impossible potty training

    • Puppy

    impossible potty training

    im desperate,  i have a 10 month old fox terrier/chichua (sp?),we've had him since he was about 8 weeks old.  we were trying to potty train him on the paper in the kitchen, praising him when he got it right and ignoring when we find his mess elsewhere.  he would go about 50% of the time on the paper, we had a trainer come in to help us and upon her advice we started to take him to the paper for 5-10 minutes and if he didn't do anything then it's in his crate, well i think he's regressing cause now we take him to the paper and he doesn't do anything but when he goes in the crate within 2 minutes he pisses and he's standing in his mess,  it seems like he tries to shoot the urine outside the crate since its near the edge but a lot of it ends up in the crate, we tried to put his water bowl in there hoping he wouldn't want to mess near his bowl but he still does it. the crate is about 1foot by 2feet.  since we've started with the crate he hasn't gone once on the paper.  when we have him on the leash he does it all over, he's so fast we can't catch him or pick him up before he pees.  its hard to tell when he wants to go cause he's always sniffing around, he doesn't seem to have a set time to go even tho we feed him at a set time, he was fixed about 2 months ago.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Hmmm ... I've got a Norfolk Terrier/cocker mix, and she's aboutttt a month older than yours, and I had her since she was four months old.  Whenever she peed somewhere in the house, during the first few weeks, I brought her over to a puppy training pad (those blue/white pads with the cloth in the middle and the plastic backing so that nothing leaks) ... lots better than paper.  She caught onto that fairly quickly.  When I would leave her in the bathroom gated while I was at school for 6 hours, I would come home to pee only on the pad.  Still, I brought her outside every 2 hours, religiously.  Since your puppy is significantly smaller than mine, and you're pretty much still starting from the beginning, I'd take him out maybe once every hour.  The point is to get him to associate peeing/poopin with outside.  If you really want him to learn to "go" inside ... follow the trainer's advice and bring him to the paper/pad every hour or so.  Keep a close eye on him.  Don't let him make mistakes without your being able to correct it, because every mistake is a setback, so I've learned.  Gradually increase the amount of time between potty breaks. 
     
    If you can't watch him, put him in the crate.  But about the crate.  It needs to be big enough for him to be able to get away from his mess if he must do it in there.  Soon, he'll learn to see the place as HIS space, and he WONT want to mess in it.  You need to decide if the crate's big enough, i'm not sure if it might be too small, unless your puppy is tiiiiny.  He should have room to turn around, lie out completely stretched, and also be able to get away from his pee.
     
    Good luck!
    • Gold Top Dog
    I agree with the above advice.    There should be no opportunities to go in the house without you catching him in the act, interrupting and immediately bringing him to the potty pad.   To make this easier, try tethering him to you.
    • Gold Top Dog
    if a dog is peeing in a crate, there is no benefit to using one. The only reason to use a crate is that most dogs are extremely reluctant to potty in their bed and will try their best to hold it. If you have a dog who is willing to potty in his bed, well, crate use is counter-productive, the dog will just happily go. For a dog with this habit, confinement in something like an x-pen or puppy-proofed kitchen with a piddle pad in it will help speed up housebreaking more than continual use of the crate. 
     
    Best way to house-break is to never ever let the dog potty in the wrong place via constant supervision and taking the dog to the correct potty place often. Every time your dog has an "accident" it will set you back weeks. If you're really diligent you can housebreak most dogs in less than two weeks. A non-housebroken dog should either be confined or directly in your view (tether that dog to you) every minute of every day, and should go to the potty spot as often as you can manage (every two hours for young puppies, every four hours for older puppies/non-housebroken adults). Yes, even at night. Set your alarm clock. Two weeks of being a zombie due to lack of sleep will pay off big.