Please Help - still have problems with potty training!

[vantablian]

Hello - this is my first post here. I have a 13 week Shih-tzu, and at night we have her confined in the kitchen with a pee pad ( and water dish ). She does good by going on the pee pads at night. But training her to go outside in the backyard has been tough. We definately are sending mixed signals, because we were taking her outside in the front to go potty, and she did, but we would like for her to go out in the back now, where there are no cars, etc... What should we do? She goes on the carpet allot, and we want to deter her from doing that. I've also noticed since we stopped taking her outside in the front she is holding it more, and then goes pee when she gets excited ( wherever that may be )! She is not responding to the backyard to go potty, because I think she associates it with playing ( it's fenced ). Should we abondon the whole "pee pad" idea? I've seen that in a post - but what do we do at night, when we go to bed? Please help - I'm looking for a sound way to train her to go outside - I've also considered the "bell" technique - but still questioned on how she would go potty at night, if she is confined in the kitchen. We do praise when she goes, and try to catch her when she is going in the house, and then we put her outside. So, I don't want her to think it's punishment, but we are struggling with adapting to a sound system that will work - please help!

[Colleen]

I highly recommend you use a crate to help train your pup, if you are not already. The rest of this post assumes you have a crate:

When its time to potty (just cause you know she hasn't in a while), take her out back and give your potty command (even if she doesn't know it yet). If she doesn't potty within 5-8 minutes, take her back inside and put her in her crate. Not as a punishment, you might even put a toy or something in there, but she should stay in there for about 10-15 minutes. She shouldn't want to potty in her crate. After that, take her directly back outside and repeat the steps. If she still doesn't potty, she goes back in the crate. If she does potty, throw a party and let her play outside. She will (hopefully) begin to associate pottying outside as getting to play.

Keep in mind that at 13 weeks she should not be expected to hold her potty all night. I believe its 4 hours for the first 12 weeks and then one more hour each week. So at 13 weeks, you should really only expect her to hold it for 5 hours. So, at night, until she is old enough to hold it, I'd let her have access to the puppy pads still. When she is old enough, she could sleep in her crate and then be taken out first thing in the morning.

[vantablian]

Thank you Colleen for your reply - my girlfriend is totally against the crate training - but I will try to convince her. The problem is we are letting her roam around the house with us when we are home, and I think we need to start the whole process over. Thank you!

[Colleen]

At first I was against crate training too, but that's because I had never raised a puppy before. Remind your gf that dogs enjoy having a safe, quiet, warm place to snuggle up in. At first, the pup will bark and squeal, but its not because she's in the crate, its because she's not with you. Crating is also a great way to curb separation anxiety if you start it early. She will learn to love her crate and not feel abandoned when she goes inside. We tried letting Dexter have full reign of a puppy proof room for a few days (he's crate trained) and he was more anxious and upset when we came back home. It was like he definitely preferred us directing him to the crate, making that decision for him, rather than having free reign.

If you want to start teaching her to use a crate, the best is if you can start in increments. For instance, she's still very young so you wouldn't want to crate her really anytime right now...BUT I suggest buying a crate and just putting it in wherever it is she stays during the day. Move her bed inside the crate or put warm soft blankets in it and remove her bed. If the crate is the only soft warm thing, she will find it on her own. Leave the door off for a while, so she can exit the crate at night to potty. If you can stand it, we waited to put the door on till Dexter could most certainly hold his potty. That means he was at least 17 weeks old according to 'the formula'.

Also, you can start desensitizing her slowly to the door being closed by leaving for small periods of time (say 30 mins) and then come back home. If you can do this repeatedly, she might learn faster that you aren't deserting her.

MOST importantly, if you want to crate train her and your gf doesn't, and she goes and gets the puppy when she whines or barks, there's no way it will work. She must be okay with it too. There are so many benefits, like less separation anxiety or dependent behavoirs, the ability to leave the house without having her mess up your couch, etc., providing a safe warm place for her, that it really is the best way to go for many dog owners.

For further advice on this topic, feel free to post in the Crate training category as well.

Good luck!!

[Colleen]

PS I grew up in Long Beach!

[vantablian]

Thanks Colleen for all of the good advice! I'm not too far from Long Beach! :D

[Grace Erick]

vant, I kept my dog in my bedroom w/her puppy pad, then let her out in the morning and she would stop to pee on the carpet. So I kept her in the bedroom so long that she had to use the puppy pad since she did already know to use it.

You can do the same thing with the backyard. Keep your dog out there long enough where she is forced to have to go in the backyard. If she pees on her way outside, carry her out to the yard.

This sounds like my dog a little. She will pee on her puppy pad when it rains so she doesn't have to get wet, but refused to poop inside all of a sudden as of the last year. That's not a problem, but now she must force herself to go out in rain to poop. Kind of like your dog deciding she only want to "go" in the front yard.

[Jesse Cruz]

hi, i had the same exact situation with my shih tzu when i first got her. i also was against the crate until i came across my savior "doggie door". i recommend getting a crate and please do either the pee pad or outside, you cannot do both because it is confusing to them. that's what happened in the beginning with my girl. i did the same thing pee pad inside and then taking her out as well. another thing you must do is not give the pup water after a certain time, maybe 9 or 10pm. the crate helps in deterring them from having accidents because a majority of them do not like to mess their sleeping quarters. chloe never, ever had an accident in her crate. since they are young, you need to sacrifice some sleep and take them out when they do cry at night. but it shouldn't be much if they are restricted to water at night. another thing when they are that young they should not be allowed free roam around the house unless supervised closely and i mean following the little furball around or tethering to you. good luck and believe me crate training is not cruel, its a blessing.

[vantablian]

Thank you all for your comments, much appreciated! :D

[Jill Ramsey]

Actually, I think it starts at 3 hours, but I can't remember at what age it starts (maybe 12 weeks :?: )and then 1 hr for each month after that. So at 4 months/16 weeks the puppy should be able to hold it for 4 hours, 5 months, 5 hrs. Of course the smaller breeds have smaller bladders, and this is just a general rule of thumb. Hopefully, Laura will be along and clear it up. :wink:

[Grace Erick]

Jesse, maybe you have a very valid point about using either the pad or outside. With my dog it worked out well with her using both options, but there is more to it in a way with my particular dog. Since she is a small Chihuahua, I wanted her to go inside too since when she would be full grown a pad is still a good alternative to going outside or if I leave her for a long time during the day, or when I have her in a hotel with me, or when I'm visiting my mom in NY and I don't want to get up early to walk her. My mom is in an apt. I'm in a house.

Capri got up EARLY (in my bed) this morning, so I just put her on the floor to use her pad, then I picked her up and put her back into bed with me. If you don't want to keep using pads when the dog is housebroken, then maybe you don't want to use them now, but people do use them to housebreak the dog, because the puppies can't hold "it" all day, so they use pads in a pen that has the dog's food and bed to give the pup a place to go.

If you use a pen (gate) with pads all over, the dog has to go on the pad, because the pup most likely will not soil their own bedding. After they get used to the pads, you take one away, and the pup should still go on the pad and not the empty space, then after a few days or so, you keep taking a pad away until you are left with one pad that the pup goes on. The pads are scented too. They sell gates in petstores that are metal that can be flexed into a round circle.

Then like Jesse said, you can always use the crate method instead of this pen type method.