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

2308 Views 28 Replies 18 Participants Last post by Hound, Jun 16, 2009

buckingfassist

Discussion Starter · Jun 8, 2009

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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buckingfassist

Discussion Starter · #21 · Jun 10, 2009

Trixie said:
At risk of upsetting the OP -- I think you need a serious attitude readjustment if this is going to work.

First of all, all of this -- all of it -- is normal. Totally, 100% normal housebreaking behavior. Nothing is out of the ordinary at all.
.

no im not upset i thank you. this is all i really needed. some reassurance that its normal. i was begginning to question myself as my dogs trainer. theres so many conflicting opinions out there about puppy raising, i cant tell you how many people wrote to me privately telling me that smacking my puppy (not violently) is a usefull tactic.

anyways, ultimatly i will find out what works best for my dog, since every dog is different.

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HORSEandHOUND

· #22 · Jun 10, 2009

puppies are as time consuming as babies.... they are 100 times more difficult than a kitten.
honestly your life will get a ton easier if you get a book for first time puppy owners and a crate that is only large enough for your puppy to turn around and lay down in comfortably. i personally dont see how puppies can get house trained without a crate.
my puppy is 10 weeks old and has 0-1 accident in the house now, and sleeps 7 hours straight.

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FourIsCompany

· #23 · Jun 10, 2009

buckingfassist said:
i cant tell you how many people wrote to me privately telling me that smacking my puppy (not violently) is a usefull tactic.

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!

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Elana55

· #24 · Jun 11, 2009

FourIsCompany said:
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!

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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RottieMomx3

· #25 · Jun 11, 2009 (Edited)

One thing that really helped me with all my dogs is keeping a chart next to the door you take the pup out. Record the time and what the pup did (pee, poop, nothing). If the pup does nothing, back in the crate for 15 min then take out again. Repeat until the pup pees/poops. The pup gets no play time until it goes potty outside. ALWAYS supervise your puppy when out of crate. I put the lead around my belt loop, that way if the pup started to go in the house, I marked the behavior with a stern NO and went outside right that second! Mark accidents on chart too. After a week or two of this you will begin to see a pattern. Also mark feeding times. Feed at appox same time each day, offer water at approx same time each day. Then when you review the chart you will see OK my pup goes pee 20 min after drinking, etc. So start taking pup out 15 min after drinking, etc. I always set my timer on the stove to remind me! Otherwise my human busy brain forgot! Take a deep breath and take each day at a time. It's not an exact science but you will learn to see what behaviors your pup displays when they have to potty. One of my rotts prances, one stands by the door, the other barks. My griff rings a bell that hangs on the door. Each one is different. Good luck! A lot of good advice in this thread! You have to fine tune everything to fit your dog, find out what works for the dog, not for the human.

Christina

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Cracker

· #26 · Jun 11, 2009

Yep, the ones who pmailed you that it is not wrong to punish your puppy for something she has NO PHYSICAL CONTROL OVER..pmailed you because they knew it would cause issues here in the forum..because it's BAD ADVICE.

Human babies have diapers so their eliminations can be kept to a messy minimum...puppies don't get diapers. They have human caregivers who are the only ones who have the ability to open doors (ie opposable thumbs)..lol.

Not only does your pup have a bladder the size of a shot glass, but is not old enough to have the sphincter control to "hold" on to anything, either liquid or solid. So it is up to you to keep a chart, keep to a schedule, supervise your puppy at all times (and crate when you cannot), limit her freedom in the house (umbilical leash training helps alot here) and GRADUALLY allow her more access.

When you take her outside, do it on leash, pick a spot and stand there til she goes. Use your cue word (potty, do your business, whatever) as soon as the squat happens. Have a puppy party, praising and rewarding her for doing her business. This may take a bit of standing around and waiting. Oh well. If she doesn't go in ten minutes, back in the crate, wait ten or fifteen then try again. Consistency, good scheduling and following a feeding/play/train schedule like suggested before will really really really help. If she has an accident rollup a newspaper and bop YOURSELF over the head, because the onus for accidents is on YOU, not on the pup. Just clean it up and move on.

Puppies need to void after sleep/nap, after a meal, after play or any stimulus. Moving gets things moving. When in doubt, take her out.

You WILL get through this..and as you go on new things will pop up, chewing, jumping, putting the brakes on during walks etc etc. All normal phases of development with puppies. Get yourself some good books (The Puppy Whisperer by Paul Owens is a personal fave) and then keep reading. There is a lot of good info out there, anything that recommends physical punishment ESPECIALLY with a young pup is just plain bad news. Really.

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wvasko

· #27 · Jun 12, 2009

buckingfassist said:
no im not upset i thank you. this is all i really needed. some reassurance that its normal. i was begginning to question myself as my dogs trainer. theres so many conflicting opinions out there about puppy raising, i cant tell you how many people wrote to me privately telling me that smacking my puppy (not violently) is a usefull tactic.

anyways, ultimatly i will find out what works best for my dog, since every dog is different.

You are getting great advice especially the chart/journal type of record keeping. The PM's that you got about the smacking are ludigrous. You are not alone as it is the way of the puppy to be a big a pain in the butt as possible. Right now it's what they live for. It will get better.

PS, if you don't have a crate, buy, rent or steal one. Unless you are not interested in preserving your sanity. It's a personal choice.

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Juniper's mom

· #28 · Jun 13, 2009

I was a new dog owner only three short months ago. i remember thinking we'd bring our pup home from the shelter, and she'd sleep peacefully at our feet. Boy were we in for a rude awakening.

Agree with everyone about regular controlled feedings being a must, also scheduled walks, and especially THE CRATE. The thing is that most dogs learn that the crate is not for elimination. It gets you a jump on reinforcing where it is in appropriate to go. You want to limit the pup's opportunity to mess up, literally. Use the crate to limit their freedom.

One thing that worked for us was the following routine: we would walk Juniper regularly every two hours. If she went outside, she got praised and the royal treatment back inside--full run of the house. If she didn't go, but there had been no accidents, we returned home and put her on the "modified freedom" plan -- on a leash, next to mom or dad. If an accident happened, we rushed her outside and then upon return, she goes back in the crate until the next walk time. Of course when we had had a few good days and she had an accident, we felt like failures, but this is very normal stuff.

One other thing that I've learned from reading these forums is that dogs have a really hard time understanding that they're doing something wrong. They don't do things intentionally to anger or annoy you, they are just little blank slates looking for the boundaries. What you should do is figure out how to mark or reinforce good behavior with your dog. The clicker can be really helpful in this regard.

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Hound

· #29 · Jun 16, 2009

Disciplining your pet requires a planned strategy that considers perfect timing. The initial scenarios you described showed a playful, young puppy. These traits come very natural during this time. As your puppy grows, you should insert disciplinary lessons which are backed by motivators. Observe the response before continuing your strategy. If there are notable improvements, be patient and continue until your puppy develops better obedience. If it were otherwise, devise another line of attack.

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