Help Needed With House-Training Our Pup Please ...

Hello Everyone !

We own a Shihpoo pup named 'Misha' ( pronounced 'Meesha' ) who we bought last week. She'll be 4 months old this Saturday, she's Apricot in colour, and she's Absolutely ADORABLE .

BUT, there's 1 small problem ... We're having 1 HECKUVA time 'Housetraining' her . We will take her out for 10 - 15 minutes at a time, she'll wander around sniffing, and do nothing. Then she'll come into the house, and go to the bathroom . We've tried scolding her when she's bad, and using positive re-inforcement and treats for when she's good. But we don't seem to be making any progress . My wife is ready to take her back to the store , and I'm not far behind that . I also have 2 small children who are Absolutely NUTS about Misha and I hate to think how they would feel if we took Misha back.

What are we doing wrong and how can we fix the problem please Any and all help would be Most Appreciated.

Thank you

Hi there,

Please remember your new puppy is very young. I'm sure you wouldn't scold a 5 month old baby for this type of behaviour, so please forget scolding your puppy.

Positive reinforcement really is the only way to go, and you must be consistent (both you and your wife). Watch Misha very carefully for signs of wanting "to go" and immediately take her outside. As she's "going" praise, praise, praise (I can't emphasise this enough) her to the hilt.

It's not an instant thing, but all of a sudden Misha will just "get it".

I am positive there will be others on here with additional suggestions who will be along to advise you soon.

Please don't give up - you will get there, I promise.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Welcome to Dogsey

firstly Please don't scold your puppy - Hope the following helps

Patience and more patience is the key to successfully house training your new puppy. Your puppy is obviously used to going inside as you say your wife is ready to take her back to the 'Store'

You you need to watch and observe your puppy and take him outside and stay with him at just the right time. You must persevere. It can seem like an age sometimes, but you will get there. Remember all puppies are different and develop at different rates. The following tips will hopefully help you and your puppy through toilet training.


Stay with your puppy so you can give praise. Let them sniff around and if they do anything – then give him/her lots of gentle praise.

A useful trick is to teach your puppy word association. Whenever they perform use a word or short phrase and repeat it each time they go. For example – say “Hurry up” as they are weeing in a bright voice with “good boy/girl” afterwards. Say something different for a poo if you wish. This then helps when you are out and about as your pup will learn to toilet on command.

Indoor training

Once indoors you need to have eyes like a hawk. Establish a routine - take the puppy out shortly after every meal and/or drink, after play, and soon after waking up from sleep/a nap. Stay with them so you can see if they perform. If they do – more praise. Take them out in the same way if they start sniffing the ground or turning around in circles and anytime when they haven’t been out for an hour or so. You will learn to spot the signs of when your puppy needs to go – but ignore those signs and you will have an accident to deal with.

Dealing with accidents

If you catch your puppy toileting indoors – say a firm “no”, don’t smack or rub the puppy’s nose in it, simply pick him/her up and take him outside. Again, stay with him. If he finishes outside, then give lots of praise again. If nothing more – just go back indoors and clean up.

If you find an accident after puppy has finished – don’t scold the puppy. He won’t know what he’s done wrong. Simply clean up the mess and be more vigilant.

When cleaning up, don’t use products with bleach or ammonia in them. A puppy may associate the smell with previous toileting and think it’s OK to go in the same spot again. Use biological washing detergents.

I'm sorry you're having trouble but you have to remember that your dog is still a baby. Scolding your pup is not right and will only do more harm than good. She will go at regular times like after play, eating, before bed and when she gets up. Look for the signs like circling and sniffing and take her outside. Praise heavily when she goes outside and ignore it when she goes indoors. It's hard work but puppies are. All you have to do is clean the carpet occasionally but think of the damage you'll do to this puppy if she goes from home to home.

Also please remember if you bought her from a store she's probably been there a couple of weeks and the only place to relieve herself would have been in her enclosure, so you have to undo the behaviour that she has learned while there. My puppy only stopped needing wee in the middle of the night when he was 6months old and i had him from 8weeks with constant training

Be patient and you will get there, and you will be so happy you worked through it when she finally gets it.

Also whhen you take her outside for the toilet keep her on her lead and do not talk to her until she has done her business and then praise.

Hannah & Noah

You can also buy puppy training pads for in the house. They may still do their business in the house for a few days but they are taught to do it on the pad. You slowly move the pad closer to the door until they get the idea that you do it outside. Scolding the puppy just makes them nervous and then they pee more.

Like mentioned before we are working on toiletting on command with Dingo. When he wee's we say hurry up then and when he poos he's told to park it.

Good luck and keep up the hard work. It's not an easy thing to crack but when you do it's well worth the effort.

Heidi

Thanks for all of the tips Everyone .

She actually has gotten a lot better in the last week, although we still are having an occasional accident in the house. She also has been waking up in the night every 2-3 hours pacing in her crate, which I assumed meaning that she had to go to the bathroom, which she did. But I didn't want to confuse her by 'hushing' her up at night, so I would take her outside, where it would take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes for her to go. Needless to say it made for some sleepless nights. But she did sleep through the night last night, so hopefully we're getting somewhere now.

We will continue to make sure that she goes right before bed, when I get up early in the morning for work, and at regular intervals during the day. We have been using both treats and positive reinforcement and so far, everything is going fine.

I will keep you all updated on her progress.

HI there,

Looks like some very good advice here

Only thing to add would be that make sure you are feeding your pup at regular intervals, that way she will get into a routine quicker. As most young dogs need to relieve themselves quite soon after a meal, it may help you to get her outside and have success. Praise her so much when she goes outside. When she is in the house, dont take your eyes off her, if you can;t watch her like a hawk, pop her in her crate for a small time.

I also dont feed my dogs any later than 6pm, this then means that by time we go to bed they have had chance to go to the loo and my Border Collie pup has been raised this way, so when she came to us at 8wks she could hold it from 11pm - about 6am

Dont despair, you will get there.

Good luck for a great future together.

I agree that she is still very young, and it does take time.
I would NOT scoulder her or anything like that... it doesnt work, and is not good for you and you little pups bond.
I would crate train her...it worked wonders with hades when he was a pup!
Search the web for "crate train your dog" and read all the benefits and how to crate train properly.
It is very good for toilet trainning and also gives your pup some were safe to go to sleep or just go when she wants to be alone.
Plus it can be used when you need a little break, or need to get on with stuff round the house.
Also take her outside for toilet after she eats her food....everytime she wakes up .... and after alot of play, also look for signs like circling or stiff tail and as soon as you see any signs that indicate she need to toilet pick her up and take her straight outside and wait for her to do her stuff.
As soon as she does it outside, give her loads of praise and make a big fuss of her.
She will soon learn!
She is still very young and even when toilet trained she may still have little accidents now and then, its totally normal.
Good Luck, Hope this helps!

Hello again Everyone.

Well Misha's house training is going quite well right now, I am happy to report . She hasn't had an accident in the house since last Saturday morning. She even has learned to run to the back door to tell us that she has to go outside . But she won't make any noise at the door, so we always make sure that at least one of us is watching her .

The only frustrating thing we are dealing with now, is her waking up 2 - 3 times per night, to go outside . She sleeps beside us in her crate, as my wife won't let her sleep with us . I know that if she slept with us, she would sleep through the night as I have spent a few nights with her in the living room, in the recliner chair, and she slept through the night all 3 times. Now I don't want to shush her up in the middle of the night, especially if she has to go out. That would not only confuse her, but most likely she would mess in her crate before the night was over, and we would have to deal with the mess in the morning.

So what I would like to know now, if anyone can give me an answer please, is ... When will she stop waking up in the middle of the night, or at least go 6 hours between when we go to bed, and when I have to get up early in the morning to go to work

Thanks.