Need serious housetraining help...

[pborsetti]

I finally bit the bullet. After promising my daughter a dog since she could speak I finally delivered on my promise - she is now 10.

We purchased a cockapoo pup - 3 mos old. He's a nice, healthy dog - we had one when I was a kid. Victoria absolutely loves him. We've had him for a couple of weeks and housetraining is becoming a real problem.

His habits are getting worse, not better. We try to keep him on a schedule but its tough given our work schedules. He is being crate trained.

I've read a couple of house training articles but haven't seemed to help.

I'm at my wits end. This can't go on forever.

Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

Thanks,
Paul

[TimSullivan]

We just finished house training a five year old rescue. He was not in the house five minutes and he lifted his leg on the wife's brand new kitchen cabinets. I can't tell you how well that went over. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Tell me what the dog is doing and how you started to train it. I will try and help. Crate training is a good method to use and allows the dog only the freedom they can handle.

Most of our dogs and those that we have trained for other people are house broken at three months. That is especially true of the smaller breeds.

[pborsetti]

Hi Tim -

Thanks for your reply. We have had Cookie (Monster) for about three weeks or so. He was about 3 mos old when we got him. He had started crate training with the breeder. When we first got him, he didn't have any accidents. We were sure to bring him out regularly- meaning often. We bring him to the same place in the yard and often he uses his time well. Other times he just isn't interested and just runs back towards the house. We figure he doesn't have any thing to do. When he gets back in the house he walks into the living room (where he isn't allowed), assumes the position and voila. Some of the stuff I read says to clap loudly with a serious voice, then bring him outside again. Another article says to shake him - I'm not sure what that means so I don't do it. Mostly I just get upset and yell at him.

As time goes on, I am not seeing real improvement. I don't recognize any body language telling me he has to go. We had a cockapoo when I was a child. He used to go to the door just as high as he could and sneeze until we let him out. We got him when he was two and he was already house trained. I don't ever remember him having an accident - but then again I was young and probably didn't have to clean it up if he did.

Thanks for your help.

Paul

[Slamfire]

You will have to wait until he realizes what is happening when he needs to go. Until is brain is connected to his nether end, you won't have a whole lot of luck. When will that be, I don't know some dogs it is earlier than with others. We had a chihuahua that never seemed to get the message. Now we have no inside dogs.

[MountainBoy]

I don't know what article said to "shake" the dog but I would never do that. We have a miniture snchauzer and we crate trained him. He only had a few accidents, we would sternly say "bad dog" and take him outside. We also never let him see us clean up his mess. As we trained him we would only let him out for short periods of time and as his (and ours) confidence grew we increased his time periods.

[rabbitrae90]

cockapoos and other little dogs are always hard to house train. I crate trained my dog and even when we are playing he will stop and run over to his potty spot

[TimSullivan]

Hi Paul,

Sounds like your little guy has a serious misunderstanding. What you are doing sounds good and I would agree that shaking him is not a good idea.

If the the accidents are always right after he has been taken out then it may well be he is just confused. Take him out then when he comes back in he has to be watched very carefully. If you cannot watch him closely then put him in his cage. What you are hoping to do is pick up on his actions just before he goes. That is when he needs a quick trip outside.

If he does have an accident then scold him. I also find it very helpful to keep him right there while his mess is cleaned up then take both the mess and the puppy outside. Also make sure that you get the odor of the accident eliminated too. There are several good products available.

We once had a Silky Terrier that was the sweetest dog. However if she got angry about something she would pee right in front of you and look you right in the eye while doing it. She lived to sixteen and never changed. She would pull this about once year.

The rescue that we just house trained took about three months to completely trust. My shop was his last area of testing. He learned that concrete floors are out of bounds too.

In difficult cases treats can be used and a lot of praise when the little guy gets it right. This also helps as they get older and you want them to pee on command when you are in a hurry.

Often is a relative word. Some puppies while being trained have to go out hourly.

Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

Tim

[jeffghs]

Something else you can try is instead of clapping loudly is to use an aluminum can taped up with a handful of pennies in it. When you see the pup getting ready to go, toss the can in its vicinity. The startle response is what you are looking for, but by making it closer to the dog, it makes him realize it's something to do with him.

Another thing which is pretty obvious is to watch for the signs of impending doom. Circling and sniffing and the like.

[Currmudgeon]

The crate training is a good start. The dog should be under your observation when it is not being crated. Like a kid, if you can't see it, it's probably up to no good. A technique that sometimes works, is to tie the leash to your belt. That way, the dog is always in your presence. It's good for bonding, too.

You want to catch the dog just before it pees. If you watch your dog, you'll notice distinctive behaviour, usually sniffing around looking for the best spot. If it starts to go, startle it, grab the dog and hustle it outside. You may get wet. [img]/forums/images/icons/ooo.gif[/img]

Dogs go back to the same spot they've scent marked. As alpha, you should pee over the spots the dog peed on. Since that's usually not acceptable (Not in my house, anyway [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] ) an enzyme odor killer like Nature's Miracle should be used at once. You don't want the dog to get into the habit of looking for that stain on the rug.

You've gotta be patient.

[Stoneheartfarm]

Got to be careful with the odor eliminating sprays. My dog likes the smell of some of them so much she will shred the carpet wherever its applied. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

Steve