Accidents

[Shawn & Bella]

So I am still in the hospital unfortunately and Bella is at home with my mom.......I just got off the phone with my mom and she said lil Ms. Bella is pooping on the floor quite regurlarly.....She does this with me occasionally but my mother says she had her outside for a hour and when they came back in Bella pooped rite on the living room floor......I dont understand why she is still doing this she is 3 months old now........Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do and how to punish her?  I can understand an ocassional accident but this is getting to be a habit with her and this is not accectapble.

[Pat & "Tucker"]

Bella is only a baby- you shouldn't punish. I would do a search on housebreaking puppies on the Web and in DK and be consistent with the recommendations. Praise, praise and praise and treat when she does the right thing!

[LG & Sadie]

We used only positive reinforcement with Sadie! Give applause whenever she does the right thing! Love, praise and treats!

[Shawn & Bella]

She gets plenty of praise and I do everything you guys have suggested! How is she going to know it is bad to poop in the house? Hard to do anything from the hospital.

[LG & Sadie]

Oh gosh, it's impossible to do anything from the hospital. Your Bella is missing you-when you are home and she sees you are unhappy with a behavior, she will want to do somehing different to please you, then when she does something different you will praise her and all will fall into place. I may have oversimplified~but, what she is doing now is probably regressing a little because of the changes in her environment. She's young, and she will get it. Hang in there! Wishing you the best~

[Janice Allocco-Ange]

House breaking can be frustrating! I think my 5 month puppy is finally house broken and it has been frustrating. Basically I took her outside about every 20 minutes to a half hour. I would also take her out immediately after she woke up or shortly after getting a long drink. I even gave her an occasional treat of her puppy kibble when she did go outside. She still had occasional accidents, but I never caught her so I couldn't reprimand her. Just two weeks ago she came in the kitchen and squatted and peed right in front of me! When she began, I yelled a stern no, picked her up and carried her outside to finish and then rewarded her. I had caught her one other time a few days earlier and did the same thing. I think catching her in the act did help her to get the idea. I have also been training her to ring a bell that hangs from the front door as a way for her to let me know she has to go out to pee or poop. She finally rang the bell on her own the other day and I took her out and she peed! She hasn't had an accident since and she continues to use the bell to go out.

[Adina P]

So when they came back in....was Bella allowed to be free in the house? If you've been out a full hour with NO poo when you expected poo...then Bella should go RIGHT INTO HER CRATE as soon as she gets in the house. Then try again in another 30 minutes to 1 hour. But if you're expecting a poo (or pee) and she doesn't go, the LAST thing she needs is freedom to do it in the house.

Next...what DID your mom do when Bella started pooing? If it were me I'd make a loud "AH AH" sound or something to get her attention immediately and then usher her outside or scoop her up and take her outside.

In the meantime, Bella should not be unsupervised around the house for 1 second until she's potty trained. This means she needs to be in a crate, leashed to a person, or all eyes need to be on her so she can't sneak out a pee or poo. But true punishment is not really needed. If you can catch her WHILE she's going poo..then a loud noise and a rush outside where she can finish the job is all that's needed.

Finally, what is your mom (or you) cleaning up the poo with? Are you using an enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle?