Housebreaking

[Joanie]

Hi Everyone :)  I'm new here.  My name is Joan and I have a 3month old Australian Labradoodle named Lani.  I have a question about housebreaking.  My little Lani girl is very smart and seems to soak up new things like a sponge.  She's very loving, but I am having some problems with housebreaking.  I know she is young and the vet said that since she is so young so won't show signs that she needs to go out such as circling, sniffing, etc...  Is that true?  I do realize if she has an accident in the house it's like a surprise to her like she gives me a look like "Oh, I didn't realize I needed to go."  If I take her out on a 3 hours schedule she seems to do ok although recently she started this new one of only wanting to pee outside and will wait to poop till we get inside.  Does anyone have any tips?  I know she's very young.  I got her when she was just turning 2 months old.  Any hints, tips, advice would be greatly appreciated :)

 

Thanks,

Joanie

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Do you have the doggie potty bells? We used these from the day they came home and we still have them up. We got Myla at 8 weeks and Chloe at 9 or 10. You put them on the door that you use for potty and takem them out like every 20-30 minutes if you can even if they don't have to go and say potty and ing the bell. You can also put food on the bell to teach them to nudge it to go out. Always use the same dor with the bells though. We had only a handful of accidents and it's the best thing we ever did. they are actually called poochie bells if yu want to google it. Not sure about the poop inside except does she go in the same spot inside? When you clean it are you using a pet cleaner with the enzymes that are supposed to kill the scent so they don't think that's their place? As far as showing no signs, I don't 100% believe the vet. If she paces or stops in front of you and stares at you or circles around even once get her out and say potty. Good luck, hope this helps a bit. Welcome!!!

[Geri]

Both dogs use the bells, just big jingle bells I got at Michaels.

Brenna was good at pooping outside, but would pee in the dining room. Thank heavens for tile.

Suddenly, she just got it.  Maybe having an older dog helped. I took her out after she ate and drank.  Praised her highly when she did her business.  

 

Geri

[Leigh & Allie]

I think at this stage 3 hours is a long time. I use a bell at the door as well, but I just made one out of ribbon and a bell I bought at a craft store. Allie walks by it to ring it now. In the beginning I would ring it EVERY time we went out. I would say "let's go potty" Are you using the same words everytime you go out? When we first got her, we confined her to one area unless I could watch her constantly. In our case it was the kitchen where it was not traumatic if she had an accident, but I did try to watch her almost constantly. If I saw her squat, I would scoop her up and take her outside immediately. If she pottied outside, I would throw a huge party with a treat. She would think she had won the lottery the way I carried on :) You will get tired and discouraged, but I promise if you are consistent you will see a change very soon. Allie is perfect now. You will get there! Hang on.

[Diane and Alma]

I had to laugh when I read about your "potty party."  I had forgotten we did the same thing with the dog...and my kids when they were potty training!  We even had a song and dance with my kids LOL!

[Leigh & Allie]

Yes, I remember well the potty parties. They are HUGE!! Allie is 2 now so now I just let her out when she rings the bell.

 

BTW. Allie would ring the bell ALL the time when she wanted to go out to play. My DH would say "she really does not need to go out." I said " I can NOT teach her to go outside by ringing the bell and then NOT let her go out!" YES there were times she just wanted to go out to play, BUT I let her out EVERY time she rang the bell. It was not long before she got over the every minute ringing of the bell. I could not be happier with my bell and potty response.

[Adina P]

Yes to bells as others have said and do take her out every 20-30 mins until you are accident free for a week or so then extend that time by 15 min per week. Also start keeping track of when she poops and keep her outside longer at those times and if she does not poop, crate her then repeat after 30 min.

[Joanie]

Thank you everyone :)  I like the bell idea except I can't use it in my house.  Long story.  I have a 1 1/2 year old English Bulldog too.  And when my husband and I first got Roxie (our EB) we used bells for her.  But she became too smart and realized that she can ring the bell every five seconds and have us jumping to take her out.  Eventually we caught on to her game so she would ring the bell literally every five seconds and finally when we didn't jump up to take her out Miss Roxie UNHOOKED the bell and brought it to us!  So unfortunately bells don't work in my house :(  My husband has tried every which way to hook up a bell and still she figures out how to unhook it.  I live in a second floor walk up, so I only have one door to go outside.  Everytime I take her out I bring her to the same spot.  I was walking Rox and Lani at the same time, but maybe that's not a good idea?  Rox wants to be where Lan is and Lan wants to be where Rox is and no one gets their business done.  So is it better to take them each for seperate walks?  Everytime there is an accident in the house (whether caused by Rox or Lan) I have detergent to clean it up with that is supposed to deter from accidents happening in the same spot again, I also have a deep carpet cleaner that uses the same type of detergent so as soon as accidents happen they are cleaned up.  I really appreciate all your advice.  I will try taking her out every 30 minutes.

[Ginny Nightingale]

I agree with all that has been said and you should be crating her--if she comes out of the crate, she needs to go outside immediately--and she will go out probably every 30 minutes for now--as Adina said --gradually increase it. If you want to play with her, take her out of the crate, out to go potty, then play. And yes the other dog (who sounds like a genius!) should not be going along every time--too distracting. Use the words you have chosen like GO POTTY a lot and keep her focused on that. No fooling around or aimless chatting until the business has been done!

Also, save a piece of paper towel from one of her poop accidents and bring it outside where you want her to poop and let her smell it. Gross, but effective. Some pups are less mature bladder-wise, etc and it may take a while, but she will get it, especially since she is so smart every other way. She just needs to have it spelled out a little and it will happen quickly. Good luck with your new baby!

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

HA HA Chloe does this with the bells now too for ANOTHER walk, too bad we know her schedule now.

[Richard Crowe]

We thought that Holly should have been called a "Golden Puddle" rather than a Goldendoodle when she was a puppy.  We would take her out to pee exceptionally frequently and she would wet a couple of times outside and perhaps poop also.  Then on returning to the house, she would pee all over again.  It is like you mentioned, we don't think that she was mature enough to know when she had to go or mature enough to hold it until she was in an sppropriate place.

 

Luckily, our house has all tile floors so, while being annoying, the "accidents: were not devastating.

 

We did all the requisite house training routines, praising her when she went in an appropriate place and even giving her treats if she did.  We scolded her if we caught her peeing in the house (but, not if we found a puddle that was deposited earlier).  We did not crate her because she cried like a wounded Commanche when she was crated.

 

Suddendly, between three and four months old, something clicked and she realized where to pee or rather where not to pee.  It was not a gradual tapering off, one day she was wetting all over and the next day she was totally house trained.  She never had an accident again.

 

We cannot put our finger on any one incident or training trick that did the job.  I think that is was just a culmination of long weeks of patience that paid off...

[Joanie]

Lol, it's funny that you say that around three to four months old something clicked.  Rox (our EB) we tried and tried and tried to at least wee wee pad train her just incase she had to go.  She never got it... until recently.  She has the run of the house (my husband's choice) so when she was younger she would have accidents but was pretty good at letting us know she had to go out (i.e. ringing that bell incessantly!!).  Now she marches herself to the front door or growls at at the door to let us know she needs to go out.  When we brought Lani home the vet wouldn't let me take her outside right away because she was so young and didn't have any shots, so we put wee wee pads down in the house... and Rox taught herself how to use them all of a sudden!  It's actually very funny.  Like you said something clicked.  Now I only leave a wee wee pad out at night and if Rox needs to go she jumps out of bed (she sleeps with us as does Lan) and walks over to the wee wee pad and goes and then jumps back into bed, lol.  I'm hoping Lan will eventually get to a point like that that if in the middle of the night she has to go she will jump off the bed herself.  She is starting to realize sometimes she needs to go.  Like, last night she walked up to me and gave me kisses to wake me up to tell me she needed to go.  But other times it just doesn't stick.  I will start taking Lan out seperately from Rox and every 30 minutes and I make sure to make a big deal when she goes correctly outside and you can tell she's proud of herself.  I guess I just gotta keep working at it :)

 

P.S. Lan is crated when no one is home.  I take her out before she goes in her crate and take her out as soon as she comes out of her crate.  She's doing good with having no accidents in there.  When I'm home, I keep her and Roxie confined to only the dining room / living room area.  All other areas are gated off.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We night-crated Ned and our foster so they would hold it all night. At first we carried them outside first thing so that no accidents happened on the way out.  Eventually we left the crate door open and finally put the crate away when there was no longer any interest in using it.