Got a new puppy. Could use some puppy training/housebreaking tips.

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Our only issue right now is that we have about 12"-15" of snow on our grass right now, and it's -7F (-35windchill) outside. He has not enjoyed being outside. He's been great so far, other then peeing/pooping in the house. We're having a hard time getting him to not go in the house.

One of my dogs is a dachshund. Never had to before but when it snows, I have to shovel the backyard.

 

[TestedAcorn]

That's going to be an awesome dog when it gets bigger. I really really really like the eyes. Too bad I don't have any housebreaking tips.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: destrekor
I think a lot of people misinterpret the point of this maneuver. Unless, of course, people do it all the time. I've been under the believe that it's to remind the puppy of what it did, as puppies don't have a long-lasting memory, much like a child... they are purely instinct-based creatures. If they gotta go, they gotta go. Now, as I've said before, I don't condone shoving its nose into the mess, but bring it down close to the mess so that the puppy knows you are making it smell the mess. A dog will know its own brand, as it's a very personalized thing. I'd reckon this is best for when the dog did the deed some time before you realized it, so by carrying out said action, you are forcing the dog to recognize what it had done (earlier the puppy likely didn't realize, but it knows that if it's the scent of its own brand, then it is its own deed).. and you can carry out whatever training punishment you subscribe too. Its important you be on top of the situation before the puppy has a chance to forget what it has done, but it is a given that this will not always be the case, especially in a small household where the humans may not always be able to offer eyes-on.

They have very poor memory, so they don't remember going to the bathroom. They do it 10 times a day, it's not a memorable event for them. There's really nothing to be gained by rubbing their nose in anything.

If you CATCH your puppy peeing, a light smack on the bottom and a no, followed by taking them outside and praising when they go is the thing to do. If you can't stop him in the act, there is no reason to punish him, he won't know why you're doing it. Even still, any kind of corporal punishment on your part can make your puppy handshy for the rest of his life. His first instinct when you reach for him will be to get away from you hitting him. Because of this, it is advisable to skip any kind of spanking, and just take them outside when you see them going. Admittedly, it won't do anything for your frustration, but your dog will be better off.

And I'll second adairusmc's suggestion of a shock collar when he gets older. If used properly, it is the best training tool I've ever seen for a dog. Not for housebreaking, but for pretty much everything else.

This is what makes training so tough I think, you find a mess and feel like something should be done, but really anything you can say/do to a dog at this point in time probably won't help in the housebreaking process.

The whole putting their face in it seems like it could be effective if scolding after the fact (by the way, to those who say it's cruel, think about how many dogs will eat cat shit out of a litter box if given the opportunity; I doubt smelling it's own piss is going to traumatize the thing), but I've never tried it. Could depend on the dog too, some might be able to pick up on the hint while others won't.

 

[BW86]

awww

 

[SlowSpyder]

A crate is ordered, I think that will help our training quite a bit.

I am shoveling the backyard a bit so he'll have a place to go.

 

[teddyv]

The best way imho is take make sure you take him out every couple of hours and right after meals. When he does his business outside, give him tons of praise.

This works well - through this method my border collie/blue healer mix has learned to pee/poo on command

(seriously!)

EDIT - get the Enzyme cleaner and use it to clean up after the pup inside the house, if you just wipe it up they will keep returning to the same spot.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Cold Steel
There's different views about leaving food out. The dogs I've had were fed dry food and it was available to them 24/7. Fresh water, too. I never had a fat dog and never had problems with the dog knowing who was boss. But if you have a dog that aleady thinks he's in charge, then controlling food is a good way to establish dominance. In a wild pack, the boss eats first and will sometimes deny the pack members food completely, depending on circumstances.

Thundering NO and looming over the dog is a terrible idea. Be calm, but let him know you're in charge. Be confident in your position and attitude. Dogs will listen to a calm boss. They don't listen to much to a screamer, except to fear them. The real key is do NOT praise them when they're excited, tense, scared or anything like that. Praise them when they're calm and being submissive to you.

yea boring dry food left out gets eaten when hungry.
its always there. no need ot rush or hoard.

well i was slightly joking about thundering. but you just gotta use enough for them to take notice. and no, its not fear unless you do it for no reason. just consistent reward/praise for good behavior and punishment for bad. dogs respect authority, its part ofthe pack structure. a dog will bark or growl to put a lower ranking dog in its place. its nothing special.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
A crate is ordered, I think that will help our training quite a bit.

I am shoveling the backyard a bit so he'll have a place to go.

a good idea to place in the crate, is one of those puppy pads.. it's scented to attract dogs to pee on it if they need to pee. Now, don't have one in there all the time, just for when you are gone for extended absences.

definitely use the word potty around, so you can begin to 'ask' your dog later.

What I mean, is when you take your dog outside, tell him to 'go potty!' in a positively reinforcing voice.. it should sound pleasant and exciting. Hard to describe. But let him understand you want him to go potty. After awhile, bring this concept inside. You should begin to learn his 'dance' for when he needs to pee or poop, so you may want to say 'let's go potty' as you approach the door and open it. And once again, when your outside, say 'go potty'. Of course, if he does something, say some rewarding things.
You'll be able to get to the point, where if you see your dog acting like it might need to go outside and do its thing, you can ask 'gotta go potty?' and you will likely see a reaction in his eyes or body language if he does indeed need to.

 

[0roo0roo]

yup crate is good.
also those toddler door barriers as well to keep it in a room where piddling is ok...tiled floor or whatever.

 

[LtPage1]

Originally posted by: destrekor
adorable. He looks like a Zach too.

I don't know how you meant that, but he's pretty cute. I'll take it as a compliment.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Well I cancelled the order and went and got a crate tonight, I figured if it took a week for shipping then it would be that much harder to break any bad habits. Thanks for the tips, I really appreciate it!

My sister had my son (18 months old) overnight, the dog and my son finally met. It was pretty cute watching them. So far he's pretty good with having a little kid around him, hopefully that holds out.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: LtPage1

Originally posted by: destrekor
adorable. He looks like a Zach too.

I don't know how you meant that, but he's pretty cute. I'll take it as a compliment.

:laugh:

:camera:s? I need to judge whether your adorable and fit my imagination of what a Zach looks like.

 

[coldmeat]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Is it a bad thing to leave his food out constantly then? We should just bring it out for him to eat at a meal time?

Do not leave his food out. 3 times a day should be good. Water should be accessible all day til probably around 8-9pm.

Why shouldn't you leave the food out all day? We have always done that with our dogs, and they just go eat when they are hungry. I suppose it could lead to them being overweight, but that's never been a problem.

And why get rid of the water at 8/9pm?

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: coldmeat

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Is it a bad thing to leave his food out constantly then? We should just bring it out for him to eat at a meal time?

Do not leave his food out. 3 times a day should be good. Water should be accessible all day til probably around 8-9pm.

Why shouldn't you leave the food out all day? We have always done that with our dogs, and they just go eat when they are hungry. I suppose it could lead to them being overweight, but that's never been a problem.

And why get rid of the water at 8/9pm?

as far as leaving food out, I think it's advised not to do it with a puppy, because its hard to predict when they will need to go. Give them a bowl of food and water in the morning and evening. They should be hungry and want to eat all of it. Will need to poop in about 20 minutes.
However, our puppy eventually got into a grazing habit... we give her food twice a day still, but she doesn't eat all of it at once, she'll take a few bites when she's hungry and move on. She's got a perfect weight for her size right now too, so we know it's working out for her best. Our last dog was a grazer too, and funny enough, my sister's dog is also a grazer. Some dogs just get comfortable, and eventually learn a routine and know that they will get food twice a day.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: coldmeat

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Is it a bad thing to leave his food out constantly then? We should just bring it out for him to eat at a meal time?

Do not leave his food out. 3 times a day should be good. Water should be accessible all day til probably around 8-9pm.

Why shouldn't you leave the food out all day? We have always done that with our dogs, and they just go eat when they are hungry. I suppose it could lead to them being overweight, but that's never been a problem.

And why get rid of the water at 8/9pm?

If you want to house train a puppy, you want him/her to be on a schedule. Also, controlling a puppy's food is a means to building a proper human dominant to puppy relationship. It helps the puppy know who's the boss.

Also, controlling a puppy's diet is important for maintaining proper growth.

Unless, you enjoy waking up every couple of hours during the night, bringing up a puppy's water at night will limit his/her intake allowing for the puppy to sleep longer at night before having to go out.

 

[Toro 45]

Cute puppy, what is the breed?

Crate training is the only way to go, especialy at night when he might be tempted to wander around the house. When you take him from the crate in the morning take him outside immediately to go to the bathroom.

 

[OhSnap688]

I didn't bother reading any of the other posts, but this is what I did and it worked.

You have to kind of see what your dogs bathroom habits are. I.E does he go to the bathroom right away after eating, or like an hour.
After you figure that out, you take the dog out pick a spot and don't move. 20x20 is recommended but a leash length worked fine for me. Anyways, don't play with the dog outside because then they'll get confused thinking that outside time is playtime. When he goes to the bathroom you congratulate him with a treat and say good boy good boy. You know that fun stuff. I know it's going to be tedious and you have to be sooo freaking patient with the dog cause it took my dog about a week to get the hang of it.

As for training, I took my dog to training classes and it was a big waste of money. I could have easily done it myself from reading books.

Oh yeah, daily walks definitely helps keep the dog calmer during the day. The days I don't take my puppy out, it's absolute chaos in the house.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Toro 45
Cute puppy, what is the breed?

Crate training is the only way to go, especialy at night when he might be tempted to wander around the house. When you take him from the crate in the morning take him outside immediately to go to the bathroom.

He is a Sheltie/Blue Heeler mix. I used to have a Sheltie and I loved that dog, he was great. I didn't even know what a Blue Heeler was till we got him and I looked it up.

 

[lupi]

Crate train. Leave him in it for the first couple of months when he can not be under constant watch. Make frequent potty trips when he is out as the bladder size/control of a pup is not very long. Once he has associated going outside with being able to go potty try and develop some signal method so he can let yo know when its time to go.

Just finished this cycle now with my 2nd dogs and other than a few spontaneous leaks when we first got them, never had to spend time cleaning the carpet. The older dog is trained so well we can leave for 18h+ trips and not have a worry.

 

[Soccerman06]

Mine was cuter!!!

 

[SlowSpyder]

Well, he pooped in the crate. We're 0-1 on the crate so far, but hopefully it'll go better in the coming days. We're taking him out very often, we tried about 8 times this morning in the two hours between when I got up and left for work. He finally pee'd outside for the first time. We praised him and gave him a treat, hopefully this will start him in the right direction.

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Well, he pooped in the crate. We're 0-1 on the crate so far, but hopefully it'll go better in the coming days. We're taking him out very often, we tried about 8 times this morning in the two hours between when I got up and left for work. He finally pee'd outside for the first time. We praised him and gave him a treat, hopefully this will start him in the right direction.

Good rule of thumb.

He can hold it for this long:

2 months old= 2 hours
4 months old= 4 hours

So don't expect him to be able to hold it for 8 hours until he is 8 months old. Of course you could get lucky, my female dog could hold it for 8 hours at 12 weeks old.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Codewiz

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Well, he pooped in the crate. We're 0-1 on the crate so far, but hopefully it'll go better in the coming days. We're taking him out very often, we tried about 8 times this morning in the two hours between when I got up and left for work. He finally pee'd outside for the first time. We praised him and gave him a treat, hopefully this will start him in the right direction.

Good rule of thumb.

He can hold it for this long:

2 months old= 2 hours
4 months old= 4 hours

So don't expect him to be able to hold it for 8 hours until he is 8 months old. Of course you could get lucky, my female dog could hold it for 8 hours at 12 weeks old.

Do you think I should get up every few hours to try and take him out for a few weeks? He was born Dec. 13th, btw... so about 2 months old. Thanks!

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Originally posted by: Codewiz

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Well, he pooped in the crate. We're 0-1 on the crate so far, but hopefully it'll go better in the coming days. We're taking him out very often, we tried about 8 times this morning in the two hours between when I got up and left for work. He finally pee'd outside for the first time. We praised him and gave him a treat, hopefully this will start him in the right direction.

Good rule of thumb.

He can hold it for this long:

2 months old= 2 hours
4 months old= 4 hours

So don't expect him to be able to hold it for 8 hours until he is 8 months old. Of course you could get lucky, my female dog could hold it for 8 hours at 12 weeks old.

Do you think I should get up every few hours to try and take him out for a few weeks? He was born Dec. 13th, btw... so about 2 months old. Thanks!

You're going to have to til he can hold it longer. I used to have to wake up 2-3 times a night when one of my dogs was a puppy. I carried her crate up to the bedroom at night and she'd let me know when she had to get out.

Make sure not to provide too much room in the crate or he'll just do his business in it. Possible make and put a divider in it to give him just enough room to walk a little bit and turn around in it.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder

Originally posted by: Codewiz

Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Well, he pooped in the crate. We're 0-1 on the crate so far, but hopefully it'll go better in the coming days. We're taking him out very often, we tried about 8 times this morning in the two hours between when I got up and left for work. He finally pee'd outside for the first time. We praised him and gave him a treat, hopefully this will start him in the right direction.

Good rule of thumb.

He can hold it for this long:

2 months old= 2 hours
4 months old= 4 hours

So don't expect him to be able to hold it for 8 hours until he is 8 months old. Of course you could get lucky, my female dog could hold it for 8 hours at 12 weeks old.

Do you think I should get up every few hours to try and take him out for a few weeks? He was born Dec. 13th, btw... so about 2 months old. Thanks!

You're going to have to til he can hold it longer. I used to have to wake up 2-3 times a night when one of my dogs was a puppy. I carried her crate up to the bedroom at night and she'd let me know when she had to get out.

Make sure not to provide too much room in the crate or he'll just do his business in it. Possible make and put a divider in it to give him just enough room to walk a little bit and turn around in it.

The crate we got is about twice as wide/long as him at most, but not more then that. Is that too much room do you think?