HELP! I am at my wits end with this puppy!!!

OK, I do know that potty training should be a breeze for me since I have 4 other dogs, all 4 are 100% housebroken, so I should be an old pro.... It has all seemed to be going pretty well with Alice, as long as we took her out often enough she did fine. She went about 3 weeks or more with no accidents.... Now she has had 3 pee and one poo accident in the last week or so. And she is nearly 6 months!!! We have learned the hard way that if she only poos then we'll have to take her out again in about 20 minutes or so for a pee. Tonight it was barely 10 min after a poo and she peed on the floor! (I do partly blame my daughter - she probably should've stayed outside longer with her!) The worst part is, I didn't see the pee, offered her a small drink, and then walked her aound outside to get her to pee, when she wouldn't go we then came in and saw the pee!!! UUURRRGGGHHHHH!!! Well, there I expressed my anger!
I am just sooo frustrated with her! She doesn't do anything to tell us she has to go out, but we do mostly try to keep her in the same room with us, we take her out often, monitor when and how much she drinks, etc, etc. We do walk her on lead outside to make sure she goes. I guess the next time she'll "only poo" she's just going to have to go in her crate for a bit, or be kept on lead right with us. We did think of the string of bells by the door trick but we have failed at that before since we have cats that like to play with bells! I guess my question for the cavie experts is :
Just how long does it take for them to be potty trained?
Do they ever let you know when they have to go?
I just feel like this is going on FOREVER! Our other dogs were pretty much (at least 90%) housebroken by 5 months of age, although I have heard stories of some small breeds who are NEVER reliably housebroken, which is starting to make me nervous.... I do remember my Westie (our only smalll breed before Alice) having accidents as late as 6 months of age though.... The other really weird thing is that we have walked Alice on a leash in our side yard for so long now that when she goes into the fenced back yard with our other dogs SHE WON'T GO TO THE BATHROOM! It is sooo strange! After she is recovered from her spay we are going to start walking her ONLY in the back yard so she will get used to pottying back there. (There's a flight of steps the dogs have to go down to the backyard, which Alice won't be allowed to do after her surgery, so we haven't bothered to push the backyard too much.) Anyway, I'd love other stories of how long it took your cavs to become 100% potty trained, hopefully Alice will learn this SOON....

:xfngr:
Tawna

It's been such a long time....but I seem to recall Jake was 100% at about a year, Shelby a little quicker but she was an easier puppy in general. I do think 6 months is a bit early.

I'm sure someone else will pop in here with some guidance and advice. Hang in there.

I think my 2 boys were pretty reliable by 6 months, but not totally...I'd say they were very reliable/totally housebroken by about 9-10 months...hang in there, she'll eventually get it!

Tawna,
It WILL get better! It seems like everything finally clicked for Rudy this month. He's 9 mos old and just a few weeks ago, he was still pottying in the house. Despite our best efforts, he just didn't seem to have the control. Altho he will stand at the back door, if you aren't there when the urge hits, he'd go wherever. Now, at least he looks for us when he has to go and just stands and glares like "can't you read my mind"?

We do still rely on the pee pads in the kitchen when we have to be gone an extended period. But he's even doing better with that - not going at all or holding it a lot longer.

Keep at it!

Hang in there, it is early yet. Just backtrack to the more vigilant attention you used when she was younger and move slowly back forward from there. Sometime Lizzie still has accidents. Usually it happens when it is raining out and she hates going out and getting all wet. She will wee on area rugs or even poo on them. She usually goes to the doggie door and waits for me to open it for her or paws at it, though. (It is electronic and I don't have it where they can go in and out at will at present) I have to stay on top of her when it is bad weather and make her stay out until she goes.

Just be patient,Archie who is a yr now,weeed on my carpet,just a week ago.He also did one on the floor which a slipped in.They do have and occ.slip up.I find when its raining he seems to go out but come in as soon as poss,thats when he has a accident.

I think 6 months is pretty early to expect a dog not to have accidents -- the fact that you mention you perhaps aren't controlling her closely enough after she has her walks etc (eg that she is even able to have those pees at all inside) indicates she just doesn't yet understand where she is supposed to go... and that you have assumed too much too quickly, a common problem for owners! Which as I always say, means the issue lies with the training and supervision -- eg with US, the owners -- NOT the dog not understanding. I know it is frustrating but as with teaching a small child on the potty, some learn fast, some learn slow, some regress and have mistakes, some just forget because they are young and small. Your puppy is young and small and clearly doesn;t yet understand exactly what you want from her. It sounds like she needs better scrutiny. It sounds like someone needs to keep with her EVERY time she has a poop until she also pees. Most dogs need to do BOTH and most dogs will want to urin ate at some point after they relieve their bowels.

If you feel angry, a good way of dealing with it is to go into another room and count backwards from 50. Or as trainers often say, roll up a newspaper, then hit yourself on the head and say 'bad owner! I promise to keep a better eye on my pup next time around'. :lol:

If you check the links I have in the Library on housetraining/crate training (or in the training section, the links pinned a the top) ALL say 100% supervision 100% of the time and encouragement, never punishment, is what gets results. But you also simply MUST allow for the variations of individual dog just as you would not scream at a toddler for being potty trained more slowly than previous siblings. It simply isn;t fair to have such expectations.

If you feel you need some good written guidance, I always recommend Shirlee Kalstone's classic book on housetraining. That's widely available from Amazon or sites like www.sitstay.com.

There's also great advice on www.dogstardaily.com.

Neither of my boys were totally accident free til around age 1. And I was home with them every day. They were both 95% trained by 6 months though --and also they could have moments when they slip, especially in *ad0lescence* which comes exactly around the age of your pup. The answer is closer supervision and management.

PS Lots of dogs give no warning -- none of mine do -- but you can train her to bark if you'd like. You need to teach her to speak first, and then also link speaking to taking her out for potty. I think Kasltone goes into this but google it, I am sure there are some guides to doing this online.

Thanks to all for the advise, it makes me feel much better to know that other cavs were still having accidents at Alice's age and weren't housebroken till closer to a year old.... We are trying to be more careful and supervise her more closely... We are used to our larger breed dogs who were potty trained at younger ages I guess. As I type this I'm having to call her back to me, she is always trying to wonder off - we have a split level house, I'm usually downstairs and she is always trying to go upstairs... If I have to she's just going to have to go on a leash so she'll stay nearby! Of course our older dogs go where they please, so Alice is always running after them! Thanks to everyone, we're going to have to be stricter with her I see. Anyway, she'll be getting spayed on Wednesday, so then I'll probably have to keep her on a leash with me for a few days so she's not running around too much! :thnx:
Tawna

I know this might sound crazy, but I actually wrote down each time of day they went potty for a few weeks. You will start to see a pattern- especially if you feed them at the same time each day. They kind of showed me themselves when to take them out by the schedule they made. I always take them out our back sliding glass door, so if they have to go and I'm not in the kitchen, they will scratch at the door. They are 10 months and 17 months, and I still take them out on leads to potty. That way I know they are really going, and if they pee or poop. One of them poops 4 times a day, and my other only poops 2 times a day.
I know it is frustrating, but hoepfully it will be better soon.

I must admit I'm amazed at the time you all say it will take!!

I have always had German Shepherds and Labradors and I pride myself on never having had a wee or poo indoors. This little cuddly ball of trouble I have now is doing it all over the place if I dont take him out every half hour or even more often.
I didnt dream it would take till he was 6-12 months!

Hang on in there - he will pick it up eventually!

Poppy isnt house trained at all, but we expected that due to her history, but i havnt got to the frustrated bit yet!

I share your pain Janice! If you've only ever had larger breeds, housebreaking a small/toy breed is a whole new thing! Not that I'd trade my cavalier for the world, but I had no idea how long it took to train them either! In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that we have 5 dogs now we'd probably get another cav right now... but maybe an older housebroken one!!!
Tawna

Hi there, I know what you mean...it seems like it is taking forever even if they are young.. My other dog I used to have was 100% at 6 months..Rex seemed to get it...went to the door a few times but I put him out every hour to 2 hours just in case....this weekend he had 2 right in front of my husband..I thought we where moving forward but we took 2 steps back..I keep taking him out so I wont have a mess, he goes out w/out a lead and I just stand there and watch....Its crazy in the a.m cuz he will go out and pee then have to go out and poop w/in min if he didnt then he will eat and half way thru have to go out and poop again...I take him out about 3 times in 30 min...I give him time out there w/me there w/him..its almost like he has to run around to work it up LOL! I do wish he would show more signs he has to go out..so I am trying what I did w/my old dog..I would get all crazy and jump up and down and say you got to "go outside" and make it fun then we both run to the door and he goes and I praise..he worked so fast w/Moey or last dog...I just started but he likes to jump around w/me so maybe he will learn and do it fast.....I am getting so tired of taking him out sooo darn many times....Hang in there...Good luck Wednesday...

Holly was very hit and miss up to around 10 months. She'd go weeks without a mishap and i'd think "this is it" and bam, pee inside again.
She's perfect now though, once she hit the year mark it seemed to really stick, she has a good routine now and if she needs to go inbetween she goes to the backdoor and scrapes!
Hang in there she'll get it eventually, just be patient and gentle with her.

Again, it is pretty easy to train a dog to let you know it wants to go outside -- some dogs will do this naturally but not that many! None of mine will bark to go, except Lucy now and then. But then they go out at regular times, four times a day. The only accidents come when they are ill or I forget!

How to train a dog to bark to go outside.

Mindy will bark to go outside but only at night when we are sleeping. She didn't for years though (of course she didn't need to go outside at night until the last couple of years. It took some time to teach her to go to the door because that wasn't how she had been trained. I was amazed at how quickly Max learned to go to the door probably within a week of having him when he was in the kitchen (where the door is) - if I'm not quick enough he will scratch at the door. He had Mindy's example though so I'm sure that helped

I've never had large dogs, so I can't speak from experience. But let's just say there is more motivation to potty train them more quickly because the "waste" makes a MUCH LARGER MESS than a small dog's. It's not that they're any smarter or anything, but you probably just paid more attention. Also, their bladders are larger. My toy breeds have always taken a long time to potty train.

Just my opinion!