dog doesnt know where to wee...

ok. I admit it i have made a right pig's ear of trying to train ruby. Karlin said the other day that i would have to start again and i certainly will have to. Ruby is nearly 5 months old now and i had her in the utility and downstairs bathroom and then after advise from this site i restricted her to the downstairs bathroom. She did very well in that she then had no wee or poo at all in the morning until she went out. Then i asked question on this site again because she was weeing in the kitchen when i left her into the children for a few minutes and everyone said to start crate training that it was no good to train just in one room and i have ordered the book that karlin said from amazon and i am waiting for it. Yesterday i started with the treats outside when ruby did a wee and we were doing well enough besides her sitting looking at me for ages and ages while i went wee ruby wee ruby...hee hee!! Then when she had done this i left her into kitchen for two minutes and my daughter had her on her lap on the floor and i was watching them. I literally turned my back for two minutes to fix my iron press to get ready for ironing and taylor said mom she wee'd on me and on the mat beside her. So i said no ruby! and put her outside where she just kept looking at me when i was trying to get her to wee outside. Then i was afraid i had frightened her by saying no ruby....... To make a long story shorter!!!! Last night she was just sitting outside looking at me when i was saying wee ruby ,good girl,wee ruby and i had the treats and all in my pocket. Eventually i had to leave her back in!! This morning then her down stairs bathroom was full of wee and poo!!! Which it hasnt been in approx 2 weeks. she even had her blanket on the floor full of wee. I know im going to have to start all over.
I presume she is not too old now to start all over with a crate is she?? and i know i have done it all wrong. i was trying to train the old fashioned way i suppose with the paper.etc.

You need to start from the very beginning.

She doesn;t know the words you are saying mean wee and poo. You need to train to the words but first -- she needs to be housetrained -- you start to teach the words AS you housetrain. To put it another wy -- imagine you turned right now to your daughter and said, "Comment t'appelle-tu?" She would likely look at you as if you had two heads. You could stand there and say it 20 times and she would not know that you expect her to say her name because you are asking her to tell you her name in French. That is what Ruby is going through when you say a string of words while she sits outside. What is the world, she thinks, is she on about?

The nature of housetraining is that puppies go when you aren't watching. That's why you need 100% supervision or management, 100% of the time.

In the evening, I'd suggest not just plopping her outside and waiting. Put her on her lead and walk her around the garden. Don't talk at her to try to get her to go. Wait til she goes and then praise quietly (don't startle her!) and treat the split second she finishes and praise some more! If she hasn't done a poop -- or a pee -- then you stay out there and keep walking her around until she goes. Remember toilet training your child? You have to be sure Ruby goes before she goes to bed. If that means you keep retrying over the period of an hour, then that is what you do.

I gave a bunch of links before I think on houstraining in the Library section -- all of those should help explain the process. You really do need to give this 100% right now though. You know she can be trained as you have trained her to one small room. Now you need to do the same for the rest of the house. PS She cannot hold herself more than about three-four hours max at her age except at night while asleep (and ideally should be out more than that anyway and not left to hold it during the day), and while housetraining, you need to be getting her out every 90 minutes or so to go to start getting the idea in her head of what to do.

It sounds like you need to wait until she is actually going to the toilet then praise and give the treats as she prob doesn't have a clue what wee means yet. Are you taking her out at regular intervals?? You need to stay outside with her until she wee's. you need to see her weeing then give her lots of praise as if its before or too late after she wont understand exactly what action is being praised
A crate would really help but you'll have to persevere, if she doesn't like it - make sure it a really positive thing for her so she assocites with being safe, happy and secure
Ralphie is about the same age and we still have the odd accident but usually because i haven't seen the signs, mostly he will come to lead me to the door

Good Luck

Thanks for being so helpful. I have priced the crate and i will start from scratch. I'll put the lead on her as you said and walk around with her until she wee's. etc. The crate in argos seems good. Would i need the large size to go into adulthood? There is one in argos 73.99 which folds away h.73 w 91 d 63
and another 54.99 euro h64 w79 d54

there is also small h40 w32 d49

Im presuming i need the bigger. I read some of the sites about crate training and it said to measure the dog and add 12 inches onto that for full adult length. I intend to do this properly now and havent got the book yet but i am reading all the sites you have told me about. I want the crate to be her new bed now as you have all suggested.
Here they didnt know what i even meant when i rang the vet who sells the crates. They said what?? I said crate training. And explained what i wanted. They said oh that must be an american site and i said no its irish and the woman said ,well they are cages not crates!!!! and i said to myself 'someone got out of the wrong side of the bed today'!!!!! :cry*ing:

Don't worry, it's not too late and she will catch on eventually. I had the same problem with my puppy- I got him at 4 months and he has been very challenging to train. At first, I wasn't doing the crate/ cage thing because he would scream like a banshee every time I put him in there. It did take 2 weeks for him to stop doing that, but I'm glad I did. Now at 7 months, he's pretty good but we still have accidents now and again. With kids, it's hard to keep your eye on the pup every second. I have a 2 YO son so I know. However, it really is imperative. I put him in his crate anytime I have to do chores, etc unless he JUST pooped and peed outside. At your pups age, though, I would let her spend A LOT of time in her crate. It may seem cruel, but it's only temporary. She'll get the picture.

Adding 12" all around sounds pretty good for the crate. You just don't want it TOO big. She'll need to be able to stand up and turn around in it as an adult. Also, I wouldn't keep food or water bottles/ dishes in the crate with her.

Good luck!

update on ruby wee's

I must post an update i suppose im easily excited but yesterday i really started with ruby trying to train her properly.
Last night my husband thought i was mad but i brought ruby out twice last night late and the first time i just walked around the area and she did a poop and i praised her madly and gave her the treat and said your not finished yet mrs!!!!! After another 6 mins she did her wee and i nearly jumped over the fence into the river with excitement!!! and obviously gave her the treat and hugely praised her and left her in straight away.

Then i brought her out before i went to bed and she did her wee first and i was going to leave her in, because i thought she might not have anything else to do, but, kept her outside and low and behold she did the poop a few minutes later. She got her treat and praise. My poor husband didnt know what was up. All he could hear me saying coming back in the door was YES YES YES YES!!!!!

It is frustrating when it takes a longer time to housetrain a pup than you thought it would take. Sunshine took a long time but it was my fault. I was really lazy with her last summer and I thought she was housetrained only because I left the door open and she was outside most of the time with the kids. But when winter came she didn't understand it wasn't okay to go inside. I had to start over with her as well. I crated her when I couldn't watch her and I set a timer to let me know when she should go outside. If she didn't go when I took her out I would set the timer for less and less time until she went or I put her in the crate again. She is really good about it now and I would say she is at least 90% housetrained. I still can't trust her with full run of the house, as I have the basement locked off, but it will come. She hasn't had an accident since November.

So proud. :rah:
Hali at 7 months is now letting me know she needs to go outside, runs to me & barks. I ask her if she has to go "outside" and we go to the door. Unfortunately she does have an occasional accident on the living room wood floor if I am upstairs and has to go. I have always taken her out about every hour during the day since I have had her. Now I take her about every two hours unless she tells me. I take her to the same spots, she has a "wee" and a "poo" spot she prefers. I always ask her to go "potty" and praise her. I know that she is not totally trained & takes about a year and I am "trained" but we are getting closer & closer to success. Deb

That sounds great halina.

Ruby is now very good. It only takes 2 mins in the night i open door, quick ruby quick wee good girl go on. And bam.....wee. clicker, treat , praise. Then go on then ruby again .quick ruby quick wee wee good girl go on.....
once she heads for the fence i know i have her then.....poo and im going yes yes yes......clicker treat praise...good girl into bed......
Dry following morning out straight away..............................etc etc etc.

My husband cant realise how im so excited about it....but i was the one perservering every nite. Standing there some nights for a full hour waiting. The wee was easy enough it was the poo that was hard.......(excuse the pun) ha ha.

Im wondering when i go on holidays and my mother is minding ruby in our house will she do the same for my mother????? or will she just do it for me??? I know they dont like to wee and poo in front of people.. All part of the training was to let her be comfortable in front of me and not to get mad with her when she had an accident as karlin said..... Therefore they have to know that they are not afraid to do their business in front of us...I wonder should i let my mother have a practice run before i go on holidays. She is used to my mother coming into house but not for toilet trainings?????

I think you are mixing up cats and dogs :lol: -- cats generally like privacy but in my experience dogs could care less who is around when they go (however they don;t like being stared at while going -- that's a threatening action to dogs so better to focus on the middle distance (which enables you to pretend you are not actually watching your dog have a poop...). For that matter they are experts at deciding to go right as a group of people walk past the better to embarrass me.

Generally they are creatures of habit. Once they have a routine, that's the main thing.

I do think some of them like privacy. Oakley will poo infront of you but Merlin will do his damndest to get his bum into a bush or right up against a wall to poo so you can't see what he is doing. Sometimes I wonder if I should take a wind breaker out with me to protect his privacyLOL

merlinsmum said:

I do think some of them like privacy. Oakley will poo infront of you but Merlin will do his damndest to get his bum into a bush or right up against a wall to poo so you can't see what he is doing. Sometimes I wonder if I should take a wind breaker out with me to protect his privacyLOL

Click to expand...

thats so funny!!!