Oh geez, I let my pup down at the vet too, definitely not doing that now. You would think they keep it sanitized in there
Glad he's okay though!

mssuchy wrote:

Oh geez, I let my pup down at the vet too, definitely not doing that now. You would think they keep it sanitized in there
Glad he's okay though!

Well thats my theory. It could've been when I took him to the park for a little walk the day before? But anyways what matters is that he is doing great now

Hello guys. I'm currently crate/potty training my now nine week old pup. I take her outside after about an hour in the crate. She uses the potty outside, and I make sure to stay outside at least 30 minutes with her letting her play and praising her for eliminating in the "right place". Evening giving her a treat too. Yet she comes in and I let her off the leash, and she eliminates on my rug or carpet. Any ideas. It's been a long time since I've had to train a dog to this, but even then I didn't have this problem. So I'm reaching out to the community for help before I become too frustrated.

Try cleaning the carpet and rug very thoroughly with proper cleaning agents, and then reduce the amount of off leash free time for your puppy AND the level of excitement given to your puppy indoors.

That will work, every time.

It's also advantageous to teach the pup that *this* is potty time and this is play time ... they shouldn't be the same time.

Thanks again guys. I will try your suggestions asap. I'm using nature's miracle pet stain & odor remover to clean up her messes. Also to note, I've tried using the training pads but with not much luck.

Training pads train a dog to pee and poo in the house. That is the opposite of what you want.

David, you offer two good possibilities for why your pup caught parvo. I'd be inclined to think that your first thoughts were probably the right one. While people do bring their healthy dogs to the vet for checkups and shots, it's a better bet, I'd think, that most of the dogs who are in the vets waiting area are there because the owner suspects something wrong.

My vet in Houston had a sign on the wall reminding people that the floor was not a safe place for unvaccinated puppies. (Actually the sign suggested that if you could hold your pet, please do since not everyone in the waiting area was going to be friendly as well.)

Sorry that your pup caught parvo, very glad that you had the sense to get him in before it became bad! Glad to hear that he's on the mend!

Jeff, yup, I agree with that - why do people think they can transfer the puppy pad training to outside? Seems to me that it would delay house training, not help it!

Hey everyone!

So my new pup, Jack, has been home for 4.5 weeks and is now 10.5 weeks old! For the first two weeks, I didn't take him outside to go potty because he had giardia and since I live in an apartment, didn't want it to spread to other dogs. What I did was let him roam around the apartment and had potty pads down at all times and he used them very well! He's giardia free now so I'm taking him outside about every hour or after he wakes up from naps. I live on the second floor, so I have stairs to get to my front door. At the moment, I have a potty pad right in front of the door and bells hanging from the doorknob (I just got the bells yesterday so he's still adjusting). Should I completely get rid of the potty pads? I've been reading other's comments about not using them at all. Jack will go downstairs and go potty on them without giving me a warning, and sometimes he will go downstairs just to play. Second question: should I just block off the stairs so I can keep a close eye on him?

Sorry for the novel! Right now, potty training has been the most difficult. I just starting crating him at night about three days ago and he does a fantastic job of waking me up when he needs to go potty. I'll take him out and he will pee and poo outside with no issues. It's just during the day is when we have problems. My vet also said not to take him on walks until he has all of his puppy shots. Is this good advice or should I be walking him everyday? Sometimes when I take him out, he will just sit and watch the birds and be so calm, it's adorable

I would absolutely get rid of the pads all together. They teach your puppy that peeing and pooping indoors is acceptable.

I would have him spend more time in his crate during the day so that you can further increase his understanding that being in a crate is normal and not a big deal and teaching him to communicate with you when he needs to go outside.

Also, I would keep him on leash a lot indoors during the day and evening. Puppies with too much freedom to roam have too many options and to much ability to do unwanted behaviors. The primary focus right now is potty training and building a bond with you, namely, teaching deference to you and gaining social and physical resources through you.

This can be best accomplished with more limitations on free roaming time.

seattlesibe wrote:

I would absolutely get rid of the pads all together.  They teach your puppy that peeing and pooping indoors is acceptable... I would have him spend more time in his crate during the day...

Potty pads, GONE! Thanks for the reply! This was really helpful Since I don't have much room in my apartment and the crate is so big, I was planning on keeping it in my room, but if I'm going to be putting him in it, should I move it everyday to the living room where I spend most of my time, leave him in the crate in my room alone, or stay with him?

Well that depends on how he reacts inside the crate.  

Essentially (ideally), being in a crate should be as banal as being on the sofa or on the floor.  So if you put him in it, leave the room, and he cries or whines, then you know you have some work to do.  If you put him in it while it is in the same room as you, and he cries and whines, then you REALLY have some work to do.  

So it just depends on where he is right now with being in the crate.  

Here are just a few absolutely essential things to do/not do with crates, regardless of the above paragraph:

-do not EVER say Goodbye in anyway or Hello in anyway when going in or out of the crate. Doing either makes the difference between being in the crate and out of the crate...or you there and you not there....a HUGE deal and this will set you back in making the crate a useful training tool.  While it makes us feel good, saying Hello or Goodbye (especially excitedly) is counterproductive for crate training and creates anxiety in the dog.

-do not EVER let him rush out of the crate excitedly when you open the door.  He should know a release command that means you allow him out of the crate.  Ideally, the door can be open and until released he should not walk out of the crate.  This is basic threshold protocol which is the same for doorways, gates, etc.  Allowing him to rush out creates excitement, nervousness, or anxiety about you coming and going.

-do not talk to him while he is locked inside his crate.  This creates excitement and anxiety and once again is counterproductive to reducing how different it is when you are and are not home;  you want that difference to be as minimal as possible.

-do not EVER open the door to let him out if he is crying or whining.  Wait for even the slightest moment of silence before releasing him out of the crate.  If you do, you are teaching him that if he cries or whines, you show up and he gets out.  Hence, when you leave the house.....guess what he does all day?

-while hanging out at home with him out of the crate, randomly plant treats in the crate and just leave them be.  He will eventually discover them , reinforcing that the crate means good things.  Also, if he randomly goes in just because and discovers them, praise him while he is inside the crate once he finds the treat and then practice your release command to let him out, then praise him again once he comes out.

-occasionally feed him in his crate both with the door closed and open.  Again, when he's done, practice your release command.

Hope these tips makes sense and help you along.

-

seattlesibe wrote:

So if you put him in it, leave the room, and he cries or whines, then you know you have some work to do.  If you put him in it while it is in the same room as you, and he cries and whines, then you REALLY have some work to do.

He does cry and whine most of the time when I'm in the same room. I could be a foot away and he will whine for a few minutes then stop. If I move five feet away once he's calm, then he will start crying again even though he can still see me. When he's quiet, I'll give him a treat and then go back to doing whatever I was doing. If I have to leave, I'll put a treat in his kong toy and leave immediately and when I get back, he's usually sleeping. I've only ever been gone for an hour at most with him in the crate. Any tips for this?

seattlesibe wrote:

-do not EVER let him rush out of the crate excitedly when you open the door.  He should know a release command that means you allow him out of the crate.  Ideally, the door can be open and until released he should not walk out of the crate.  This is basic threshold protocol which is the same for doorways, gates, etc.  Allowing him to rush out creates excitement, nervousness, or anxiety about you coming and going.

Jack does try to come out when I open the crate door. Not immediately, but he does try. I'll say "no" and put him back in and wait a while before I let him come out. Is this good, or should I be doing something else?

suepatt22 wrote:

seattlesibe wrote:

So if you put him in it, leave the room, and he cries or whines, then you know you have some work to do.  If you put him in it while it is in the same room as you, and he cries and whines, then you REALLY have some work to do.

He does cry and whine most of the time when I'm in the same room. I could be a foot away and he will whine for a few minutes then stop. If I move five feet away once he's calm, then he will start crying again even though he can still see me. When he's quiet, I'll give him a treat and then go back to doing whatever I was doing. If I have to leave, I'll put a treat in his kong toy and leave immediately and when I get back, he's usually sleeping. I've only ever been gone for an hour at most with him in the crate. Any tips for this?

seattlesibe wrote:

-do not EVER let him rush out of the crate excitedly when you open the door.  He should know a release command that means you allow him out of the crate.  Ideally, the door can be open and until released he should not walk out of the crate.  This is basic threshold protocol which is the same for doorways, gates, etc.  Allowing him to rush out creates excitement, nervousness, or anxiety about you coming and going.

Jack does try to come out when I open the crate door. Not immediately, but he does try. I'll say "no" and put him back in and wait a while before I let him come out. Is this good, or should I be doing something else?

I would just work on making the crate more banal and less of a "thing", less of a big deal.  Get him inside randomly throughout the day, say ever 3 hours, and just ignore him, but stay around the house and carry on your business.  Keep increasing the amount of time every time.

You can also do rapid drills with it.  

Get him on leash.  Approach the crate, open the door and say "Crate," get him in, have him Sit, praise , then open the door and release.  Move away to another area with another training command practice.  

Go back to the crate, and repeat.  Do this maybe 10 times in a row at a good pace.  This is a great way to make the crate more banal and not a big deal.  It should be like walking into the next room.



For him rushing out, sounds like you are doing it correctly.  He needs to know that the door open does not mean Exit.  Your release command means Exit.  

The general protocol for any bad behavior is:

-bad behavior
-verbal mark with No or Att, whatever
-physical correction
-guidance to proper behavior
-praise

In this case, all you need to do is block him with the door of the crate by just physically blocking his exit.  You're not slamming it in his face, of course, or hitting him with it, but the physical touch with the door is the physical correction that just communicates to him that what he just did was wrong, which is then followed by guidance to the right behavior that you want.

I have two almost 6-month-old female Siberian Huskies. They have both been with us since they were 8 weeks old and we have worked on housebreaking them since day one. Both of them are crate trained, but one of them won't stop peeing in her crate. We've done everything to try and resolve this. We've made the crate smaller, remove blankets, taken her out more frequently, and limited her water intake when we know we'll have to crate her (only overnight). She always goes in her crate without fail. There hasn't been a single day that she has not. Some days she'll go multiple times. We've literally done everything by the book (talked with a dog trainer and the vet) to stop this behavior. Has anyone else has a similar issue? Will she grow out of it eventually?

Im also in the boat, I have a male husky that will be 6mth in Dec and does the same thing. I limit his water intake, he's on a schedule feeding time and bathroom time. Some days he dies great with no accidents and other days like today he urinated 3times in his create i once on my floor right in front of me. Two of the times he had just came from outside using the bathroom. What can i do to correct his behavior??

Clean the crate with something heavy duty something that will kill the smell it's possible that your dog can smell their pee in the crate and think it's okay to go to the bathroom there. I would make his schedule as strict as possible and and teach him to potty on command. Give treats for going outside and if you see him peeing inside yell no! And take him outside.

Hello,
I have 4 and a half month rescued husky cross. We rescued her when she was 7 weeks old.
I’m full time working therefore during a day she is closed in the room with an open crate, i give her chew toys, water and food. She learned to go on a training pads and i almost don't have spills on a carpet. But the issue comes when we on the weekends or in the evenings during weekdays we let her be in the living room when we can control her and we put a training pad inside the door exit just for any case if after we walked her out she wants to pee again she can go there.
And she is a smart girl she does go there but just SOMETIMES rather than most of the times and the rest it’s spills on the carpet.
We saying firmly ‘NO’ but while I move her to the training pad which is close but still not close enough I guess she is continuing to pee on carpet and by the time she is on pad nothing left to pee so I can’t praise and reward her. So I’m afraid she didn’t completely get the point that she needs to pee there all the time!  She sometimes whines besides the door and i know to let her out right away but that’s very rare. I can’t simply say ‘NO’ and take outside cause i live in Canada and it’s minus temperatures now, this is why I put a training pad besides the exit door.
I understand it’s a matter of time and we have her just for 2 and a half month, training and to be persistent and not to give up! And she is doing a great job already! I’m just wondering if I’m on the right track or maybe I’m doing something wrong that need to be done differently.
Maybe I should use dog bell training? Was someone successful with that?
I would love to hear your experiences and feedback!!!

Awww, she's a cutie! Just a guess, but you might be running into the same trouble on the weekends that we ran into with Misty when we were housetraining her -- Misty does NOT like a change in her routine. She seems to get very confused when we deviate from our regular weekday routine. She was just fine during the week when we were on the same schedule for five days in a row -- No messes in the house, no problems with housetraining, nothing. THEN when the weekends came and we didn't follow the same schedule, Misty went right back to peeing in the house.

With Misty, it just ended up being a matter of time -- She finally got used to the idea of there being a "weekend," I guess. That, and after the third weekend of her peeing in the house, we tried letting her outside, walking her, feeding, her, etc., close to the same times we would have on a weekday. That seemed to help. She seems to have FINALLY gotten the hang of things. Your pup will probably get the hang of it, too!

New owner with a 9 week old puppy.
She had 1 poop accident when I had a family member watching her here last night.
This morning I took to long after getting her out the crate before taking her out, and she started to pee inside, I caught her, gave her a sharp NO, then took her out. She finished peeing and did her business.
This afternoon, I took her out, she peed, but no poop. I brought her inside praised her. then took her out a few minutes later for about 30-45 min of play and a short (not so successful) walk. She did pee a little while we were playing. - Not sure if that needs to be addressed.
But then I brought her inside, and began playing with her indoors. She was playing one minute, then seemed like she was looking for a different toy, went to the corner and peed.
I said NO, and took her to outside. she sniffed around for about 5 min then did her business, but did not pee anymore.
- she has been taken outside about 3 times since 830 am (now 145 pm) and has peed every time. All accidents were cleaned with Natures Miracle. I am starting to crate train as well.
But, looking for advice to understand when to take her out when she pees during play time.

Also,  I work in the evenings, so I am trying to figure out a feeding schedule. I leave for work about 3 pm, and get home around 11 pm. Not sure if it best to feed her around 2, or wait until I get home.

Thanks in advance!
Kelly

Kelly, bear in mind that you're dealing with a baby here - it takes time for them to learn how to control their bladders and even at the best of times they're gonna slip.

Don't be surprised that she doesn't poop every time you take her out. Most of my adult dogs only "do their business" once or maybe twice a day (peeing on the other hand is an ongoing project when they're outside -- "OOh, gotta mark this, it's been five minutes since I've been here and .. gotta mark it!!! " )

Your comment that you work evenings, is there someone there with her who can take her out? It's difficult at best for a puppy to hold it for a couple of hours but when it comes to an 8 hour work shift, that's something you have to work up to and it takes a few months of age .... and to answer your question, if you're up for a couple of hours after you get home, then I'd feed her then; if you come in, take the dog out and then crash, I'd feed her earlier but you still have to give it time before she needs to go.

Al,
Thanks for the advice. I know she's a baby, I just hope I can pick up on her signs and figure out a solid schedule for her.
Do most feed twice daily at this point or wait till a bit older. I have read a lot about them needing 3 feedings a day at this age, but all my friends with dogs have told me they only fed twice from when they got them.
We have a check up with the vet tomorrow, so hoping to address a lot of these concerns.

Just offering a wave of recognition to another mom of a 9-week-old. If Sophia wasn't tethered to me on a 4-foot leash, I'd never pick up on her signs. She's so good at telling me since we're joined at the hip right now. I'm a broken record on leashing Husky puppies.

Your baby couldn't be cuter! This age is fleeting...

How do you tether her to you? Is it only when you will be going out of eyesight? I have a two story home and had planned to keep her downstairs only. If I am going to be upstairs for a while (to shower, etc) I try to crate her. But her hates it. If I'm just running up I leave her in the living room which is blocked off with a baby gate. Does she let you do chores around the house while tethered?

I make coffee, dinner, etc. ...slowly... with her leash attached to my jeans beltloop by D-ring. While in the shower, I give her a toy and water bowl and attach her leash to a low towel rack (Molly-bolted, so sturdy). At the office, she has her bed and toys by my desk and her leash is tethered to the leg of the desk. She's sleeping under my desk right now.

Grant sleeps during office hours, and Sophia is learning to do the same.

Sophia wants to be able to see me all the time, too, but she falls asleep in her exercise pen in the living room sometimes now, and is fine all night in her crate by my bed.

Leaving her in her crate while we go running is getting less traumatic, but she's really happy when I come back after an hour. So I know how it can be a tough process to leave a Velcro puppy.