HELP! Potty training issues!

I was diligent to read books..Housetraining in 7 Days, Brian Kilcommon's Good Dogs, Great Owners. The first week of puppy went great. Very few accidents, regular eating and potty schedule. NOW we're into the 2nd week, and Marley has taken to going on our BRAND NEW CARPET in the family room. And this happens RIGHT AFTER he's been outside and does both a pee and poop. He sits in the kitchen for a minute, then makes a beeline to the family room. I've used Nature's Miracle to clean up, but even this morning, after he was taken out, he ran down there. I immediately picked him up and took him outside again where he did another poop. Now I'm wondering if I should just gate off the area for a few days. Also, I'm wondering if I created a problem by leaving the back door open (weather's been great) and he just runs in and out. I wonder if he's confused about that, like maybe there's no difference between grass and carpet. He's 12 weeks old and I'm feeding him 2 times a day, at 6:30 am and 5:00 pm. He is crated while we are at work (from 7:30 to 1:30) and crating is fine, no messes there. Just our carpet. Any advise would be helpful. My husband is getting VERY frustrated, thinking all this new "dog psychology" is baloney. :?

I would definitely gate off the area. He shouldn't be allowed to go into any room unsupervised. If you leave the room either take him with you or crate him.

I know it can be frustrating but you will get there in the end. I'm house training 2 dogs at the moment and they are never left unsupervised - they even come to the bathroom with me :lol:

He is bound to have some accidents but he will learn.

Good luck :flwr:

First off, he's adorable!

Our dogs have all gone through a phase where they tried to establish the living room carpet as their alternate, more convenient pooping place. They do get over it once they figure out that it really really makes you mad at them--have to catch them in the act, though, in order to be able to rebuke them sharply and get the message across. It's best to just make sure it doesn't happen so that the habit is broken.

Yes, definitely cordon off the area and severely limit where you allow him to go in the house by himself (probably no where!) until he's over this. It's a good idea to just keep him with you--I've even resorted to attaching a leash to my belt loop and force them to go everywhere I go. As casshon says, stick him in his crate when you have to leave him alone.

But it also sounds like maybe you need to make him stay outside a bit longer after he pees and does that first poop. It's possible that being able to run in and out on his own has created a bit of confusion, and maybe you need to be a little more methodical about going out with him and standing by him.

That second stage of pooping is a bit different. I don't know if anyone else has experienced that, but it makes me wonder if he might be getting a bit too much food at one or both of his meals? I have no idea though.

are you catching him in the act?? I got "peed on" quite a few times with little Faithey before she caught on. Yeseterday she actually pooped in the house when I was outside with Kosmo - BUT - I count it as a victory as it was so close to the door that I actually stepped on it upon coming back :yikes hehe Of course I couldn't get mad at her because I wasn't watching her (my mistake.) But I was happy that she knew where she was supposed to go and she tried her best to make it there. We're doing pretty well though but I gotta say the best thing and where you make the most progress is when you catch them in the act and take them.

Also do you know if you're using enough natures miracle? I know urine is supposed to show up neon under a black light - you might want to check it with that :flwr:

I am potty training right now too. The best advice I can give is to gate off the kitchen. There should be no entry into carpeted areas without close supervision. After a while Marley will catch on and learn that if he wants his feet to touch carpet he nees to be on his best behaviour. Our puppy spends most of his life in the kitchen (as do we now) and only leaves it to sit on our laps while we watch TV. Good luck!

I personally think your onto something with your thoughts on having him go out an opened kitchen patio door. When our nice weather hit 2 wks ago (kodee is about the same age) we were out so much I guess I assumed she would go while out there. WRONG WRONG WRONG. In the winter she did her thing quickly as it was cold. When the nice weather came she was more interested in pulling me to the front of the house to watch passing people or chase a ball - we'd be out like an hr or so and then 15 min in, she hit the carpet a few times.

I've had maybe 2 spells with that sort of behaviour. What I always notice is, once she has an accident - I have to watch her like a hawk as she is 10 x more likely to try to do it again - I usually then end up having a bad 2 days. I go back to square one when that happens - out the door on a leash every hr to 1.5 hrs without fail. Then it ends - she doenst like being dragged out on a line and straight back in - its no fun - she gets the point.

We had the same thing with Teddy, but only in the evening. He could have just been out and gone potty and he would come in a poop again - on the carpet and once on the kitchen wood floor! He also happened to have some pee accidents too, but usually during the middle of play - like he was having so much fun playing with Colin he didn't notice he had to go. :shock: We would have several days with no accidents, and then he would have one or two days in a row where he had one. I think it was just puppy brain!

Last week was my spring break and I was home the whole week. I watched him like a hawk - any sign of sniffing and we were back out. Now we have been 12 days now no accidents. He is currently 17 weeks and is going to the door to go potty. Now the weather is nice, so we spend more time outside which I think helps alot. We got Colin in the summer and he potty trained in just a couple of weeks. It took 6 weeks for Teddy to be consistent.

I also bought one of those lights to see the pee on the carpet and was going to send it back because Teddy is doing so good. I know the minute I send it back we will have problems, so I'm keeping it!