Hi, my 14 wk old pup is using my kitchen as a toilet. The back door is open ALL day and she does toilet outside. But mostly inside on the kitchen floor. I was just on the floor looking for her kong and realized the floor stinks. i have used bio washing powder, dettol, bleach and today jeyes fluid(not all at once) Yes i think i've made it worse what can i use to stop my whole house from stinkin???
thanks in advance
aly x

Hi peacebabe

Leaving your back door open for the puppy to go out at will to eliminate is not toilet training her ;)  All you're doing is taking a hit and miss chance (with poor odds) that she'll prefer to "go" outside rather than in.

To toilet train a puppy you have to take them outside to eliminate and stay with them until they perform then reward either by praise or treats when they get it right.  Choose a word or phrase to use as a command such as "busy", "hurry up" that you only use for toilet training.  Immediately the puppy begins use the command word and follow when she's finished by lots of praise - she will eventually associate the command word/phrase with her actions and in future it will be useful for you both.   Unless you actively encourage her to toilet outdoors she will not do it - young animals have a natural fear of being "prey" so don't like to announce to the great outdoors where they are ;)  Take her out regularly and after she wakes up, has been fed, has played a game for a bit etc - poor toilet training is always our fault, not the pups!

As to your clean up regime, using anything containing bleach or that goes white in water smells very similar to pups as the ammonia in urine.  Stick to dissolved bio powder and wipe or mop over with white vinegar to break down fatty deposits.

HTH, Teri :)

If the door is open all day does that mean you have been leaving it to her to learn that outside is where to go when you need the toilet?  They cannot learn these things without us actively teaching them.
I would recommend you keep the door closed or gated off with something if it is too hot :)  Go right back to basics taking her out outside after every meal, nap or play time, of about an hour by this age, but shorten that if you find you are "missing".  It is vital you go with her and stay with her until she performs.  Lavish with praise, some use tipbits but I have never bothered and repeat for at least a week, maybe longer until you are sure she understands.  Do not chastise or comment at all if you screw up and she toilets inside it is not her responsibility but yours :)

When possible i do stand out side with her, but she just sits down and won't do anything. I then encourage her to walk rather than sit but really up to 40 mins l8r she will just com in and wee (with no warning of sniffing floor ect). she has done this from 8 wks, she always poohs outside! except through the night when she poohs and wees all over the kitchen!  how can i encourage her to actually wee while outside??
If we walk round to the grass (round the corner) she always wees on there??
Thanks again, Oh i  ignore her whilst standing outside then treat and praise the minute she does something!
aly x

The best way to encourage her is to do just as Teri and I have described.  It's not just coincidence that we gave exactly the same regime it does work :)  What you must not do is just allow her to mooch outside when it suits her and follow her.  Close the door and start from scratch.

Ignoring her is not teaching her to do anything while she is outside. You should take her out as soon as she has eaten, woken an about every 90 minutes in between. Use a command to encourage her - "be quick" or something. Say it as well when she performs and when she has finished praise and treat her. She is too young to last the night without an accident. 

Right brain is slowly processeing info! do i go out with her or just shut the door on her? when i have done this she tends to lie down by the back door. can someone Please step by step it for me, the beagle was easy to house train this is just confusing. how do i use the vinager, do i just pour on the floor and then mop it?? thanks a lot guys, i'm trying not to sound a divvi, anyone would think this was my 1st dog!!!!
Why would she choose to poo outside but not wee?? Oh and i wasn't complaining about the night time mess, one step at a time!
Aly x

Yes definately go with her.  You have to be there when she performs so she can see the benefits of going outside as oppose to inside ie lots of lavish praise.
She is choosing to poo outside because dogs are more fastidious regarding this and their living area.  She would maybe choose eventually to wee outside but you could wait a long time and some dogs really aren't that fussy on their own account :)

We put our pup on his lead to take him out to toilet so we were always with him. It could take quite a while for him to perform but you need to be consistant whatever the weather. If you are not with the pup you are unable to reward instantly for him going. I read somewhere that there is only a 3 second response time for a dog to associate an action with a reward so it is absolutely necessary that you are with him in order to give the reward as soon as he has performed.
Our pup was being house-trained in the winter so we spent many a cold or wet hour out in the garden with him but it has really paid off and he was clean indoors from about the third week.
A bit of time spent now will make your life so much easier as you will be teaching acceptable behaviour rather than trying to correct a problem which is much harder to do.
Stick with it and you will get there :)

if you follow the tips you've been given - and yes, you always go outside with her and never shut the door on her! - you'll find that the message gets through remarkably quickly! The secret being absolute consistency about when she's taken into the garden, a command word and massive, massive praise for performing. Personally I've never used food treats but they've worked well for other people. As for holding on through the night, she's only a little 'un still and may well not quite have the bowel and bladder control to last so it's probably a question of setting your alarm clock and getting up to take her out in the early hours.

Aly, here is a link you might find helpful:

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/housetrain.htm

I find my steam cleaner a Godsend.  My dogs rarely make a mess in the house but of course accidents do occasionally happen especially with my eldest boy as he lived outside for the first six years of his life.  The house smells wonderful after I've steam cleaned and is so easy to do.  When I steam clean I also have the mop in a solution of bio-powder and water.

Thanks everyone, 25 mins we were outside this afternoon, she was just lying down, tryed to make her walk (i put her on a lead), then she came in and wee'd on the kitchen floor. She pooed outside 5 times today. how long can i realisticaly stand out side with her, the longest has been 40 mins- nothing!! the vinager is working for the smell, thanks! Oh and the links have been really usefull
Aly x

Hi again Aly,

remember the golden rule - "accidents are the fault of the owner" ;)  You have to get your timing better, a pre-emptive strike on when she should need to empty her bladder should, hopefully, save on 40 minutes standing around in the garden! 

You say she's poo'ed outside - was this with you taking her out, waiting with her, giving her a command when she started to defecate and praising her loads on completion?   Or was this her choosing to go out of the ever open door unsupervised?

Consistency and patience by the bucket load are the main keys to house training - you only get out of it what you put in!   Give her your undivided attention on this for at least a week, maybe 10 days now that you've accidentally encouraged her toileting indoors habit, and you'll transform her :)

Also, if she is not remaining clean overnight, it's because you are leaving her too long.  At just 14 weeks the absolute maximum I would expect a puppy to remain clean and dry is 6 hours - but that's with one where bog standard house training as explained previously has been in place from day 1 ;)  In your girl's case you may have to settle for 5 hours sleep and then get up and take her out, wait until she performs, use command .... heck, the drill's all there already :P

Glad the clean up tips are working - but far better to take the house training tips fully on board then you'll have no need for the cleaning ones ;)

Good luck, good timing, 100% dedication by all household members = sorted

HTH, Teri     

Also watch her carefully for the signs that she is about to wee - you will soon learn what she does in preparation - then whisk her out. Follow the times to take her out that have been given. It is as much education for you as her. :)

thanks again, yes she just goes outside on her own to poo.  when i took her out last night she had been asleep for an hour and the advice is to take them out every hour. i don't expect her to be clean every night, i was just giving you the whole picture. i will make her a velcro dog for the next week, when she goes to the kitchen, i will be right behind her, and hopefully if i then get her outside and she wee's, then praise she will catch on. She is a smart dog!!
Thanks will let you know how we get on!
Aly x

I'm by no means a dog toilet training expert, but when my boy was a pup I'd take him out about 10 minutes after feeding time, run at full speed to the place I wanted him to eliminate and then encourage him there.

Within about a week he was looking forward to his "toilet dash" (the elimination place was a small pile of loose earth in a corner of the garden - easy to clean, etc) and was soon able to "tell" me when he needed to go by running to the door.

We did the same thing for weeing -- a bit harder to time, but if you pay attention, you can soon tell how much time usually passes between drinking and weeing/how you dog behaves just before she wees/etc  - there comes a point where your pup will *have* to go, so if she is taken outside at that point, then she won't have a choice about going outside.

The toilet dash had the added advantage that our boy not once eliminated in the garden. We used the same technique to teach him to go in dog toilets rather than in parks ... Sadly, I don't see many of those dog toilets in the UK (none in Brighton that I can find) ... but that's another story.

Good luck!

Also remember to keep tasty treats handy and feed/reward her as she goes or immediately after - this can really tip the balance as dogs will start to work out that going outside can mean a treat they love! Use liver or chicken or sausage or cheese, not boring winalot or biccies ;)

You Will do better if you take her out when she is most likely to go, that is just on waking, after any excitement or play, after eating etc.

At other times I personally would take her out briefly every half hour, stay with her for five minutes repeating your toilet word.

If she doesn't go take her back inside and watch carefully, and then take her out in another half hour.

It only needs a couple of positively praised performances for hr to eagerly go out and even squeeze out a few drops or pretend to go just so you will be pleased.

Yep just done that, she was asleep for an hour, took her out 6mins l8r, nothing, so just kept saying wee, got her a bit excited so she dribbled (she does it when people come in) then lots of praise. I'm hopeing that she will get the message??
Aly x

nothing more to add to this thread really except.....stick with it , she will get the message soon....good luck !! :)

She hasn't wee'd in the kitchen all day. I had  no kids in today so spent it with Paisley. when i took her outside in the morning time i tickled her belly to make her dribble and that got her started. Repeated "toilet time" to her and by this afternoon it defo is working, yes i know, early days, but think i'm on the right track now. She did try and bite my 4 yr old then me last night but i guess thats a different thread. she did scare me a bit though!!
Thank you all soo much for your replys
Aly x

Great stuff Aly - you're doing a grand job obviously :)   Within a week (probably sooner) you'll see such an improvment as your little pup picks up on what you want her to do - they live to please us after all :)

Re the biting, pups do a lot of that - exploring everything with their mouths - they need to learn bite inhibition and this can be taught relatively easily :)  Again it needs the full co-operation of the entire household but it works a treat.  If you follow this link http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm it is a very useful article on the importance of teaching bite inhibition.  Print off several copies and ensure everyone knows the "rules" and a copy is always to hand.

Good luck - you're well on the way to a happy, well trained, thoroughly delightful best friend for yourself and family.
regards, Teri :)