is in the crate I can't get her to calm down and she let's me know with her words that she is not tired. For me it's a no brainier I make sure is sleepy and tired before coaxing her into her crate.

Altho it is not always ideal with many of our schedules, I try and plan accordingly for now to allot enough time for her to be wiped out before having her in the crate when I need her to be.

For me it's made associating her with her crate much much easier!!!!

I am a first time dog owner so I by no means have anything near figured out but it works for Kaia.

Best of luck and enjoy. They will be big before we know it

Scott

Ps Chris who responded to this post also offered me a great piece of advice to keep in back of your mind- "set your dog up to succeed!"