Discouraged with House Training

[Holly Southall]

Please Somebody Help. I am becoming very discouraged with house training. My 4 month old doodle is Angel and she is a joy and is wonderful to train in all other areas but housetraining. She spends most of her days outside. I am a stay at home mom and am able to go outside to spend time with her several times a day and when the kids are home they also spend time with her, but I really want a dog to be inside with us some as well. But when we bring her inside she has to go to the bathroom pretty much every 30 minutes until she falls asleep. I can leave her in her crate for up to 4 hours with no accident. She sleeps all night with no accident.
My dog trainers have told me to attach her to me with a leash while she is in the house and I have. Normally she will whine and pull on the leash and I take her out. Yesterday she did not give me any clues and I found a potty accident in the kitchen. I have no clue when she did this and she was attached to me the whole time she was inside. She was only inside for 40 minutes. My fault for not taking her out at the 30 minute mark, but I was hoping she could hold it longer.
Reading different puppy house training schedules online has been so dicouraging. They say to take your puppy out every 1-2hours. Angel will potty in the house if I do not take her out every 30 minutes. That type of a schedule is really difficult on a mom with 3 kids. I am willing to do it, but when will it get better???? Asked the Vet and she said some puppies potty a lot. Is this normal??? Does anyone else have this issue, or did you have this issue????

[NIKKI ~Macy's Mom~]

Holly, I can relate to you with the potty traing. My puppy was 17 weeks old Sunday. I have been trying to do the bell on the door traing and she hasn't got the drift of it yet. I was having to take Macy out every 30 minutes also or she would have an accident. I would have to watch her every move. I know they say not to spank your puppy if they go in the house, but I was at my wits end with the accidents. At 16 weeks if I would catch her peeing or find a pee on my floor I started putting her nose in it and spanking her a couple of times. Using a pretty stern hand in it to let her know I meant business and telling her "NO". Then I would take her out outside immediatly.
The times I would take her out and she would go potty. I would say "good potty" and pet her. THen we would come inside and get a treat. I felt like I was hitting a brick wall, then all of a sudden Sunday and Monday she only had one tiny accident in the house. Then yesterday was our first day accident free. I can't believe it. The only thing I can think of is spanking her and her knowing I was mad did the trick. Goodluck. Let me know how it works for you.

[Amber Rose]

We put in a doggy door and Limerick at 3 months was house trained in two days. I too am a stay at home mom and before we put the doggy door in Limerick had accidents all the time when I was too busy with the kids to take him out. Another labradoodle owner (she had two) I met at a local park told me that doodles are extremely smart dogs and if given the right tools will potty train within a week. Is putting in a doggy door possible for you?

[Sandy]

Toby was what I would call reliably trained until he was 6 months, and even last week, he had a slight pee pee incident in the rec room. He just doesn't do well on the bottom level of the house....seems to get excited, and forget he has to go upstairs to the door to go outside. I've heard you shouldn't expect a fully house trained dog until at least 6 months. Sorry! :)

[Phoebe's Mom]

You have caught me on yet another really bad potty morning with Phoebe--after an awful day yesterday when she peed in the house 7 times despite going out at least 20, without exaggeration. I am, in fact, waiting for a return call fom our vet as I am so frustrated. Phoebe had a bladder infection when we got her three weeks go and we had her on antibiotics--which we finished over 10 days ago. She is dry through the night each an every night--from day 1 which is what makes it all the more frustrating for us--and stays dry if we need to crate her during the day. I simply cannot understand how she can pee so much. In 75 minutes this morning, she had 4 accidents inside and was taken out where she peed again another 5 times. Is this even possible? I wish I had words of encouragement but I must admit--with some guilt-misery loves company this morning. Good luck and let us know when it gets better.

[Adina P]

My Rosco peed at least every 30 min at that age if not MORE often. Every pup is different and my advice is to CRATE your puppy when you cannot watch her or take her out in 30 min intervals. It is OK to crate while you are busy doing Mom things. The whole point of the crate is to prevent accidents until she starts to consider the WHOLE house as her home.
In fact, in moments when you have MORE time on your hands I would suggest taking her out MORE often than every 30 minutes (maybe for 1 hour try every 15) just so that you have LOTS of opportunities to praise and treat her so it is CRYSTAL clear in her mind that going outside is VERY rewarding and going inside is useless.

Finally consider teaching her to ring a bell to let you know when she has to go. Here are some past discussions on this topic:
http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/puppymadness/forum/topics/2065244...

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/puppymadness/forum/topics/potty-bell

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/puppymadness/forum/topics/2065244...

Finally if the every 30 minutes doesn't improve over a few weeks, take in a pee sample to your vet for analysis and ruling out UTI or bladder infection.

[Holly Southall]

Wow all of you have been so helpful. I do not feel discouraged and know Angel is a normal puppy. Regulating the water will help a lot. We have not done that during the day.

I was told not to treat after potty, but I think I will now. We do clicker training and I was told not to do that for potty, I forget why, but now I think I will and treat. Just need to hook that clicker to me somehow.

But all of your testimonies have helped so much. I do not feel as discouraged. I was afraid I was ruining any chance I had at finally getting a dog who will potty outside. But it seems like we are just doing the same thing everyone else is.

I clean up with Vinegar and water. And we have a doggie door, unfortunately it is in our walk out basement and we spend most of our time upstairs on main level.

Thank you everyone and if anybody else has more to say, let me know.

[Donna, Tony, Oliver,Henry & Joey]

Hi Holly, just a suggestion about the clicker. I got one of those spiral armband key holders. I keep my house key and clicker on there, up over my left elbow (right hand for treats and hand signals). I can do chores without it bugging me, but still have my clicker handy to pull down when I need it. Hope this helps and good luck... you'll be just fine. :)

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Hi Holly,
We got Honey from a kennel where she lived in a crate for 6 months, house training has become a nightmare. I started her on paper, till she decided it was more fun to pee and poop on the floor, and chew the paper, while also taking her outside with other dogs to go thinking she would follow, "NOT"! All she was interested in outside was getting into more trouble. We do not have a fenced in yard so my dogs are always on leashes. I have tried the 1 hour taking her out and still sometimes she will go, sometimes she won't, and sometimes she will pee outside and come right in and poop on the floor. Since we have a by-level home, I have now hooked up a tie out outside my computer room, where we spend most of the day anyways and getting her out is a lot easier. Today we peed outside twice, but pooped on the floor once. I know most pups they say for every month they are alive they should be able to hold their pee 1 hour up to 1 year for 8 to 12 hours. Could be she possibly does not have the bladder control yet, and maybe regulate her water also. I also have started doing that with Honey and it is paying off today, cause I know within 15 mins after she drinks, she is starting to sniff the floor and scouting out her next spot to pee. I keep taking her poop and putting it in the yard, so I am wishfully thinking she might get the idea to do that outside also. Whats odd with Honey, she is crate trained and I leave her crate open all night long in my bedroom, I never wake up to pee or poop, but give her 5 mins awake and it's peeing and pooping all over, so we know we have to get out the door quickly, but again she will pee outside, but not poop! I think with Practice, Persistance, and lots of Praise they will eventually get it, just have to hang in there.

[Eileen Ross and Cody]

I totally agree with Jane on the house training. You might want to add go pee or just pee when he goes outside (same for poop) Give treat immediately. By doing this Cody nows pees and poops on command. He pee's and poop's very quickly for us especially when it is cold out or late at night when I want to get back in the house. I just tell him go pee or go poop.
We don't have to give treats anymore. This took about a month on consistantly using those words. He is now almost 8 months old.

[Holly Southall]

Wanted everyone to know since posting this, we have had no accidents in the house. We have taken everyone's advice and I have been much more diligent in getter her out before I know she has to go. It is a very rainy weekend here and everyone will be stuck inside most of the weekend. This will be our test! Thanks for all the advice. What a boost it gave me.

[Crazy Doodle Lady]

Sometimes it helps to see it from the dog's point of view. When she is outside there is nobody telling her when to go. She can go to the bathroom whenever she wants where ever she wants. Then suddenly she is inside and the rules change? It's confusing for a young puppy. Maybe try keeping her in the house until she is 100% trained. When she is outside she isn't taught to hold it for any length of time. Her bladder needs to be trained as well as her mind.

Bear is the same age as Angel and has been really good about house training. He knows that going outside is for two things: going to the bathroom and going for a walk. He pees, poops and then runs back to the door. (Except lately he thinks it's funny to run away when we get to the door. Watching mom chase him through the yard is great fun apparently.)

[nonnie browne]

I am so sorry for your issues, many years ago I was a young mom with a houseful of kids and the same problem. I am now retired and my doodle has not had this problem. I would echo Adina's remarks. Tether inside, despite the accident. Never punish (as hard as that might be), use the crate. I would add treats for successful potty outside. You must go with your pup - that might be difficult, but supervised potty with praise and treats for a while and they will want to go out to please you and get the treat. Good luck.