Potty Training and Anxiety Peeing

[Heather and Wendell]

Wendell is here and I couldn't be happier. Today is his 8 week birthday. I'm working from home for this first week to bond with him and also try to get a routine for potty training. Monday I decided to take him out every 2 hours, but I noticed he was going before then, so I decided to start taking him out every hour and a half. Well that seems to be working a little better, but I noticed I wasn't able to catch him when he pees because I wasn't using a pen. Well, now he's in a pen, but he HATES it. I figured he would because he's only okay with being in his crate when he's sleepy. It's so hard for me to hear him howl and cry in the pen. He can see me, but he typically cries until he falls asleep for a nap. I've noticed though that when he really gets himself worked up, he pees A LOT. I honestly don't know what to do. I don't know if I should discipline him for peeing in the pen while he's worked up. I don't know if I should remove him completely. I don't know how to keep him calm. As you can see, I don't know much here, but I do know I don't want him panicking when I go back to work next week. Can anyone with experience in this area help me out? Thank you in advance.

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

I'd suggest get on a crate training schedule to housebreak, and no, please don't consider disciplining Wendell. He is still learning and not peeing on purpose. Here's a sample crate training schedule I found before:

A typical house breaking schedule for an 8 week old puppy is as follows:
6 AM Potty, food, water, exercise/play for 20-30 minutes, crate or exercise pen.
10 AM Potty, water, exercise/play for 20-30 minutes, crate or exercise pen.
12 PM Potty, food, water, exercise/play for 20-30 minutes, crate or exercise pen.
2 PM Potty, water, exercise/play for 20-30 minutes, crate or exercise pen.
5 PM Potty, food, water, exercise/play for 20-30 minutes, crate or exercise pen.
7 PM Potty, last water, exercise/play for 20-30 minutes, crate or exercise pen.
11 PM Potty, Bedtime/crate.

Also if you want to continue the pen, you could feed him in there, treat him in there, and give him his favorite toys to play with while he's in there.

[Heather and Wendell]

This is great, Leslie. Thanks! Just to clarify, I don't mean physical punishment when I say discipline. I just mean saying "no!" Probably should've said chastise or reprimand. But if I shouldn't do that either, then I wont.  This is a great schedule. 

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Disciplining is definitely not the way to go. Think of him as a young infant. He has no control of his bladder at this point. Every 45 minutes/ to an hr, until you can read his signals go go out. PLUS, after he has just woken up from napping and after he has eaten.
Many of us have incorporated the use of potty bells.....a set of bells that hangs on the exit door you use to take him out. Have him hit the bells with his nose or paw, each and everytime you take him out. He will soon learn to signal you when he needs out.
You may also consider tethering him to you...this way, he is with you, which is what he wants. And you can hear and see him at all times. Being alone in a pen, new to a household and only 8 weeks old has to be terrifying for him.

[Heather and Wendell]

This is good. I like hearing what other people have used for their pups. Idk if we're going to do bells. I may look into some, but our other dog just goes to the door when he has to go out. I will check them out, though. And you're right, I'm sure it is pretty scary for him. It really does break my heart listening to him cry, but I'm trying to get him used to it, because I have to go back to work and we are an active couple. Our city is EXTREMELY dog friendly and most of our friends have dogs, but until he's finished with his shots, he'll have to stay home :( Thanks for chiming in and your suggestions!

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

We are taking Maci everywhere we can. Take yours with you if you can for some great socialization. Maci is either carried by DH or myself, or we also have a wagon we pull her in. Getting them out with you for socialization is VERY important right now, so word of advice don't leave him home alone if you don't have to. We took Maci downtown last night. Saw and heard motorcycles, big buses, bicycles, men in helmets, flags flying, loud music playing, tons of people petting her, etc.... You get the picture. ;-)

[Heather and Wendell]

Awww that's so cute.  We do want to get her socialized properly. She will get her second booster shot on the 7th and the vet said he could probably start going out around more people then. I'm afraid of him getting parvo or something like that. But I think taking him out is for the best.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Sorry...our posts crossed. I read discipline and immediately thought" heavy handed". By all means, a loud clap of the hands, accompanied by a NO or Eh-EH...anything to let him know this was unacceptable behavior. We started using the bells simply because I would miss her signals or would be in the other end of the house and find a pee right by the back door. I can hear the bells from all over the house, as she still hits them with gusto when she wants out. She learned the bells in 3 days and made our job that much easier.
Like Leslie, we also took Enzo everywhere with us. Her feet never touched the ground, but she became very socialized and fears no sounds.
Good luck and don't forget to join the Puppy Madness Group...lots of great info to be had.

[Heather and Wendell]

3 days?! Really! that's awesome! Yea, I'm going to join that group. Thanks Rosemary!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I do think that you have to correct (not discipline) a puppy when you catch him in the act of eliminating in the wrong place, i.e. anywhere indoors. To me, it's not so much about timing as it is about teaching the puppy where he should go when he has to, and where he should not go. 

I firmly believe that 8 weeks is not too young to learn this. Of course, it helps if you had a breeder who started the puppies on housebreaking, and if their mom was around to do a little work in that direction, too. My last puppy was reliably housebroken by 12 weeks. She came to me crate trained.

To me, it's not so much about timing as it is about teaching the puppy where he should go when he has to, and where he should not go. 

Every mistake you miss is reinforcing the behavior that you don't want, i.e. pottying indoors. So you simply cannot allow him the opportunity to make a mistake. You keep him tethered to you when you are home and can't watch him, and you keep him crated when you're not home and overnight. 

When you catch him pottying indoors, you make a sharp but not loud sound: "Eh, Eh!" You grab him and get outside to the potty area immediately. If you're lucky, he finished what he started, and then you have a party. I'm serious. You give him a treat (which you always have on your person every minute) and you sing his praises as if he'd hung the moon: "Good boy! Good pee pee! Good boy, Wendell!" Let the neighbors think you're nuts, lol. 

What you have just taught him is: Potty indoors, bad. Potty outdoors, wonderful! And that's all you need to teach him to have a successfully housebroken puppy. Once he "gets" it, you can use bells or whatever you want to use as a tool so that he knows how to tell you that he needs to go outside. (Personally, I never needed them. My dogs came to me and told me). But first, he has to understand that he does need to go outside to do his business and not just go indoors. Eight weeks is not too young for this. Dogs naturally want to keep the areas where they live clean. Left to their own devices, dogs will normally go to the furthest corner of the yard away from the door to the house to do their business. There's a reason for that. It's a natural instinct.

One more step. You must use an odor neutralizer like Nature's Miracle on every area where he has made a mistake, and you need to saturate the area. Just cleaning it up is not enough; you may not be able to smell anything, but the dog can, and he will return to that spot. 

Catch, correct, treat, praise, and neutralize, that's all there is to it. Good luck. 

[Heather and Wendell]

This is along the lines of what I've been trying to do, Karen. I feel like how is he supposed to no it's "bad" to go inside if I don't tell him? Just bought some Nature's Miracle for carpet and hard surface. We're blessed to have wood throughout except in the bedrooms, and we keep those closed off during the day. I'm excited to have it to clean with, though. Thanks for your input!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

8 weeks old is very young to expect them to hold it for 2 hours, in my opinion. I trained mine by bringing them outside at least every half hour for the first week or two. Praise and treats when they went, and a loud EH-Eh if the had accident outside. My rule was to take them out after they played, ate, drank, exercised or slept. And never have him out of your sight. Good luck.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yep, I agree with this completely. I think you meant to say "a loud EH-Eh" if they had an accident inside, though. :)