[lazygun247]

Hello Everyone,

I recently got a maltese puppy. He is 10 weeks old now and has been with me for 2 weeks.
I am still trying to train him to go potty outside but not matter what I do, it really doesn't work.

So when I got him, I had him confined to a small area with a bed and training pad (Wee-wee pad). Eventually I opened the confinement area to about a 15x15 ft room (its half of the living room pretty much) and he doesn't have a problem with peeing or pooping anywhere other than the wee-wee pad. About a week ago, I got a crate and I started to leave him inside and take him outside to pee.

He doesn't seem to have any trouble holding it in for >3-4 hours now, esp. at night. I haven't let him sleep in there the entire night yet, and usually do get up to let him out around 2am (with an alarm, as he doesn't bark much).
When I let him out, he won't go pee outside unless there is a pad outside. He just wanders around looking at grass, sniffing and eating everything in sight (grass, dirt, rocks). And yes, I do know that he wants to pee because when he came inside, he pe'ed an entire pools worth.

Pooping is even worse. He just won't poop outside. Can someone help me out?

I don't want to crate him too much but if I let him out, he just keeps on peeing indoors and I want to try him to go outside.


Also, I am a little concerned and would like to ask, when I do crate train him, do I allow him to run around the his area with a wee wee pad in the corner? Or should I confine him to the crate pretty much the entire day other than when hes playing and eating?

Thanks a bunch! Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[chubby]

I would leave the pee pad down ONLY when you are away from home, as he won't have the bladder capacity to hold his urine for more than 2-3 hours. The purpose of this is merely to help clean up accidents. When you are home, pick up the pee pad, and have him rely solely on going outside to do his business. Bring a soiled pee pad outside with you if you must. When he pees on the grass, praise him like crazy with his favourite treats, toys, and a nice walk. Once he's about 8-10 months old he shoudl be able to hold it in all day and would not need a pee pad at all for when you're away.

If you're away for less than 2 hours, don't leave the pee pad down, as he should be able to hold it in for that amount of time. Don't ever praise him for going on the pee pad - again it's only a management for his urine clean up!

Crate him for overnight of course, and continue to let him out at 2am, but he should be able to sleep the night once he's 12 weeks old. Some dogs take longer though (like mine) so be prepared to be a bit sleep deprived for a while. If he peed at noon, and you know he'll need to pee again at 2pm, put him in the crate at 1pm, and have him in there until his next pee time, so that when he comes out of the crate, he'll immediately have to go. Take him to the grass, and when he starts peeing, choose a command word "go potty!", and say it EVERY time he pees outside. Use a different command word for pooing. Present the treat and praise IMMEDIATELY after he pees/poos. If you wait longer than 2 seconds, you're too late.

Crate him like this, an hour before you think he's going to have to go, that way you're training him to accept the crate even when you're at home, and also to treat it like a den. Make sure it's only big enough for him to stand, lie down and turn around in. Since he's a maltese, this means a VERY small crate. If you're going to leave to run an errand for an hour or two, pop him in the crate. If you're leaving for any longer, put him in the long term confinement area which contains the pee pads.

 

[Kimmi]

I just got 2 teacup Maltipoos and im about 2 crawl in a hole! Its so frustrating, not them...ME! Ive read where its my fault they go potty in the house because its my place to make sure i let them out. Im pretty much a perfectionist and im driving my ownself crazy trying to do this right! Ive never trained puppies before and im not sure if this seems difficult because theres 2 at the same time or if its merely because im totally new at this??? It says Maltese and Poodles are really smart and ive read where it shouldnt take them long to catch on but im having problems here. Im trying to stay positive because i know they sense it. Im using treats to reward them as soon as they do it but once they come inside, the female will go again on the floor! Its draining me!! Im a stay at home housewife and feel i should be doing a better job at this since im here all day.

 

[Kimmi]

Have u seen the "Puppy Apartment" b4? I was wondering if it worked. I watched the video on it lastnight and it was very impressive. Its a one bedroom, one bath apartment for a puppy. haha thats cute! Its actually a crate with a divider so your puppy has 2 options as to where to potty. Im getting desperate and am seriously thinking about buying one. I feel like we are taking 2 steps forward and one step back. Is that how the saying goes? Anyway, hopefully you get the picture!

 

[lazygun247]

I would leave the pee pad down ONLY when you are away from home, as he won't have the bladder capacity to hold his urine for more than 2-3 hours. The purpose of this is merely to help clean up accidents. When you are home, pick up the pee pad, and have him rely solely on going outside to do his business. Bring a soiled pee pad outside with you if you must. When he pees on the grass, praise him like crazy with his favourite treats, toys, and a nice walk. Once he's about 8-10 months old he shoudl be able to hold it in all day and would not need a pee pad at all for when you're away.

If you're away for less than 2 hours, don't leave the pee pad down, as he should be able to hold it in for that amount of time. Don't ever praise him for going on the pee pad - again it's only a management for his urine clean up!

Crate him for overnight of course, and continue to let him out at 2am, but he should be able to sleep the night once he's 12 weeks old. Some dogs take longer though (like mine) so be prepared to be a bit sleep deprived for a while. If he peed at noon, and you know he'll need to pee again at 2pm, put him in the crate at 1pm, and have him in there until his next pee time, so that when he comes out of the crate, he'll immediately have to go. Take him to the grass, and when he starts peeing, choose a command word "go potty!", and say it EVERY time he pees outside. Use a different command word for pooing. Present the treat and praise IMMEDIATELY after he pees/poos. If you wait longer than 2 seconds, you're too late.

Crate him like this, an hour before you think he's going to have to go, that way you're training him to accept the crate even when you're at home, and also to treat it like a den. Make sure it's only big enough for him to stand, lie down and turn around in. Since he's a maltese, this means a VERY small crate. If you're going to leave to run an errand for an hour or two, pop him in the crate. If you're leaving for any longer, put him in the long term confinement area which contains the pee pads.

I am having some trouble having him pee on the grass though. He doesn't seem to want to pee, but rather only wee-wee pads... WHen I leaave a wee-wee pad on the grass, he just sniffs as if he is going to pee then go on to proceed to play on the grass. How do I deal with this?


Also, when I crate him, a lot of times he tries to get out after i get him in (usually luring him in with a toy or treat). I feel bad about doing it. Is it normal for him to want to be out?

Finally, one final concern, I don't know why but this lil guy will pee on carpets. I think he thinks its the same. How would I go about getting him to not pee on carpet? He also likes to sleep on them, but when I leave him alone (allowing him to wander the house) he will pee on the carpet if I do not have a wee-wee pad out... Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help!

 

[jersey_gray]

Ten weeks old is to young to have full run of the house. At this age he will just go when he needs to go-he's just a baby. He needs to be confined when he is not being supervised to prevent accidents on the carpet.

 

[Mheath0429]

I just got 2 teacup Maltipoos and im about 2 crawl in a hole! Its so frustrating, not them...ME! Ive read where its my fault they go potty in the house because its my place to make sure i let them out. Im pretty much a perfectionist and im driving my ownself crazy trying to do this right! Ive never trained puppies before and im not sure if this seems difficult because theres 2 at the same time or if its merely because im totally new at this??? It says Maltese and Poodles are really smart and ive read where it shouldnt take them long to catch on but im having problems here. Im trying to stay positive because i know they sense it. Im using treats to reward them as soon as they do it but once they come inside, the female will go again on the floor! Its draining me!! Im a stay at home housewife and feel i should be doing a better job at this since im here all day.

You have puppies and small ones at that - they aren't going to be able to hold their pee in over night. I have a 7 month male Siberian Husky who still couldn't completely control his bladder until 6 months of age and he is much larger than your dogs. It takes time and patience. I suggest having a lot of paper towel and Nature's Miracle

 

[lazygun247]

Ten weeks old is to young to have full run of the house. At this age he will just go when he needs to go-he's just a baby. He needs to be confined when he is not being supervised to prevent accidents on the carpet.

Yea I figured. Thanks. Any suggestions on how to get him to poop outside?

 

[agility collie mom]

Founs this article awhile back: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/toybreedswordsout.htm I would eliminate the pee pee pads altogether if your intention is that the pup will eventually be going outside. The pee pee pads just confuse the puppy. They do not generalize like we humans do and will not understand that it is not always ok to potty in the house. Here is another great article. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1684 I have two Maltese and two Rough Collies.

 

[lazygun247]

Founs this article awhile back: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/toybreedswordsout.htm I would eliminate the pee pee pads altogether if your intention is that the pup will eventually be going outside. The pee pee pads just confuse the puppy. They do not generalize like we humans do and will not understand that it is not always ok to potty in the house. Here is another great article. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1684 I have two Maltese and two Rough Collies.

Ohh Thanks. The articles provide a nice background into housetraining. However, like a lot of articles, it lacks details in terms of actually how to housetrain them. Do you have any suggestions for removing the wee-wee pads?

Should I at first bring them outside with me to his pee/poop area or should I just keep on trying without wee-wee pads? Same with pooping?

I am afraid of confining my lil guy too much. If i leave him in like a 5 by 5 area with just his crate and water, he sometimes goes peeing on the hardwood floor. If I leave him only inthe crate, I feel bad from all the yelling he does. What should I do?
I let him out to play here and there but I am totally lost as to what I should keep on doing. I feel so bad locking him in his crate every hour.

 

[mashlee08]

you need to crate train him, teach him that his crate is a good thing rather then a bad thing. Google "crate games" or look here on DF and you will find plenty. A puppy will most likely not like being shoved in a crate straight off the bat if he hasn't being familiarized with the crate. When he is in the crate give him a stuffed Kong or something to keep him occupied. He needs to associate the crate with good things and then he will stop whining.

 

[Hambonez]

When our pup was that young, we took him outside every 20-30 minutes to potty, praised him like crazy when he did, and were never more than an arm's reach away from him in the house when he wasn't confined.

 

[lazygun247]

When our pup was that young, we took him outside every 20-30 minutes to potty, praised him like crazy when he did, and were never more than an arm's reach away from him in the house when he wasn't confined.

did he potty every time you took him out? Or did he play around 90% of the time? Did you stay outside everytime you took him out until he peed?

 

[chubby]

did he potty every time you took him out? Or did he play around 90% of the time? Did you stay outside everytime you took him out until he peed?

A lot of potty training has to do with timing and persistence. When you take him out, if he doesn't pee or poo in 3 minutes, bring him back in and pop him in the crate. Try again in 15 minutes. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Eventually he will have to go so badly that he will eliminate on the grass. Then you praise him like crazy. Then do it all over again every 2 hours. When he pees on a spot, take him to that exact same spot every time you take him outside to poo/pee. The smell of urine on the grass will make him want to pee/poo. Don't say or do anything. Stay silent, and let him roam around you on the leash. Once he starts to squat, say the command words, "go pee pee!" or whatever you like, and IMMEDIATELY after he finishes (like literally half a second), present him with treats and praise. You can even praise him AS he's peeing/pooing.

Try to get rid of pee pads altogether. You can put down newspaper instead, and that will deter him from eliminating on soft surfaces a bit better. Again, you shouldn't really ever use them unless you're going to be away for longer than a few hours, and you know he's going to have an accident. Some may even say confine him in the kitchen, and LET him have the accident on the floor. Personally, I didn't do it this way because I absolutely hate cleaning urine, but it could be a faster learning curve for your pup because you're in no way condoning going inside the house. If you want to housebreak him faster, I would NEVER put down pee pads when you're around.

He should also NEVER be unsupervised. If you must, tether him to you so you know when he starts sniffing/turning in circles that he needs to go outside. He would be less likely to have accidents when you're right there, and he won't sneak off to do it in another room. Please don't give him full run of the house. I would just limit him to the kitchen and living area/bedroom area only when you are with him. the rest of the time he should be in the crate.

 

[Hambonez]

did he potty every time you took him out? Or did he play around 90% of the time? Did you stay outside everytime you took him out until he peed?

He did most of the time. We didn't let him play. We went out to his potty spot, gave him his command, waited a minute or two, if he didn't go we went back in the house and went out again in another 15-20 minutes. It was tedious, but we had very few accidents.

 

[lazygun247]

He did most of the time. We didn't let him play. We went out to his potty spot, gave him his command, waited a minute or two, if he didn't go we went back in the house and went out again in another 15-20 minutes. It was tedious, but we had very few accidents.

Thanks! Ill try that. I think before I stayed out too long

 

[spanielorbust]

did he potty every time you took him out? Or did he play around 90% of the time? Did you stay outside everytime you took him out until he peed?

When I have raised small breed pups I usually spend, during their waking and playing time, 15 minutes in MAXIMUM until they are at least getting the hint that grass is their potty area. That means when they are awake we are mostly outside, and only after they pee do we go in for that 15 minutes, and then back out we go. I have found that between 10 and 12 weeks of age if puppies are awake and playing they will pee every 15 minutes . . . gradually stretching that to ~25 minutes by 12 weeks of age. Usually after a few days at home you will also know their usual time for defecation (often within a few minutes of their breakfast and supper) and make sure they are out for that as well. If it is their usual time don't give up and go in. If you stay out eventually they will go. If they want to play first my method has always been to enjoy the time with them outside. It is great bonding time.

I don't use crates as I could not bring myself to throwing a pup back into confinement if it didn't pee or poo quickly enough but I have yet to have difficulty housetraining . . . but then I plan on being outside most of the first few days they are home. There are different methods for doing this to suit different ownership styles, but if you are consistent, observant and conscientious you will eventually get your pup trained.

SOB