at my wit's end with peeing in the house

[Sabrina and Bentley]

HELP!!!

 

I feel so lost.  Grumman does not seem to grasp the understanding of peeing outside.  He's 12 weeks and we've had him almost 2 weeks.  I know that I need to give it time, but I haven't seen any improvements.  When we go outside, I say let's go potty.  Once he pees, I say good potty and good boy, give him lots of praise.  We take him out almost every 30 minutes.  First thing in the morning, after meals, after play times.  It never seems like it's enough because he always manages to pee 3-4 times in the house.  And he doesn't sniff around to give warning, he just goes.  And he seems to really like our brick foyer, which is the only positive since everywhere else is carpeted.  When we catch him, we startle him with a firm no and bring him outside to finish.

 

Our first doodle was so easy to potty train.  He had a few accidents for the first couple of weeks and then he was good with going outside every couple of hours. I just don't see an end to this one.

 

I've read through some of the other discussions, but I haven't found anything to try.  I've never used the bells and I wonder if it would confuse my older doodle to start using them now.  I'd rather try and teach him that he just goes when he's outside.  He's a smart dog.  Learned basic commands and his name within his first week home, so I know he's capable, I just feel like he chooses to do his own thing.

 

Here's the little stinker...

[Emily Lau]

Is he being crate trained? our doodle had an impossible time potty-training until we pretty much gave him absolutely no freedom inside unless it is 20-25 mins right after he pees outside. 

[Sabrina and Bentley]

Not really...we keep his crate upstairs in our room.  We've brought it down a couple of times and we have used it a few times.  I guess I'm spoiled, because our older doodle was never really crate trained, so I'm really clueless what it means to crate train.

 

I work from home, which is why I never crate trained my other dog.  He barks like a madman in his crate.  Does not like going in. I try to put treats in there and he tries to run back out.  The two play ALOT in the house, and I know that's part of it.  the excitement of playing make him want to go.  I just have trouble constantly stopping him becasue the little one constantly eggs him on.

 

So you're saying I should just crate him throughout the day?

 

Thanks!

[Emily Lau]

No problem! 

This is our regular schedule when Earnest was that age (NOTE: he is perfectly perfectly house-trained at around 6 months. He was pretty reliable starting 3-4 months.) Now he is 1.5. 

Schedule:

Wake up from crate - immediately potty outside

(free time - breakfast - play - fun times for up to 20-25 mins)

potty outside - then immediately transfer to crate. (even if he has no pee, you still do the whole "go potty"  thing. Nice to put crate in a place where he can generally see you and follow your actions. :) Also, make sure the crate is not big enough for him to not sit in his pees if he makes a mess.

crate for up to 1 - 1.5 hour - when crate time is over, immediately potty outside 

(free time - breakfast - play - fun times for up to 20-25 mins)

potty outside - then immediately transfer to crate.

etc etc, you get the idea. He will be very sad when you first put him in the crate. We try to make crate time a fun thing - every time we crate him, we sing a "crate song" and give him a tiny treat when he goes in. Now whenever we sing that song, he immediately goes in crate happily. But again, he WILL be upset for quite a while. Ignore. After a while he will realize that it is just how life works! Crate in and crate out :D

Good news: You can start to loosen the schedule up when he begins to be more regular.

I started giving Earnest much more freedom when he no longer pees in the house regularly. 

He, at age 1.5, still doesn't do bells. He just looks at us when he needs to go, and we know. :) 

I hope this is helpful!! Keep us posted :) 

x

[Judith and Addie]

This is very similar to what I have been doing with my Addie. I got Addie when she was 12 weeks, and unfortunately had to board her 10 days later as I had to go out of town. So her schedule was disrupted and that set her back a bit. She is much closer to being potty trained now, and her mistakes in the house are when I lapse.

I have also taken to tethering her to give her a little more freedom in the house, but I need to keep an eye on her.

[Sabrina and Bentley]

That looks like a good schedule. He hates the crate, so I need to work on him enjoying going in. I give him a trail of treats, but he still tries to escape. I end up having to put him in and I hate having to force him. I'm not a big fan of crates and was hoping I wouldn't need it, but I think he would benefit from it. Thanks for the advice!

[Stefan]

Oh my god I am so going to do a crate song for ours as well.  Too funny!!!

[Jenny Williams]

Totally second this! We crate train, and it's the only way to go for us! With two little ones in the house, I don't have time to follow the pup around 24/7. She has to learn our way of life... so we crate train just as Sabrina said above. We do 30 minutes play, potty, and then 1.5-2 hours of crate time. I cover the crate with a blanket - Leia will cry if we leave it off. We sometimes give her a special treat in her crate, but I don't play games with her to get her in. She is only 9 weeks, so I put her in, and that's life. Haha... we love her, we spend a lot of time with her, but we have a busy schedule with two kids in the house. She is catching on, but she still pees in the house occasionally. She can't seem to hold it past 20-30 minutes when free in the house, so we just stick to the 30 min out routine until she can prove to hold it longer.

[Jennifer & Truffle]

Hi there.  When we first brought Truffle home we allowed him to be with us in our kitchen, dining room, foyer and living room. Needless to say, there were plenty of places for him to have an accident and he did, several times.  And this despite frequently bringing him to go outside to pee. Truffle also uses the bells and they work very well.  When we mentioned the indoor urinating to our trainer, she told us that we were allowing him too much freedom in the house.  We have a gate between our kitchen and dining room and started using it - limiting him to the kitchen where I have a small desk area and spend a good part of the day.  Once we did that, the accidents essentially stopped - in fact, I don't think he's ever had an accident in the kitchen (he's 9 months old now).  Over time and once we knew he was able to hold it in longer, we gave him more freedom to roam the other rooms on the first floor, but only when we were with him and for short periods of time in the beginning.  I now feel fairly confident allowing him to roam those rooms in the house, even if I'm not in the room with him.  I can count on one hand the number of accidents he's had in the house since he was a little puppy.  

Although he's much better now than when he was a baby, I still crate him when I go out.  And we still make sure he goes outside to relieve himself if we're playing with him in the house and he's been running around for more than 20-30 minutes, since the lapses he's had in the house have always occurred after some rambunctious playing.

Also, if you don't have an odor neutralizer (like Nature's Miracle), you should pick a bottle up at your local pet store to rid the floor of the urine odors. 

Good luck!

[Sabrina and Bentley]

Thanks Jennifer! It's good to hear from others with the same struggle who are doing better now!

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

One of the first things.....comparing him to your first Doodle doesn't help anyone. It's like comparing two kids....they are both entirely different and will behave and learn differently.
12 weeks is still very young. Most pups are not considered housebroken until 5-6 months . Sounds like you are doing right by bringing him out every 30-45 minutes. If he is still going after bringing him in...try staying out with him longer. I learned pretty quick, Enzo was a " double pee'er". She had to pee at least twice before coming in, or she would go again once inside. His just squatting and peeing...no sniffs, no warning , shows it is his inability to hold it and just " go" when he feels the need. This where it is difficult and trying to beat him to feeling that urge.
Cleaning the spots ...if he is is returning to the same area, he may be smelling his previous accidents. Try using an enzyme cleaner, such as Nature's Miracle. You may not smell it, but he can.
Patience and consistency is key....keep at it! Know it is frustrating, but this will be all over soon.

[Sabrina and Bentley]

I agree, that I can't compare the two. I was just naive to think that it would be just as easy.

You do bring up a good point that if he's not sniffing around, it truly is that his bladder is tiny and he can't hold out. I've been better today about bringing him out more frequently and he's only had one accident so far.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

One accident so far......yay! Keep up the good work....this too shall pass! ;)