Housetraining in an apartment

[Angel]

Scooby is five months old and still not house trained! I live in an apartment and don't have a garden so can't really train him to go outside.

I have bought him one of those whizdog indoor toilet things which he hasn't used at all! When i see him start to squat, i bring him to the whizdog straight away but he just looks confused and stop peeing. Hes using the whizdog as a kind of table for his food now!

I have tried newspaper which he just chew to bits

I just don't know what to do. Please help!

[Lani]

I live in an apartment - I just walk Lucky whenever he goes out. Most people I know live in apartments and they do the same thing. It takes a bit of a time commitment for a puppy, but he'll need to go out less as he gets older and the walks are good exercise for me and him. Dogs also really need to work off their energy and the walks help fill that need for them too. Once they are trained to walk on a leash they really enjoy it

As an alternative, if you really want to train him to go indoors (this is a particularly attractive option in yucky weather ...), I'd get the wee wee pads that are specifically designed for this. there are frames that you can buy for these to keep the dog from shredding them.

If you can find the time, I'd really suggest walking him. You might need to spend a LOT of time out there the first few times to get him used to going outside, and then praise him like crazy so he know he did something great, but from my perspective, it was a worthwhile investment not to have him go in the house.

Also - Look on Amazon for the book How to Housetrain your dog in 7 days (Shirley Kalstone, I believe, is the author). Many of us on the board swear by this book. Good Luck.

[arasara]

I don't live in an apartment so I don't have that problem but I do agree with Lani about exercising them. Kosmo is over 1 now and hardly goes out for "just a pee break" We most always take walks... even if they are short ones to the end of the block and back. They really seem to enjoy it and a tired dog is a lot better behaved than a bored dog.

The wee wee pads you can also get with a scent attractant on them. Faith only used that kind. The kind without the scent she tore to bits.

Good Luck

[Lani]

By the way, Alice, a lot of us also use bells so our dogs can let us know when they need to go on a walk - once they get used to going outside, this can help them let you know when they need to go so you'll have less mistakes in doors. Some dogs pick it up faster than others, but with patience and consistency I think most dogs get it.

Here's an example of the bells, but you can use any kind of jingle bells on a string or the hotel type "ring for service" bells too.

http://www.poochie-pets.net/

Good luck.

[aleethomas]

We live on the 14th floor and it took a lot of work to potty train! But it was worth it. We stuck to our guns for about 1 month and ever since then we haven't had any accidents. Padden is now 6 months and doesn't really let us know that she has to go but we know her schedule and she will potty on command.

Here was our strategy & some tips:
-in her crate unless she had just gone or we knew she didn't have to.
-out of her crate only with CONSTANT supervision... i mean we watched her like a hawk!
-took her outside everytime we took her out of the crate
-if she didn't potty after going outside we put her back in her crate and waited some time and then took her out again. We kept doing this until she would go potty.
-taught her how to "go potty" & "hurry up" on command.
-carried her down the hall, & down the elevator. She didn't set foot until she was outside. (now that she is tained she is able to make the treck on foot but she has had a few accidents in the hallway)
-to jump start the training we took her out for an entire day and that way her only option was to go outside.
-tons of treats and praise!!!!!!!
-everytime she had an accident it was OUR fault. Puppies don't know any better.

We too tried the training pads in the house and she would chew them up and not use them. So one day we picked them up and became very strict with the training. I never thought she would be potty trained ever!! But it will happen. Start today and give it some time because you will have accidents but eventually the will get spread apart more and more.

[natalieandmike]

We live in a house, but we had a very similar schedule as aleethomas... we called it 'constant vigilance'. No accidents after the first day! But we STILL (and Bianca is 8.5 months old) take her IMMEDIATELY outside to potty after she has been in her crate for any length of time. She is not yet allowed to go anywhere she wants in the house without supervision. Take no chances!

As an aside, I'm impressed at those of you who can get your dog to "potty' on command. We've been trying it but it just seems like although she pees right away after we go out, she needs a bit of a walk/run to get her started before #2(except when it's raining, which she hates so much she will potty as soon as possible to get back inside...in that case, she actually prefers the litterbox). I've always wondered a bit about this myself...not to get graphic, but if someone told ME to go #2 right away, I'm not sure that I could!!!! --Natalie

[Laura&Lia]

We live in a flat in Barcelona. We've trained Lia to go outside! You need a lot of patience.

You can consider the pads if you want him to go indoor. Is a reasonable decision if you live in very cold areas, or you can't take him outside many times per day. In Barcelona the weather is very warm so we can go outside almost 97 % of the times!

The training was hard because we had to go outside every time Lia wanted to pee, and with a 3 months old puppy that were 8 or 10 times a day! In almost two weeks she was more or less trained (she had some accidents, but no so many)
Now we take Lia outside 3 or 4 times a day for a walk, and she only pees during them.

[Jessieca]

I would also consider the pads. We are in an apt as well, and also near Seattle, where it rains the majority of the time. Our apartments do not allow animals to urinate in the grass here (they said it makes it yellow), so I would have to walk him half a mile away to take him to go potty!!! That was basically an impossibility at 10 weeks old; he most definitely could not hold it for that long. (They of course did not tell us this until AFTER we got a dog).

We have a pad inside of a doggy litter pan (we did the dog litter from petco, but our dog would NOT stop eating it, and that led to other issues). We flush the poop immediately after he goes on it, and then replace the pad 3 times a day so that our apartment doesn't stink of urine. Every time we would see him start to squat, we would pick him up and run and put him on the pad. It took a LOT of patience, but it was well worth it. Now, even if he has to go in the middle of the night, he just gets up, does his business, and goes back to sleep. He was 100% trained by 6 months to go indoors. Now if we could just get him to stop either A)peeing on his foot or B) stepping in it when he is done! (We keep some doggy wipes near by just in case he does)

What's kind of funny about this is he REFUSES to go potty outside EVER. If I visit a friend all day, I just bring a pad, and show him where I put it, and he will 100% of the time go on it. In 6 months, he has not gone potty outside once...lol...weird, I know, but it just wasn't an option unfortunately.

I would do what everyone else says and make sure your dog still gets exercise and goes for a walk every day. I try to take Bailey out for at least 30 minutes a day, unless the weather is just miserable, in which case he will just whimper over getting wet :P

**PS - if you do decide to go this route, and need some advice, just email me and I can send you some more tips. It was a bit frustrating at first, but well worth it once he got the hang of it

[Justine]

i think you do need patience as alfs still has the occ.accident and we have a house,alfs is a year old soon.

[Heather Kay]

I live in a condo and don't have that much of a back yard, so I use a litter tray with Yesterday's News paper litter. The breeder started her on the training so she gets the concept of it, but every once in awhile if she's away from her box (in another room) she'll start to squat and I immediately pick her up and put her in her box so she can finish. When she's finished, I praise her. I am in the process of training her to go outside now.

I have tried the pads as well but it just seemed like more work and made a huge mess and smelled up my apartment, unlike the paper litter (which absorbs most of the odor). I change it every other day or so, and immediately pick it up when she goes #2 so there is little maintenance involved.

Let me tell you, it sure is nice if I am working late and just want to relax in front of the TV and Bella will just go right over to the her box and relieve herself. It gives me peace of mind when I am gone too, that I won't come home to a disaster zone