bunni
Posted : 3/10/2006 11:09:16 AM
Loriann, I think this is what you need to do:
3)getting a second litter box and train her to use that one as well (maybe I will have more luck with a box outside the crate).
When I am litter training pups I've found that as soon as they are old enough to get a clue, they stop wanting to use the litterbox in their crate. This is before 8 weeks old. My take on it is that they are now seeing their crate as their den and do not want to soil the den. They will use the litter box in the crate if they have to (if they can't get out of the crate) but they will almost never go into the crate to use it if they are outside of it.
Put another litter box outside of the crate and get her to use that one a few times (watch like a hawk!) until she gets it.
There is one other thing you have to keep in mind. If you restrain the pup in the kitchen (for example) and her box is there and she uses it 100% of the time you will think she is trained and let her into other rooms where she will have accidents. Pups (and dogs) do not generalize information so while you're thinking she's trained she's thinking "When I'm in the kitchen I use the litter box. When I'm not in the kitchen there is no rule." You need to give her a new bit of training every time she is allowed in a different room. (This doesn't take nearly as long - maybe only a day or two, if you prompt her to go back to the box with you from the other room.) Do this with each new room and at some point she will get the idea that no matter where she is she will use the box.
I can't speak for Brenda's dogs but I can tell you that it is a very rare dog in my experience who will not become 100% trained. This is especially true if you only have one dog (because you always know who did it). It's also more likely that a person will have a dog who is not 100% if they are not as demanding. (My house for example is completely set up for dogs, no rugs and almost no upholstery so if a dog pees or poops in my house it is not a big deal. As a result I may be more lax (and especially since I have a dozen dogs plus litters of pups often, so it's hard to tell who did it). Any dog who you are consistently working on training will get it eventually. I expect a dog to be 100% by around a year old. Some of them are 100% by a couple of months old. My Jack has never had an accident (that I know of) since he was 9 weeks old - UNTIL I let him run around the other end of the house (where as I mentioned earlier, I had not established the rules for him).
Toy dogs are harder to train - I have no idea why. (Maybe it's because they don't have Great Dane sized poop). Litter box training is easier than outside training (I think) but takes more consistency. Remember to restrict freedom and watch every minute (that's impossible I know but that's the goal) and especially when you introduce her to a new room.
Good luck!