It's all fun and games 'til the black light comes out...

[Sally Crocker]

Charlie is now almost 16 weeks and thriving. Something clicked with his eating two weeks ago and now he eats about 2/3 cup of food three times a day and the vet is pleased with his weight gain. He's 9.9lbs and full of energy. I thought his toilet trading was coming along, slowly but surely, with less accidents than before. So, having used a black light in the past to teach pre-schoolers about germs, I thought I'd get one to look for any pee spots I'd missed. It would be fun, there couldn't be that many spots, right? Wrong! I darkened the living room and all of a sudden my carpet looked like a Jackson Pollack painting....a dribble or pool of pee here, there, and everywhere! OMG!! I'm scrubbing the carpet like crazy and spraying the pet enzyme product but I'm so disheartened. I'm the owner, I'm the grown-up and he's only a wee puppy, so I'm not frustrated with him, just me. Will this ever end? Every time I take him outside to use the bathroom and say "go potty" he performs and gets praise and a high value treat. He shows no indication of wanting to go out to use the potty though. No sound or pacing, etc. I'm trying to keep a sense of humor about it all but I am seriously thinking about sending the black light back to Amazon and having a glass of wine instead.

[Laura and Angus]

Aw man that's tough :( If I held a black light up to our carpet, I'm terrified of what we'd find (we just bought our house and the previous owners had a dog). Something that worked well for us was to keep our pup in the room we were in at all times. We watched him like a HAWK. Sometimes their "indication" of needing to potty is starting to walk/sniff in circles - super subtle. Stick with the treats and taking your pup out regularly and they'll get there. It definitely takes time, but they will definitely get it. 

Side note - have you considered trying the potty bells? If you search this group for that, there are lots of discussions. Loads of people swear by that helping their dog learn to potty outside. Good luck!!

[Sally Crocker]

Thank you. I purchased a bell and will start learning how to use it.

[Valery]

I would just send the light back! I can't imagine what my carpet looks like!! As old as the house, previous owners with animals and now our two kids, a cat and a new 14 week old doodle!!!   Yep send that baby back and get a refund to use to buy more wine! :)  

On a side note we have tried to keep him close to us. Pin him up when we go upstairs or outside to prevent accidents. We use bells which helps but it can backfire b/c he will ring them now to go out and eat cicadas! Anytime he goes near the door we take him out too.

[Sally Crocker]

Thank you, I'm going to start with the bell and buy more wine.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

MY advice.  Ditch the blacklight! :-}  What we don't know.....

[LORRY SWETLAND]

I got Turbo at the end of March 2016...I took him out every hour on the hour...He only peed in the house the first day...That's when I started to keep him at my side at all times. He quickly learned that in the house we do not get spastic and since I took him out every hour and gave him 15 to 20 min of exercise and playing he was content to relax in the house. I took him in the bathroom and closed the door so he couldn't leave. He slept in my bedroom on a pillow or the floor and kept the door closed. Bedtime was at 10 pm and first trip outside was 6 am....He was not quite 3 months when I got him. It wasn't until he was 15 months old that I started to leave him in the house on nasty days and locked in the kitchen. This past july/aug he has had the run of the house even when I'm not home. He is so used to being with me that he still doesn't go into another room when I am home...in nice weather he goes out on the deck through the doggie door. If I have to be gone more than a few hours he is left in the garage where he has a platform bed and a doggie door to an outside pen that is 6 ft high and 45 by 50 ft chain link with chains and pad locks so he can't escape and the personnel door has a hasp lock on the outside cause he can open doors. he is an escape artist but one cool doodle

[Sally Crocker]

Love his name! Sound like a cool puppy.

[Kim Seastrom]

We had the SAME issue with our new pup this summer. At first, we thought he was doing well because he would pee whenever we took him out, but the black light showed us how many times he'd just gone whenever he wanted! Some of the carpet stains were likely from a previous occupant, so I think the scent (however faint & old) was telling him carpet was an OK spot to go. (Also, he wasn't on carpet at his birth home, so it may have seemed good for peeing.). We did get through it by 1) thoroughly shampooing the carpet with an enzyme cleaner, and 2) watching him like a *hawk* so we could catch him at it and provide correction with "NO!" and immediately taking him out, plus continued praise/rewards for going outside. After a few times of having an unhappy mom sprinting outside carrying him, he figured it out. I am happy to say that Argos is 5 months old now and has been solidly potty trained for over a month. I even brought him to a friend's house for a couple nights and he always asked to go outside; no issues at all. You can do it!