help me help me help me!

[Eva Horn]

does any one know how long it should take to potty train a dog??(Jack Rusell)
weve been at it for six months! he's getting better but he still has accidents...

I just want to figure out a time frame to see if there is something more we can do??or if were doing something wrong????

it's especially hard because when I was little I had a black lab and he only ever had one accident in the house and then he always asked to go out!

Why is my little Dustums just not getting it???????

[Susan Bacon]

Oh Eva, do I ever feel your pain! Panda is nearly at 20 weeks and our other boy (also a Shih Tzu who is 6 months older than Pandaman) had housebreaking down PAT at 14-weeks. It's hard when you start making comparisons--but let yourself off the hook because it's nothing you're doing wrong! We just have to remind ourselves that each dog develops differently, metabolically and physically! Panda isn't too far behind Dusty in age and although he is finally starting to get it now, we're a long way from trusting him more than a minute at a time and have to stick to a very strict schedule for him to achieve success.

I've had two vets and several people on the forum tell me it could take up to 14 months for some dogs. Then they add, "hang in there and good luck" with little grins on their faces! :mad:

But I think from one frustrated momma to another, "hang in there" sounds pretty cool! What choices do we have--someday it'll all be miraculously over and we'll have perfect little dogs-HA! By the way, I have enjoyed Dusty's picture in the stew pot.

Hang in There!!!
Susan

[Eva Horn]

thanx for the support!!!!

:tup: we can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Susan Medlin]

I'm with you Eva!
I haven't had Sammy that long (only 6weeks), and he's been doing sooo good on potty training--then yesterday, here's a big surprise! And I was right there! Anyway, we have to keep telling ourselves they're just puppies, and bear with them!
Good luck!
Susan

[Amber]

Eva--

I started housetraining Precious on puppy pads (before I knew better!) and it took her no time at all. She would go to only to the pad and go. I would say it only a 3 or 4 months. Then in November I adopted Sally, who was not housebroken at a year old. We just fenced in our back yard, so I decided to housebreak correctly this time around...Sally got it rather quickly...within 2 or 3 months...of course she's older. Precious is not getting the whole "now you must go outside" concept though. She will walk outside...stay outside for 15-30 minutes and then come inside and poop on the carpet! And she's almost a year!! :banghead:

So, now I have to start all over with Precious...yay! lol. You never know with smart breeds...Jack Russells are not only smart, but also stubborn! lol...it may only take him a few months...it may take him longer. It depends on his personality. Precious and Sally both are big pleasers, so it took no time to housetrain them. I'm hoping it will be as easy to transition her to go outside inside of on the carpet now! lol

Good luck...Please have patience! You WILL get through it no matter how long it seems, whether it be 2 months or 8 months.

[Sherri]

We were getting very frustrated with Baxter as well. He is a Beagle/Rat Terrier mix and picked up on all other training very fast, but just didn't seem to get the potty training. When we were home, never any accidents. We use bells at the door and whenever he has to go he rings the bells. When we left him, it was another story.

I would leave the house at 6:30 AM, my husband at 8:30. Then I would come home at 1:00 PM, leave at 1:45 and either my husband or I would be home by 5:00 PM. Baxter was never home for more than 4 hours at a time, and we would come home to an accident every time. We knew he could hold it, because he had been sleeping through the nights for quite some time. I was at my wits end.. I though how could I teach him it was not OK to use the house for the potty when we were not home, he knew it was not OK when we were.

We had always trained on +R, but believe me I did consider the method my parents used, my sister used.. rubbing their nose in it and spanking them, yelling etc. every time we came home to a mess. I was just worried this would counter act all other training we had done. So I decided to keep praising him like crazy when he did go outside.

We called my husbands father (he is a vet, his mom is the vet tech. in the office) and they told us that most dogs are not fully potty trained until they are 14 months. Their brain and organs are not fully developed until then. That was not a good enough answer for me, so we asked our trainer at Petsmart. They confirmed what my father in law and mother in law had told me (I actually asked them at seperate times to see if I would get a different answer, what they were telling me is not what I wanted to hear).

Just when I was ready to give up and not come home at lunches anymore (I figured there was always a mess even when I did come home, so why bother?).. He stopped having messes. We thought this was a fluke, but the good behavior continued each day. We have now been accident free for approx. 3-4 weeks and Baxter is now 7 months old on 5/1/05.

Not sure what happened to make Baxter turn the corner. My best advise is to keep doing what you are doing, and one day he will just get it? Patience does pay out, it is just very frustrating.

I am still going home every day at lunch. I will start moving my lunch back later and later until we can make it the entire day being gone without an accident.

Good Luck and Hang in there...
Sherri and Baxter