Am I expecting too much too soon?

Hi all

Ive got 10 week old Missy, she has been with us 2 1/2 weeks now.

I can not get her toilet trained, tried puppy pads, a tray and taking her outside, all to no avail, she is still messing in the house as and when she wants to.

If I carry her outside and say "wee wee" to her, she will go outside, but then shortly after she will still wet in the house. Today for example, I took her outside and she went in the garden, I left the patio door open so she could go in and out when she wanted, she was playing outside, I could see her, she ran back in, wet in the house then ran back out to play - this went on for about 20 mins. Then she came in and wet twice more in the house before settling down for a nap - in half an hour she had wet 4 times!

She does seem to go very frequently. If she is carried outside she makes it in time, if I let her walk out, she will wet in the house because she seems to need to go as soon as she has realised, yet she is dry at night.

Since we have had her she has slept on our bed, 3 nights ago I tried her on her own bed and she was fine, only cried for about 10 mins and every night since she has settled down and slept right through the night.

She sits to the "sit" command now without having to have a treat and she will let us stroke her when she is eating.

So on those matters, she has done really well, I have been told that shih tzu's are a lot slower with toilet training, so im wondering am I expecting too much too soon from her?

I dont know what else to do, I tell her "no" when she goes toilet in house and when she goes outside I praise her and make a fuss of her. Ive tried the ignoring it when she wets.

Ive bought a book about puppy training by Gwen Bailey and ive followed the advice in there. But nothing seems to be working.
Thanks
Debbie

Still early days. My pup is exactly the same for the number of wees she does.

Patience and perseverance will pay off in the end.

Remember your puppy is very, very young and bladder/bowel control is a big, big lesson to learn. She'll get there

hi Debbie,

Firstly congratulations on getting your pup!

Firstly, she's only been with you for 2 1/2 weeks and evreything is still new to her. You have said you've tried this and that - you could be confusing her by changing your methods frequently.

with such a young puppy, it is doubtful she'll be able to hold her bladder for very long at all. If you don't want accidents in the house at all, you absolutely WILL have to watch her for every minute she's awake and take her outside when you know she needs to toilet.

So if she starts going round in circles, crying for seemingly no reason, sniffing the floor or a certain area then get her outside asap. Whether you call her to you and she follows you out or whether you carry her is up to you. Personallty I'd call her and keep calling her to you until you're both outside otherwise you could be establishing another habit you don't wish to continue later on.

If she goes to the toilet outside praise her loads and reward her, maybe with a small piece of chicken. She'll soon learn that going to the toilet outside is a good thing and will be associated with good things.

If she toilets inside, just ignore her and clean it up as soon as you can. If you reprimand her you may find that she either tries to cleanup herself or she may toilet somewhere such as behind the curtains, under the stairs etc where you may not notice because she's trying to hide it thinking she's going to get told off.

Most importanlty, stick to one particular methods and don't change it. Everyone in the house shoujld also adopt the same training method to ensure consistency for your pup. I'm sure you'll then see an improvement in a week or so a tthe most. You may still have accidents but fo rthe most part, she'll knwo where to go.

Also, when you clean up (and this depends largely on whether you have carpet or not) you should try using something that will digest the enzymes or denature any proteins in her pee/poop. Personally I use a combination of washing powder, bicarb, Jeyes Fluid, and industrial bleach.
This way, she won't be able to smell her own urine etc on the areas inside the house where she's been before and where you don't want her to go.

Most of all, please enjoy you rpup. She's only young and puppyhood doesn't last long at all really. Toilet training is one of the harder parts of it but it has to be done. Once you've got through it, you'll look back and think how easy it was really.

Good luck and piccies please.

Laura xx

Not much to add, I remember you said you were disabled in another thread, does this mean that you carry her because you are not fast enough to take her out when she is walking?

I ask because IMHO it is not a good idea to carry dogs to and fro, because they do not get geographically orientatted if you do.

I think it is really important that dogs learn how to get from A to B and the location of important resources ie food, water, bed, toilet.

Have you thought of keeping a light trailing lead on her (only when she is supervised) with no loop at the end so you can use it to move her about more easily//?

Hi

Thanks for your advice. I think im probably expecting too much too soon, but just wanted to ask the question really.

She is making me laugh at the moment, we are in bed and she is looking at herself in the mirror and growling and barking - its so funny

Debbie

Put her on a lead and take her out...
Keep the back door shut..
Praise praise when she goes ...
After she eats take her out ,after she wakes ,after she plays ...
Put a coat a torch and wellies by the door so you dont have to mess about when she needs out..lol
we have all been in your shoes ...

Hi,
I carry her out (not all the time) more so first thing in the morning as she can not get downstairs, and when she has woken up - this is because she will go outside for her toilet, but her little legs cant get her there quick enough, once she wakes up as soon as she is on the floor she wee's whereas if I carry her out, she doesnt and she waits until she is outside. She does know where the door to go out is, as when she is more alert and awake she goes out by herself.

Hi
She isnt lead trained yet - she refuses to move with a collar and lead, so ive bought a harness and have tried that with her, we get some movement off her but mainly she tried to chew it and do a houdini routine lol

I think the lead is going to be next on list for training, I dont want to bombard her with loads of new things, im also trying to get her used to the car at the moment - she is doing well with that

so she wears a collar?

No, not all the time - should she?