I have a 7-month old Westie (also a 5 year old Lab).  Westie and Lab are inseparable.  Sleep and play together all day.  My only problem is getting Lou Lou my Westie clean indoors.  She no longer poos in the house (only the odd slip up), but persistently wees whenever she needs to.  I have installed a dog flap and on instruction she will jump through, but nearly always tends to return not having done anything outside.  When on walks she will rarely wee, but does poo on occasion.  There have been 1/2 hour walks where she does nothing and watches Cassie my Lab with interest but still does nothing.  Between walks I am constantly letting her outside and encouraging her to use the flap.  Cassie isn't a problem and only goes when we go for walks and when let out.  She even goes on command and has done so for a couple of years. 

I have shown displeasure at Lou Lou's actions and although am getting tired of all the cleaning, I love her to bits.  Somewhere I read about soaking her dry food instead of giving her it with additional water/cleaning the areas she wees with vinegar water to deter her from going back to that spot.  Nothing seems to work.  Please I now feel I need some advice.

The vet has seen her for her vaccination and spaying and says I should be patient.  Lou Lou is otherwise a very healthy dog. 

Any advice would be helpful.  Many thanks. 

I don't know if I can say anything to help but here goes.

It sounds to me as if it hasn't yet 'clicked' that she is supposed to pee outside. This can take a while with some dogs. Instead of showing disapproval, just ignore the peeing and clean it up without a fuss. When, and if ;) , she does pee outside give her a lot of praise, going overboard if needs be. You may feel really daft, but they like the praise :D

Being honest I say if she is improving then that is improvement. I think smaller breeds take a bit longer up to a year.    I have also found my dogs to be quicker than my bitches.

Sometimes you have to still actually go out with them and certainly till they have it right. Reward her and make a super big fuss whenever she goes outside even if it means making a fool of yourself in the yard :-)

In all the 30 odd years I have had dogs and I have had many large and small it has never taken me longer than a week to housetrain one completely, whaterver the age or size of the dog that has come to me.
It is very easily done if you are willing to be completely dedicated for a week and in this time you can also teach them to go on command.
Firstly with an older dog that now has more control over its bladder, if any health problems have first been excluded then I would make a point of EVERYTIME the dog goes out in the garden going to, yes its cold possibly wet, but thats what coats and brollys are for and discomfort freezing in the garden for a few days is better than a ruined house.  There you stay playing with your dog or whatever till it has been.  While it is actually going in a really happy excited voice you say clever boy or clever girl, or something similar that you won't use at other times.  On walks if your dog goes you repeat excitedly the same words and always masses of praise.
Hopefully following this to the letter your dog will not have any accidents indoors but should it then you silently with your back to your dog clean it up totally blanking them.  telling off is giving them attention which they thrive on.  If you catch them in the act then silently remove them outside to finish and if they do finish outside then you praise for what is done outside.
You should then find at night or before you go out you can just say to your dog "Go be clever boy/girl and they will go.  Once the accidents indoors stop it is as well to watch from the door or a window for a while to make sure everything is expelled and still praise as it is happening and on walks throughout the dogs life when they go I still tell them they are clever so reinforcing happily a command.
If I have a puppy from around 8 weeks it is easier to teach as they need to go so often and easily by 12 weeks at the latest i would expect to see them going on command if they need to.  May mean a cold house with doors open for about a week or you shivering outside but it is well worth it in the end.
Remember telling off or getting cross is still the dog getting attention the worst punishment is to be ignored.
Good Luck

Bev

Bev, :-)

If only live was so easy!!! :-))   I also urge the poster not to feel deflated by this because for a fact not all dogs are trained than easily. I think I may feel like that had I been the poster.

Not being argumentative but if you have managed to train every dog you have owned in "a week" then you are a miracle worker. SO every young puppy you have had has been trained by 9 weeks old ?????  I have only had 1 dog in 20 years that has been that quick and it was a boxer.

And believe me I do as you say,   """It is very easily done if you are willing to be completely dedicated for a week and in this time you can also teach them to go on command.""" AND I can guess that 9/10 breeders give this exact same guidelines to their puppy purchasers. Whilst I 100% agree it is the correct way to train a puppy I do NOT think it guarantees them to be trained in a week and would never telll people that. Some puppies and breeds are just quicker than others. 

I can only guess that 90% of mines are pretty good by the time they are 12-16 weeks but there have been a few that took just that bit longer.  Generally bitches.  When I have a young puppy I generally  spend 90% of my time outside with them :-)))

Be interesting to hear how many others have been that successful with all the dogs. :-))

I agree with you blue, I have had lots of puppies over the years and some rescues, but I have never had any of them house trained in a week

I have trained the same way with the same idea, ie, I would rather spend my whole life outside with them at the beginning, teaching them the command to go. And then it should all be easy...shouldn't it? errr, no, it's not that easy. I have either been doing something wrong, or I have had dogs that are all slow to learn.

I think that it is just the luck of the draw, like people, some learn quicker than others ;) My current dog took 10 months to learn totally that he had to go outside, despite my valient efforts!! I was beginning to despair, but he, like all the others, got it in the end.

As Blue says, diamondsu, don't be deflated, they all learn in their own time, even if it is frustrating to us ;)

It's never taken me more that two weeks to get a pup housetrained - by 10 weeks I'd expect them to be clean and dry, day and night. (My first one was reliably clean by 9 weeks.) Maybe that's because I've only got pups when I haven't had to go out to work, and haven't had babies/toddlers to look after as well; I've been able to concentrate 100% on the pup. This is why I won't get another pup until I can afford to stop going out to work.
:)

Well JG, you are very lucky, or I have been doing something wrong. ;)

Whenever I have had pups/dogs, I have always been lucky enough to work from home and my last pup was 2 1/2 yrs ago, when my daughter had started primary school and he came on all the school runs. But he still took 10 months, as I said before, to totally cotton on, or he was just plain dirty, one or the other.
In saying that, I can think of 2 dogs that were,  by my standards, fairly quick, they were clean by about 12 weeks.

Like you, I wouldn't get a pup unless I could give it 100% which is why I am now in the position again to get another..........for my sins. I have also found that different breeds/sex, learn cleanliness quicker than others. I have always compared it to human babies, some will reach elevated stages quicker than others and that is not necessarily a reflection on the teachers, but the individual child :)

In my view it can vary a lot esp. if one does have to go out to work part time (or full time which hopefully isn't the case when housetraining, ideally).
My pups have been trained within a few weeks but they have had what i would refer to as accidents once in a while. It's normal for housetraining to go out the window sometimes, during adolescence and also when a young bitch is coming into season.

There are some breeds that do take longer to housetrain as well, can't remember which offhand, can anyone else? :) I'm thinking bichon frise but that may not be correct.

A lot depends too on whether pups have been paper trained because in my view that can set back training. And some will be used to a particular surface and so on, and that can effect how long housetraining takes. I prefer to go out with the pups every time and give a treat actually whilst they are performing (or use a clicker) ;) and never (now!) use paper in the house.

Best wishes
Lindsay
X

I've always found bitches easier and quicker to train than dogs - have you found the same?

Jeanjenie,

That was kind of my point any big dogs we have had have been good and very quick, I can't really remember any of them taking more than a couple of weeks, It is maybe because if they wee the leave lakes :-)))))   little dogs it is just table spoon puddles ;-)

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you all, busy weekend.  Thank you for all your advice.  Fortunately I am a realist and obviously would not expect my pup to be clean within one week.  Even I think that a little extreme, but I definitely take on board the comments made regarding ignoring Lou Lou when she wees indoors.  I have always praised her for doing her business outside, but must admit to chastising her when she does it indoors.  This weekend I have ignored her and cleaned the wee without comment.  She in turn instead of heading for the hills as she has before sits inquisitively looking at what I am doing.  (Got to give it to those big brown eyes!)  After cleaning up I then let her out telling her to do "wee wees" (which is what we say to both dogs).  She doesn't do anything at that time or while I am watching her, but when cleaning the outside I notice little puddles, so she must be going at some time during the day.  The last couple of mornings I have woken to no wees although the utility room and kitchen are freezing cold where she is in and out of the flap.  I know we are now getting there and it is only a matter of time.  She is so adorable and gets on so well with my Lab that I'm sure given time she will cotton on to what Cassie is doing and follow suit. 

Many thanks for your advice.  I will keep you all posted of her progress. 

Mine have all been 1 week to 10 days too, thats not to say if,  after the intensive effort's put in, I go off shopping for a couple of hours they may not be able to hold it that length of time but they definately have been conditioned to report to the back door in time.  I have even managed to get my small litters of puppies knowing where to head by 6 weeks, well when nothing too distracting is happening :)

My very first litter, way back in 1976 when I was living with my parents and had no outside concerns whatsoever, had learned to perform on a single sheet of newspaper in a corner of the kitchen where they were raised before 7 weeks when they mostly left home ...

I still swear it's down to the quality of human input - I've never been able to give any pups the same intensive care as I did those ones, so they've been clean those few weeks later.

I'm sure I would not have managed it with any more that 4 or 5 in the litter, like you say it only works if you devote all you time to the job but when aquiring a new puppy I think it well worth putting everything else aside to really concentrate for 10 days or so, in the long run it saves a lot of effort.  I do recognise that some breeds or even idividuals are going to be slower but, touch wood, I have been lucky so far.

I do think that 7 months is still very young.  I agree with absolutely everything that everybody has said in reply to your question.  I have 4 dogs - 2 of which I have had from puppies.  The first pup I was able to spend lots of time with him (and he was small) so I was able to take him out at any time which meant he got to know very quickly that outside was where he pee'd and poo'd.  I have a 7 month old pup who is now getting the hang of things but I would say that if she has done anything indoor it has probably been my fault because I have not been vigilant enough.  Now that you know the drill it shouldn't take too long.