I have recently had a new pup who seems somewhat confused, I have tried (as suggested by a lot of you) taking the pup outside and telling her to pee but she doesn't seem to grasp it. She does nothing no matter how long you stay with her and then the minute she is back in the house she pees. Even if you put her straight back out she will not finish her business off. I have spent literally hours outside with her encouraging her to go but she doesn't want to know. Where am I going wrong?

Sydney was the same at first. I caught him weeing in the house took him straight outside and he wouldnt do anything. Frustrating to say the least. ( I think he has got rid of all the wee on the carpet). However I perserved, as soon as he woke up, ate, drank, or started sniffing/circling I would walk him outside (not carry him) and ask him to go to the toilet, usually every 1/2 hour (I didnt play with him or talk to him all the time just repeated the words toilet a few times). If he didnt go when I took him out we went back inside till he started sniffing again. It took about almost a week for him to associate going outside with toilet. Three weeks later he now goes to the toilet when asked. Dont forget to use your word for toilet when you see her weeing outside (it will happen) and give her lots of praise or a treat (I gave Sydney a chocolate drop at first and every now and again still). Remember though accident will happen just clean them up and try again.
Oh make sure that everybody uses the same word for toilet as well, say her name and the word together.

Hi
it is just a matter of perserverance :)
You feel as though you are getting no where even though you are following all the advice given and all of a sudden it just happens !!
Make sure you praise lots when pup does do anything - we always gave a little treat afterwards and made it a rewarding thing.
Honestly it does just happen and you will wonder why you were so worried . And take no notice when people say " o my pup went outside at such and such an age " . Every pup is different but they all get there in the end
Lel

I know how frustrating this is but with a little more perseverance things will improve. Try to make a note of the times when the pup wees indoors - like after a meal, after a sleep, after playing. And take her out before she gets a chance to do it inside. If/when she does it in the right place, give plenty of praise.
You WILL get there, don't despair ! :)

Joyce

I seem to have this prob too . Oscar is 8 weeks when he wants to do a number two he will whine to be let out and he goes , as for the wee,s if he can be bothered he will go on the paper though now he seems to prefer the carpet , i take him out but he never wees outside and inside he never circles or gives away any signs of being about to go. He also does 3 number twos over night every night and totally misses the paper , why so many of these? His last feed is about 7pm and he does not go to bed until 11pm.

Hi there,when your pup pees in the house why not try to put some strong discenfectent like zoflora on it because if they can smell where they have been before then they are more than likely to do it again.You just have to keep going outside with him and like someone else said give plenty of praise even if you do sound and feel like a idiot.

I was just wondering whether you had made any progress with your pup? I have brough home my new pup today, and out of four pees so far, all have been on the carpet. Okay, the first couple were totally my fault. I wasn't seeing the signs of him wanting to go. Then I got the hang of what to look for. For the last two, I have taken him outside and waited, but he just either lies down or wanders round trying to eat the plants (which I am trying to stop!). When we come back in, he straight away goes on the carpet. I've cleaned the areas with the proper stuff, so he shouldn't be affected by that.
I guess I'm just after some reassurance that I'm doing the right thing and fairly soon he will go outside???

Thanks,
Sarah

Hi Sarah,

Reassurance is here. >>>>It will get better honest.

Sal my stafford pup pee'd on the rug for a few weeks not in the kitchen though only in the lounge.
I just worked on the approach that when she pee's as it is as she is realising it. Sometimes I would catch her but sometimes I was to slow.

Obviously put her out when she woke and every 1/2 hour or so. (Thank the lord for the nice weather)

As time went on she thought about it first then went to the door to go outside. Now at 5 months she is dry all night and no problems at all she just barks at the door to go out and uses the place I want her to as well no stress involved. Just assume for a while you'll be cleaning the rug for a while.

What breed do you have?

Karen

Hi well progress on oscar is he will still go to a window in the house if he wants to go outside for the toilet. Some off his wee's are outside , others are on the paper with an occasional one or two still in the totally wrong area , Cleaning down with bio washing powder is the best deterent i have found , im sure he will run out of areas soon lol .We are getting there though . He is 10 weeks old on tuesday and is now a real live wire!

One more thing i must add is if you can dont use paper at all , just the outside bit as the paper prolongs training alot. If we leave a newspaper or piece of paper around the house he will wee on it.

Hi Karen and serenasq,

Thanks for the replies. Dylan is a Golden Retriever. He only needs to go every two hours or so. I see him circling and sniffing and put him outside, but nothing. Even if I catch him in the act and put him outside 'half finished' :) he does nothing more for a couple of hours. The breeder had started to train to paper and said that he would look for paper to go on. I have therefore put some paper down, but it has been totally ignored. I think I will remove that today and try and get him going outside.

I will persevere (cleaning up after him isn't as bad as I thought it would be LOL :D )

Sarah

Hi all. Hope you don't mind me 'butting in'..... My 14 week pup will respond to 'do a poo' when outside ( my husband says I should have chosen something more dignified!). However when it is raining she refuses point blank. I get soaked and she gets into a panic trying to get back in. I suppose I could take an umbrella.......................
Sandy

Gus is 6 months now and still isnt to keen on the rain!!!!
If you watch their habits you do get to know !!
:)

Hi

OK, I think you need to make Dylan go out a lot more often, whether he goes or not. At the beginning you need to really dedicate a whole day to it. I suggest he goes out every 20 minutes at the most. As its nice weather, I would even sit out with him as long as it takes for him to do a wee. He will go eventually, small pups cannot hold it, you just need to break the pattern he is in at the moment.

So, when he wakes up, take him out and stay with him until he goes, no matter how long it takes. As soon as he stoops then say praise, treat and let him back in. Don't forget that once you break the cycle he will start to want to go out very frequently. The fact that he is only going every two hours sounds to me like he is holding it because he knows he should be doing it *somewhere* he's just not sure where.

How old is he?

HTH
Chloe

PS - I would avoid paper - I have found it just puts an extra stage into the training. Consistancy is the name of the game :)

I agree with Chloe with regards to using paper .
We actually used old towels instead of paper but it can confuse pup when you then want him to go outside . You have initially praised him for using the paper and then you dont want him to use it . :(
With hindsight I dont think I would do it that way again - specially with the warmer weather being here
Like Chloe says it is an extra step in training that you dont necesarily need
Lel

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the replies.
Dylan has now done 4 wees outside. Wey hey!!! (Little things, eh??? :) ) We have had a couple of mishaps in between, but I'm really pleased with him. I've made a BIG fuss of him and given him a treat straight away. I'm also saying 'Good Boy, Toilet' several times as he goes, but should I be using the same word for both wees and poos, or a different one for each?

Lara, since we brought him home on Friday, I've made a point of not telling him off if he goes inside. He doesn't do it behind my back - he goes quite happily in front of me. I just don't praise him and then quietly clear it up (I know that it's my fault - must watch him closer).

Chloe, Dylan was 8 weeks old yesterday. He doesn't seem to need to go any more frequently. He makes no signs (sniffing etc.) in between. He's a big pup, and although he's my first, I get the impression that he really doesn't want to go more often. He's often asleep for a couple of hours at a time. I have removed the paper and am working on taking him outside.

I think his main problem was that he was not confident about being outside. He's quite a shy dog, and he heard the budgies one side, the two barking terriers the other side and all the new sights, sounds and smells. Now he seems to be a bit more confident, I think he will be okay.

Sorry the post has been a bit long :) and thanks again for the replies, they are much appreciated :D

Sarah

Sarah
thats exactly how we were with Gus . We didnt make a big song and dance if he mistakenly did anything inside and we heaped the praise on when he went outside and also gave a treat - that way he knew which behaviour got him the most attention .
It worked for us as he learnt very quickly which reaction he preferred .
Gus was also a bit reluctant to go outside when this age - it was colder then and he doesnt really like the cold and the wet . And like little Dylan he was a bit dubious with all the strange noises etc but they all get there in the end :)
Keep up with the good work - and never let anyone try to tell you different if you feel it works for you both
Best wishes
Lel

Hi
You won't need to wake him up to go, but he will need to go every twenty mins at least when he's awake. The fact that he's big (mine is a Dane!) doesn't make much difference... but he will sleep less and less over the coming couple of weeks.. thats why its important to install such a routine. Sounds like he's doing well though!! :)

HTH
Chloe

That's good Sarah - it's really hard to know how people behave with their dogs from just a post so you end up having to make assumptions and guesses which sometimes are not correct :)
But hopefully it can give some people an idea of what can go wrong in housetraining etc... so they know what to look out for.
Good luck with him.
Lara x

Make sure you have a word or phrase they associate with going outside and take biscuits out with you. As soon as they've done it outside make a BIG deal out of it and treat them immediately! This will help to reinforce the command and the fact that doing it outside is very rewarding.

Wendy

Hi, don't know if this would be any help,but with my 10 wk GoldieI brought some disccovery panel
from croft.We arranged them around the french doors we then have the option of leaving a door open
so he can wonder in and out,also saves the rest of the garden .He's vitrually house
trained during the day.You can put him outside close the door until he does something
then once he's got the idea leave the door open.
The downside is the discovery panels were £300 but for me was a sound invstment
as i'm hoping to breed,but you may get something similar for alot cheaper.
It's a bolt together system so easy to use ,it's advertised in dog world and you can add or take away as
many panels as you like to get the size you want.You also have the choice of height
3ft or 4ft ,I went 4ft.It's also some where you can put the dogs if you did'nt want expense
of a kennel it's designed for constant outdoor use.

Regards Briony

You may have spooked her a little bit by catching her in the act indoors and telling her off or interrupting her.
She may be just a little put off by going to the toilet while you are with her (in case she gets into trouble) - this could be why she is holding herself in your presence and the relieving herself back indoors when your back may be turned.
A new puppy won't know what you mean when you take her outside and tell her to pee. You have to be a lot more subtle. Take her out after her meals and any other crucial times like sniffing and circling and just 'be there' with a little treat. Only when she is in the act of eliminating must you then give her the command you have chosen for her. Not a moment before and not after either as it's too late! Only while she is doing it! Then loads of gentle praise and give her the treat. This way she will learn to associate the command with the act. Your praise and her treat will reinforce the fact that it is good.
It takes time for the penny to drop (how much varies from dog to dog and the timing skills of the owner) - but if you put in the time and effort now and be prepared for little setbacks to take in your stride, then you will reap the benefits later.
Lara x

Once you have started training a dog to go to the toilet outside , how long before the dog will let you know that it wants to go outside?
Also how do I go from paper to outside , do I remove the paper and put oscar outside every 20mins or do I put the paper ouside .
Also what age would you say a dog should be fully toilet trained at night by? Hes 10weeks old on tuesday and still does alot of number 2's at night , though he will go 3 times during day and last meal is 7pm.

It all depends on the dog! ;) Also on how much time you spend watching the pup. My first pup was clean and dry, day and night (I was astonished!) by 9 weeks of age. But I was at home all day, and spent all her waking hours watching her. Housework was done when she was asleep.

I only put a sheet of newspaper down by the backdoor at night (she was loose in the kitchen) so that if she needed to go she would head towards the back door. During the day if she headed over there I took her outside. By the time she was about 4 months she would whine at the door. But she was the most helpful, co-operative puppy I have ever had! :)

Since my first post in this thread, we have had very few accidents indoors with Dylan. I have been with him almost constantly, though. Last night, he even slept right through from midnight to 6am without asking to go out! I hope it lasts..... :D :D

Sarah

Thanks -
hi how old is Dylan - Oscar was 10 weeks today . I removed the paper today and keep on taking him outside and he has not had anb accident that i know of as yet. However at night its different he has his last meal at 7pm do you think this is to late?
during the night he does 2/3 poos - he goes to bed at 11 and up at 6.30 . Does alot of them during the day too? Could it be the food maybe or is this normal. He eats Bakers complete puppy food .

I'm no expert (I've only had Dylan since Friday - he's 8 weeks and 3 days old), but I do think that I did the right thing by removing the newspaper. Then I've watched him constantly and he seems to need to go after food and on waking.
Dylan's last meal is between 10 and 11pm, so no, I don't think 7pm is too late. I don't know anything about Baker's complete, but I can say that Dylan usually only has a poo once after each of his four meals and none at night. He's on Royal Canin Junior.

Hope that helps. Just keep persevering :)

Sarah

Well I may think about changing his food Oscar goes about 8 times per day , three of those being in the evening . Problem im having is i removed the paper but now he has no where to go at night and he wont whine at night to go out.
Does anyone suggest changing his diet?

Hi - Just thought that I would let you know before you change his diet that my pup is on Pedigree Puppy and does just as many number 2's as your little one. Spoke to the Vet about it and she said that there is nothing to worry about!

Hi , thanks I also spoke with my vet today as we had the injections she also said not to worry :)
Im still stuck though as if i remove the paper at night Oscar will not whine he will just go in the kitchen?
HELP!
lol

Hi,

I can't remember whether you have already said, but does Oscar have a crate for night-time? Or is he restricted to a small bed area at all? I was told that pups have a strong urge not to mess in their bed area, so by restricting him to that area, he *should* ask to go elsewhere. Dylan has a crate, and it does seem to be working.

HTH,

Sarah

Hi
THanks for your message . Oscar does have a crate , I posted on here about that because if i lock his cage he goes crackers and really hates it . However last night we had a breakthrough , he had is injections yesturday and was a sleepy head most of the day , I stayed up later last night and he finally got in his bed at midnight , so i locked it , left a night light on and turned off kitchen light waiting for the screaming and it did not happen :)
Got up at 7am this morning and he was fine no mess in the crate , no crying last night so fingers cross the same will happen this evening :)
Thanks all