Hi,

How old is your pup? How long have you been toilet training her? Do you walk her in the mornings?

With my dogs, I've always made sure I get up early enough to walk them early in the morning and they have the chance to relieve themselves on the walk. Then when we get back the go out in to the back garden if they need or want to for another wee, or to play etc.

I am a single parent and I am able to deal with 4 dogs, going out for walks and getting Oscar up, washed/showered/bathed, dressed and give him breakfast and still get him to school on time (by 0835). I'm no miracle worker - it's just a case of getting up early and making the effort.

When my dogs were pups I stood outside with them. I had Zane in mid/late February and stood out in the garden with him until he relieved himself. So I knwo full well that it's cold and sometimes they just stand there looking at you. That's how it goes. I decided on a word to use when he "went" and praised and rewarded him . He learned to go out to toilet by himself and only in one particular area of the patio (so it was easier to clean up) in about 10 days. So it's not as though you'll be spending month after month out in the cold or the pouring rain for hours on end trying to get your pup to eliminate.

As I said - it takes just a little bit of effort on your part. Even if you'd had an older dog who was already house trained, that would only have been in the house they lived in previously. You'd still have to show them where to go to the toilet. So having a pup, IMO, adds only a few days to the training itself.

What is she like at other times of the day? Do you go out with her when she's woken up? After playtime? After training? After meal times? How long and how often is she walked?

If you don't want to do this or can't be bothered (and no, watching from the kitchen window is still shutting her outside without her understanding why) then you need to accept that your pup will always toilet in the house on the kitchen floor.

Laura xx

Hi,

I've just read this thread/post that you posted a couple of weeks ago. Firstly, well done for asking for help in the first place. However, if for the past couple of weeks or so you've jsut shut your pup outside, then she can't be expected to learn to go to the toilet on her own. She doesn't know what to do and has no idea why she's being shut outside.

It's imperative that you have to go out with her. I can't reiterate it enough on here. She's NOT going to learn just by being chucked out in the cold on her own with no training or direction from you.

"How do I get my 4 month Shih Tzu to toilet outside?? Help!

Hi there,

I really need some help as I'm tearing my hair out!

I have a four month old Shih Tzu female. I had her trained really well to go on her paper in the kitchen!

The problem started when we started to move the paper over to the door, as a stop gap till we moved the paper outside.

We have actually trained her to go toilet where her paper used to be, and she doesn't go on the paper beside the door! I think I have confused the poor dog!

I have paper outside the door, and I wait 10/15 mins after each feed, take her outside and stay with her for 30 mins - but she won't and wasn't yet toileted outside!!!

But, as soon as I let her back in the house she runs into the living room and goes on my rug (I have done the 'get off spray', I don't punish her when she makes a mistake.......).... I would be happy if we could just get to the next step of going outside - so I can then reward her in the process!!!!!

If I leave her outside on her own she doesn't like it and scratches the door to get back in, but when I'm outside is she holding it in???????

So. anyone out there - how do I get her to go outside!!!!!!???????????

Thanks in advance,

Sophia"

What is the "get off spray"?

Laura xx

I got Meg in February as well, kept a coat by the back door and took my coffee out with me if i was drinking one, simple really, have done it with numerous foster pups and older kennel dogs as well in wind, rain, sleet, snow etc. The only way to get them to learn is to stay with them

i would always go outside with lily and like mini suggested, i would say 'wee wees' when she did go. it took quite a long time and many a shivering few minutes for me, but she got there in the end and will now go 'wee wees' when i ask her too.

to be honest i didn't stress the odd pee or poo indoors and made no fuss when she did it. i just cleaned up and tried to be more vigilant the next time. lily has been clean for a good 2 + months now (she is 8 months) and she will happily trot round the garden on her own without me.

Think of it as training for those 2 x one hour walks in the vertical sleet in the grey slushy 6 months that is our Winter.
And practice for the dawn explosions of projectile diarrhea and vomiting when you discover where last night`s curry went.

and so true!!!

Yes, Lizzy, I frequently suggest keeping a coat where I can grab it on my way out with the puppy in bad weather.

If you have a fence, needing to go out with the new puppy only lasts a month or 2. In my housebreaking advice I talk about the praise shifting to when the dog goes to the door, the usual goal of housebreaking. The time you must go out is a very limited part of a dogs life. I accept it as part of raising puppies. We have a new puppy every fall. Some of them are doing fairly well before cold weather sets in, and others aren't. sometime we are out there in the snow with the puppy. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect those housebreaking a puppy they will have for years to go out with it at first. If you don't have a fenced area, you may need to all its life. But at least you can plan th etimes and have a chance to dress for it.

Thanks for all your advice!

This morning I got up early, took her out of the crate and outside. Honey went after 10mins, and I was so happy.

Treated and let back into the kitchen I gave her some breakfast and went out with her again - she 'went' again and I rewarded with treat!

Then I took her out in the car for the school run, and then on for a walk in the park! Honey still won't toilet during walks?

Anyway, got her back to the house and out into the back garden she 'went' again and I rewarded.

Feel like I'm getting somewhere and yes I just needed a kick up the ass to get out of my comfort zone and out in the cold!!!

Honey is still eating the poo though! As soon as it comes out she hoovers it and I have to drag her off it

I have tried the pineapple juice (doesn't work) and I don't scold her for going indoors?! Also, the suggestion to lace the poos with hot sauce - nasty so haven't tried it yet?

Is this a common trait of female shih tsu pups? Any other suggestions as to how to stop this??!!

Thanks in advance,

Sophia

thats great stuff!! glad the 'kick up the butt' worked

most pups will not go to the toilet away from home at first,dont worry

re the chilli sauce.... dont!!!
poop eating is a normal behaviour to dogs i would just pickit up straight away,and not make a fuss(she may see it as rewarding behaviour)
she may even grow out of it
what to you feed her?if she is not fully digesting her food properly it could be smelling like a 'meal' again to her

I live in a flat and when we started taking our pup outside it took him well over a week of taking him out about 12 times a day! before he actually peed outside. It was frustrating and infuriating but it paid off eventually.

Patience should come free when you get a puppy- you certainly need a bucket load of it!