New to board, puppy potty training

[bill1971]

Hi all, we just got a new puppy called Lady. I read tons of links that you on the forum provided and it has been very helpful, thank you. When it looks like Lady is about to pee or poo we pick her up and put her in our patio and close the screen, she usually goes after a few minutes, but sometimes she will wimper first and paw at the screen door. When she goes we praise her and give her a treat. My question is, this doesn't count as punishment does it? We are just trying to get her to associate that area with the potty. Thanks in advance, its our first puppy and she is a sweetheart.

[bill1971]

Hi all, we just got a new puppy called Lady. I read tons of links that you on the forum provided and it has been very helpful, thank you. When it looks like Lady is about to pee or poo we pick her up and put her in our patio and close the screen, she usually goes after a few minutes, but sometimes she will wimper first and paw at the screen door. When she goes we praise her and give her a treat. My question is, this doesn't count as punishment does it? We are just trying to get her to associate that area with the potty. Thanks in advance, its our first puppy and she is a sweetheart.

Anyhow, I asked a vet and they said its not punishment. A few days later and it worked like a charm. She goes out in her own and doesn't go in the house anymore.

[Karlin]

Hi -- and welcome!

Keep in mind that housetraining generally takes many weeks to months and a dog is generally not really reliable until around 1 -- as with toddlers going thru toilet training, you are going to have accidents that are never a puppy's fault. If they have to go they have to go, and we owners generally give them too much freedom and mistakenly think they are housetrained long before they are. That is easily the number one reason why people have problems in housetraining.

A couple of things -- generally you don't want to carry a pup outside -- you want to take her out on a lead so she learns to go on her own four legs or you are training her that going potty means waiting to be carried out! Plus she doesn't learn the way outside herself, and she will not associate going out on her own. You also want her to learn to go while being taken out as she will need to do this on walks. The second thing is -- do you mean you put her out and then leave her outside alone? That would indeed be a bit distressing for her (regardless of what a vet says -- they are not trainers) Again as above -- you want to go out with her, on a lead, and wait for her to do her businesses then praise lavishly and ideally treat immediately at the time she just finishes up. If she is being put outside, the door closed, left to go by herself, allowed back in and treated you have only trained her to think she gets a treat for coning in the house again -- there will be little or no direct connection to going potty.

This is also a good time to go out with her to train her to pee and poop on separate commands. It is easiest to do when she's a small pup and a very useful thing to do.

I'd recommend this FREE book download -- After You Get Your Puppy -- as it will give you loads of guidance for bringing up a puppy and answer many many questions too!

www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads

[bill1971]

Thanks for the response. I should clarify, we have an apt and a little patio area where we leave her. Actually we don't do that anymore she just walks out on her own now. What seemed to work was walking out with her and closing the door until she went, that way she felt comfortable out there and it became a safe area for her. I'll check out the link, thank you. I don't want to do anything to hurt or scare her.

[bill1971]

Thanks for the response. I should clarify, we have an apt and a little patio area where we leave her. Actually we don't do that anymore she just walks out on her own now. What seemed to work was walking out with her and closing the door until she went, that way she felt comfortable out there and it became a safe area for her. I'll check out the link, thank you. I don't want to do anything to hurt or scare her.

[CSutherland]

I wonder if Bentley would even know how to pee without his leash! We live in a rural area with woods on one side, hayfield and pasture on 3 sides with a busy highway just beyond that. He'd love to chase a vehicle, and the bigger & noisier the better! We do not dare let him out of our reach. At 14 1/2 months he's finally housebroken (I think). He hasn't had an accident in almost 2 months, now either scratches on the door or just stands there staring at us until we notice. Back in Dec he had a relapse, both peeing and pooping inside 4 or 5 times in 2 days. I'm thinking it was due to the stress in the house when our daughter died. I cringe to think of all we went through the past year in our hits & misses in potty training. Unfortunately, due to our inexperience with a house dog, and a puppy at that, we made it much harder than necessary. All is well now, though. We can even trust him to stay in his bed while we leave the house for up to 3 hours. He hasn't been in his crate for over 2 months.

[Calandra]

Hmmm... I learned something new today Karlin. I need to start letting Chloe walk outside. I'd been doing the "pick her up when she first wakes up and take her outside so that she does not have a chance to pee on the floor" thing. I guess now that she's 5 months old, I need to literally let her walk to the door and then out to her potty area (on a leash). We've reached a new stage.

[Alana]

When Bella was younger I would carry her and then realised what Karlin said and thought "I am not teaching her to go outside herself" so whenever she would wake up I would say "Come on Bella outside!" and then when she got to the grass I would say "potty!" it started to click with her after that. Actually I still do this after sleeping and eating but she is getting more reliable with taking herself out in between. Good Luck!

[bill1971]

Thanks for all the feedback, this forum is very helpful.