Potty training

larisa

Hello there,

I am a begginer and I need some advices, could you somehow help me?
Please can you give me some advices.

I took a min pin 24 days ago, when she was 2 months old.

Now she knows where to go potty, on the newspapers that I put for her, but when we are at home she is doing that reggulary there, with few exceptions.

But when we are at work, 8 hours a day, she is alone at home, (with our budgie ) and she usually goes potty on the sofa. I am so frustrated, I don`t know what to do, and how to teach her not to do on the soffa?

I tell off her, but she is does that almost every day.

When she does that on the right place, i give her a thread, and speak to her "Bravo, bravo", so she knows that she did something good.

When I came back from work, and see that she did that on the soffa, I start telling her off, she knows that something is wrong, but I am not sure that she understand what, beacuse she is repeating that everytime she is alone.

Please help me, i feel exhausted of cleaning puppy`s urine, and I am not sure it can be cleaned, it is absorbed in the soffa, so she can feel the odor.

I still cannot bring her out, because she has been vacinate and I go out with her very little, just in some friends backyard, where are no other animals.

P.S. You can see her "playing" with the budgie at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mitici/

skelaki

First of all invest in a crate and crate train your puppy. This will make house training easier. Also, since you work all day, I'd invest in an ex-pen along with the crate. If you go to http://wwww.petedge.com/ you can get both very reasonably. Just make sure the crate is just big enough for your pup to turn around, stand and lie down. If it's any larger, especially if you buy one for it's adult size, you'll have to block off the back portion of the crate in some way so there's not room for your pup to sleep in one part and potty in another.

Put everything including food, water, exercise, play, training, etc on a strict schedule. Scheduling food and water does NOT mean give less, just schedule when (and take up both 2-3 hours before bed) so you know about when your pup will need to go out. Don't wait for her to tell you, take her out every half hour to start, until you have a better idea of her schedule. You'll also need to take her out at least twice during the night so plan on setting your alarm.

When you go to work, set her crate inside the ex-pen with the crate door open. Set it up in the kitchen or elsewhere easy to clean up. Then when you get home, take her out immediately and then clean up any accidents without saying anything. Then take the ex-pen down until the next work day. You want to be taking her outside to potty but using the ex-pen at least keeps her from pottying all over the house and keeps her safely confined. Be sure to have a couple, safe, crate/pen only toys to give her to occupy her time.

She must be supervised 110% of the time. No house freedom at all. She's either with you (tethered to you if you aren't playing,training) or she's in her crate.

And don't be paranoid about taking her outside. Just don't go where a lot of strange dogs congregate. Take her out to potty. If you're in an apartment and are worried you can carry her to the potty area and put booties of some type on her feet (doll socks work pretty well if she's a small breed puppy).

She does NOT know that she's done wrong when you "tell her off when you come home from work." All she knows is that you come home and are angry but she has no idea what you are angry about. What you are mistaking for guilt is actually submissive behavior. She's trying to appease you in the only way she knows how. If you are not careful your current actions could make her start submissive peeing in a desperate attempt to appease your anger. Remember she's a dog and this how a dog would appease an angry pack leader.

You also must clean up all accidents with an enzyme cleaner to destroy any odor at the molecular level.

larisa

Thanks for your answer, BUT I am not sure that crate is a good idea, I think she will weep all the time. I tried first week to put her on the balcony while we were at work, she was weeping all the time.
So now, after beeing free all the time to put her in a crate, wow, that would be a trouble.
I am not sure what to do!?
If I continue this way, you think she will never learn? or she will learn for a longer period?
Enzyme cleaner??? Never heard. I will try to find something like that in a shop. I tried with vinegar, but it smeels even worse

Chuckles

Maybe you can try to cover up the couch cushions with a piece of plastic, trash bag or something. That will accomplish two things, help cover up the urine odor and dogs usually don't go on a surface that doesn't appear absorbent.

Just a thought and of course you ought to be careful about her tearing up and eating the plastic if she does that sort of things.

briteday

Most of us have gone through the puppy crying in the crate stages. It's something you have to do otherwise your dog may be in danger from typical household items like chewing electrical wires, getting into garbage and such. It is far easier to train a puppy to a crate than an older dog. So I still encourage you to get a crate. And penning the dog into an ex-pen while you are away is a better idea than letting him run loose in the house.

Enzyme cleaners are available at pet stores. Are you in the US?

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larisa

No, I am from Macedonia

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