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There must be something im just not doing right.... please help.

2308 Views 28 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  Hound
I've had a puppy golden retriever for about 9 days now. she is just over 2 months old. for the passed 7 nights i have been up throughout the night every 3 hours to take her out to do her business. She was doing great for about 3 days with the 3 hour system, so i decided to graduate to every 4 hours. im very pleased to say that i took her out at midnight and then 4 AM and then at 8 AM and she didnt use my house as her personal toilet the entire night. so i continued with the 4 hour system. every time she does her business outside i praise her and give her a treat. When she has an accident inside i scold her.

Today she pooped 3 times and peed one time in the house between 11 Am and 1 PM.... very very frustrating. Is this normal after 9 days of vigorous training?i thought she was starting to catch on, i guess i was very wrong.

I've been keeping her confined to my bedroom since i got her, and shes doing great in the bedroom. She recognises my bedroom as her home and never poops while shes in the bedroom. I want to monitor everything she does and i dont want to overhwelm her with such a big space until shes house broken. The thing is, the minute i open my bedroom door to take her out into the yard, she decides to storm out into the living room and poop on my moms carpet. no amount of scolding prevents this. Today i caught her in the act and said "No!" agressively and a smacked her. I grabbed my shoes so i can take her out, but while i was grabbing them she continues to poop on the carpet. Finally i braught her outside, where she ran around for 10 minutes but did not do her business. So i thaught it would be ok to bring her in for a while. The minute i got back in, she pooped again.

She recognises the living room rug as her toilet. How can i reverse this?

Also, ive been having an incredibly difficult time walking her. She does NOT want to walk. I have to pick her up and bring her at least a block away from the house so that she doesnt try to turn and run back home, and even then, all she does is hit the brakes and decide shes not moving. I tried tugging gently on her leech to no avail. i tried tugging agressively at her leech to no avail. Ive tried walking around and luring her weith smelly snacks... to no avail. Is it because hses scared? Maybe she just doesnt like to walk? should i just give up on walking her and only take her into the yard for the time being?

This is getting very frustrating guys, i really need some good advice. Or maybe the lack of sleep is just getting to me and im missing the point? Maybe this is all absolutly normal for a 2 month old puppy? if its normal, and you think it will subside with time let me know. Right now im very frustrated and i feel like sacrificing my sleep is absolutly useless, because she does her business in the house anyways.
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Wow.

OK.. you REALLY need a Crate. Really. It will make your life and your puppy's life (and house breaking) MUCH easier.. not to mention cleaner.

You are frustrated.. and that is understandable because you never had a dog before.

When you get the crate, write back for more advice. There is plenty here to be had.

Also.. do a search on house breaking. Every time you get upset when your dog poops/pees in the house, all the puppy learns is that it is dangerous to poop/pee when you are there. He may learn this so well tht he makes sure he never poops or pees in front of you... He can transfer this to outside (not peeing or pooping in front of you outside where you want him to go).

After you have the Crate, please read Jean Donaldson's book "the Culture Clash" as it has some excellant discussion of house training.

When you get your first puppy you want all the cute things like playing and cuddling.. and after you have him you realize it is also a lot of eating and pooping and peeing and sleeping! Just like any baby. yeah.. it is fun but it is a LOT of work.
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:rolleyes: Smacking babies is wrong. :)

My first two pups were trained without accident in a crate. NEVER went in the house. My other two did have accidents. Probably 4-5 each. Crates = good for potty training! :D
In the last 4 puppies I have house trained I think I have had maybe 6 accidents total (all 4 dogs) by using a crate and being diligent.

Oh yeah.. and 3 of those dogs were when I was a correction based trainer but I never smacked them either.

My Dad has a sign in his house that reads "Do not hit, smack, harass, pester, poke, yell at, prod, or in anyway abuse the animals."
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