Toilet Training

Hi, Guess this subject comes up alot on here, we have a 4 month old male retriever who is having trouble with the concept of outside. He will go outside on occasion ( usually when taken) and sometimes he wont go when taken outside or squat just inside the open door.

Tried all the usual praise & treats when he does go outside but its not working that well, any suggestions would be great as its getting very frustrating to say the least.

Mark

Is your back door left open ??
I messed up last summer with a pup assuming she would go out as the door was open but we had to go back to basics and take her out after she woke after she played after she ate or those tell tale signs ,sniffing circling and such....

Have a look here for some ideas

http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/ho...gyourpuppy.pdf
http://www.clickersolutions.com/arti...housetrain.htm
http://www.apdt.co.uk/documents/Toilettraining_000.pdf
http://www.clickertraining.com/housetraining
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/311
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1171
http://www.cleverdogcompany.com/tl_f...20training.pdf
http://www.ukrcb.org/fileitems/Toile...Your%20Pup.doc

You need to keep the door closed and take him outside (not just 'let' him out) very often until he has got the idea that all toiletting is done outside. Give a command word so he learns what you want and where, which is handy when you are away from home with him. Treat and praise just as he finishes. You have to teach him what he is supposed to do and not just assume he knows automatically.

go back to basics.

take the pup out every time it wakes up, after it eats, after it plays, and then every hour or so in between.

go outside with the pup dont just leave it out on its own, encourage it to go then when it does praise praise and more praise

Hey this is not a very new problem. Many dog owners face the same problem everyday. Not to worry. First of all, you need to be ready for accidents. In the beginning, you will have to clean-up very frequently but eventually if you make your pup realize that he needs to pee and poop only in the litter box or a specific place, you will feel content. Try to take your dog outside the house once an hour and stand with him while he is outside. See if he pees outside and if he does, praise and treat him while he is doing so. It will make him realize that if he pees and poops outside, he will be given treats. If you suddenly catch your puppy eliminating in the wrong place, then show your dismay by crying out in a negative tone that it is not the right place to pee/poop and immediately take him to the place where you want him to do it. It will make your pup understand that he did something wrong rather than encourage him to do it at a place where you can’t see him. You can read my article for further information- [link removed]

This problem is faced by almost all dog owners. Nothing to worry. First of all, you need to be ready for accidents. In the beginning, you will have to clean-up very frequently but eventually if you make your pup realize that he needs to pee and poop only in the litter box or a specific place, you will feel content. Try to take your dog outside the house once an hour and stand with him while he is outside. See if he pees outside and if he does, praise and treat him while he is doing so. It will make him realize that if he pees and poops outside, he will be given treats. If you suddenly catch your puppy eliminating in the wrong place, then show your dismay by crying out in a negative tone that it is not the right place to pee/poop and immediately take him to the place where you want him to do it. It will make your pup understand that he did something wrong rather than encourage him to do it at a place where you can’t see him. You can go through my article to know more about potty [link removed]

Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions & links, some good ideas to try Mark

the way thats always worked for me is take the pup out as soon as it wakes up, has been fed or got excited. the rest of the time take the pup out at least every hour to start with until you get an idea of just how often your pup needs to go out. go out with the pup rather than just letting it out by itself. give lots of praise when it toilets outside. if your outside with the pup & it just won't do anything maybe it doesn't need to go, give it a little longer than it usually takes to go for example if the pup usually goes within 2 minutes have it out for 10 minutes then take it back in the house but remember that it hasn't been so you will need to try again in 10-15 minutes & keep doing that until it does go.
your pup likely will have some accidents in the house, hopefully not too many if you remember to let it out plenty until it figures out some way to let you know when it needs out such as siting at the door. i've always found ignoring the pup when it has an accident works, just take the pup outside incase it hasn't finished then clean up without making a fuss. i would worry that if the pup was told off for going in the house it may get the wrong message. you may think praise when the pup goes outside & punishment for going inside teaches the pup to toilet outside not inside but the pup could learn that toileting in front of people is not a good idea because sometimes he get rewarded but sometimes he gets punished so he could end up refusing to toilet in front of you choosing to run into a different room to toilet out of your sight in an attempt to avoid the possibility of punishment

I have a question re: toilet training. My 5 month old puppy is well trained, BUT we haven't 'agreed' on a way for him to ask to go out, usually at home we have the back door open and he goes out or if it's cold I just let him out before bed.

Occasionally (usually when my ex was sitting and would leave the dog downstairs whilst he went upstairs and put headphones on) there would be an accident.

But as we are moving house next month, I want to teach him to ask to be let outside so that me or my housemate can let him out and we don't have to leave the door open.

Any thoughts or tips on this?