I have 2 Bichon Frise puppies, Molly 12months old & Fudge 8months. I am having a nightmare toilet training. Molly has just had her second hip operation, she has Legg Perths disease in both hips, she was never fully trained before her ops & the situation is no better now. In a morning I take them both out, Fudge will do a wee it varies with Molly I can stay outside encouraging her for any length of time & she will not go, we go back inside I turn round & she has weed on the floor, I never actually catch her, she will also come inside after playing & just sqwat & poo if I catch her I shout NO, pick her up & take her outside to the usual spot, yesterday she came inside after playing with Fudge, jumped on the foot stool & promptly weed. I have a dog flap, which I know has been difficult for her with her hip but she will jump through if she hears anyone outside so I know she can use it, but wont go through it to go to the toilet she will just sqwat behind the door.

Fudge is a little better & will usually go outside although I have noticed she wees the odd time inside, usually at the door. neither of them cry to go out so I generally leave the back door a little open so in theory they can just go out but the weather is sometimes to cold to leave it open. I feel as though the whole process has slipped 10 paces & I am at a complete loss as to what to do. It is getting that we cant take them anywhere visiting because of the problem. I have scrubbed the laminate floor with bio wash powder etc, just to eliminate smells. HELP now what???
regards Pauline.

As the old saying goes, "An ounce of prevention...." The more accidents that happen, the more they'll happen...if you get my drift. It's self rewarding. The only thing you can do is treat them as you would brand new pups, like you just brought them home. You can't take your eyes off of them for literally one second. Take them out frequently, at least every 45 minutes or an hour. Do it yourself. Don't leave it up to them to go through the doggie door themselves. Make a real ritual out of it. Make sure they can walk or trot around a little. Often they won't go if you all are just standing around.

When you can't watch them, lock 'em up in a small place...a crate. It's hard for a while and you feel like you're being mean to limit their freedom, but it's really the only way at this point. A big scolding probably won't help much. If you do catch them in the act, just whisk them outside. If you scold too harshly and they don't understand, they may interpret your scolding as punishment for going pee.....and not for peeing inside. This may be why the one is not peeing until she absolutely can't hold it anymore. Are you remembering to praise and make a huge fuss when they do it outside? Also, use a command or word to go with it, like "go pee pee" or whatever.

I've heard that that breed is hard to potty train, so have patience. Good luck.

Carrie

Thanks for the advice folks, I will take them back to basics, its so difficult when the weather is good & we are in & out of the garden anyway. With regards to the dog flap, I am using treats to encourage use of it. Do I sound like I shout? didnt mean to, its a firm no & whisk outside, its so difficult when you love the little things so much, they have taken over our hearts but it would be so much nicer if they didnt or mainly Molly didnt pee/poo inside. Fudge is a lot better & will wee on command I say do wee wee & 9 times out of 10 she will, Bless!! Well I will happily give it a go, I have a jar of treats at each door ready for hugs & praise. I think it is true about bichons being hard to toilet train so I will keep at it, it will probably click when I least expect it or is that wish full thinking! Thanks again
Pauline.

Its not easy toilet training two pups at once,

Its sounds as though they are a little confused about whats required of them.  Really this means you have to go back to basics and take them out every half hour or so until you get the result you need.  Use a word to encourage them and when they have done what you think they need to, give lots of praise and a treat.  You might find it easier using a crate and taking them out separately until you're sure that they each understand the word you're using and reliably respond to it, then once they've mastered going on command on their own you can start to take them out together to see how they get on.  If Molly is really stubborn about toileting in the house I would refuse to allow her in until she has done whats needed outside (eg. first thing in the morning) but for this to work you really need to be able to observe her from inside the house and be able to let her in immediately she has 'performed' giving lots of praise at the same time :)

Hope this helps some
Regards
Dill

It might be best to go right back to square one and treat them as if they are tiny puppies who know nothing. Take them out after sleep, meals, playtime etc and actually reward them with a tasty titbit (use a very special reward like liver) as or immediately after they perform :)

When you can't keep an eye on them, put them in a crate. I'm sure you know this, but it's best to not tell them off or they may come to associate the presence of the owner plus poo or wee with punishment.Thus some dogs will learn to hold it in and then go in the house or even start to hide where they do it! A calm little No is OK if you see them squatting, but anything else may be counterproductive.

It may be that there is a problem with association - in that they prefer to toilet on say, the carpet. This often happens when pups are paper trained as they are effectively being shown that it is OK to go in the house. This can be a bit tricky to solve, sometimes you can take some carpet outside and they start to go outside but it can also end up being  more compllicated than that, in which case i would recommend a referral to a behaviourist if you really have no luck and no improvement.

Hope it all goes well and they do start to understand.

Oh - dont forget to thoroughly clean all areas and avoid using disinfectant because it contains ammonia which will encourage them to go where you have cleaned.......

Lindsay

hi pauline,
i have a bichon frise he is 4months old and he is hard to train.
would love to chat to u as i don,t know anyone else with a bichon frise.
                            denise

Hi Denise
I am just going out but would love to chat later, i will contact you either later or over next day or 2
regards Pauline