Re: #2

In Reply to: #2
Category:   House Breaking
Posted by:  Kevin
Posted on:  October 30, 2002 at 13:56:39

: First off, thanks for all the great advice so far. Our question has to do with getting our 18 week old puppy to go #2 in the morning. Our routine each day is to take her out first thing for a quick pee, then she is fed. Roughly 20 minutes later I take her for a 15 to 20 minute walk. She seems to pee just fine, but when it comes to doing #2, more often than not she doesn't go. This is normally not a problem, but in our case we are gone all day and she will invariably have gone in her crate by the time we get back. This is understandable with the amount of time we are gone from the house. However, if we could get her to go before we left, there would be less of a mess to deal with when we get home.

: My other concern was that she might associate the crate as a place to go even as she matures. We'd like to think that the number of accidents would decrease (as she gets older) by the time we get home.

: We've been very good and very consistent about taking her out many times when we are home to do her business. However, there are times when she will get out of the kitchen (which is gated off) and go to the bathroom on the carpet. Seeing as how access to the carpeted area of our house is more rare, shouldn't she be associating outside as the place to go (especially since she gets treats for going outside!).

Response:

Hi Kevin,

I am going to answer both your posts with this one.

Usually puppy metabolisms run pretty fast and so under normal circumstances taking a pup out 20 minutes after eating would be on target, but every dog is different. You might have to juggle feeding time or potty time to find the right combo for success. You might want to try taking her out 30 minutes after her meal and see if that might help.

Yes, you are right on target to worry about crate soiling becoming a habit because it can. You are probably better off at this point to set up a small safe area for her and leave her crate open so she can go in and out of it. Then if she is going to go (and she will because she can't physically hold it at this age) she should go outside of her crate. Normally I don't recommend paper-training as it usually just confuses a dog but in cases where you just cannot get anyone to come in (can you hire a pet sitter?) and take a puppy out, then I would say to go ahead and try the paper training until you know she is old enough to be able to hold. I am even going to suggest (I can't believe I am saying this haha) the new dog litter system by Purina.

So puppy-proof the laundry room and put her crate in there open, and spread papers on the floor, as she gains more control you can start to remove some of the paper until there's only one small corner left.

Please keep in mind that even with the papers you still need to work on housebreaking her! So no getting lazy please :) Still work with her on a potty routine and continue to leash her and go outside with her and praise her when she does her business.

The papers are only to help this little girl during the day because you don't want her to be soiling her crate, it's not fair to her that nobody can take her out during the day.

Please set up your laundry room to be as pleasant as possible for your puppy. You need to leave her some toys and you might want to even put a radio in there (up where she cannot reach). Please make sure to unplug your washer and dryer and put the cords where she cannot reach them. Puppies are chewers and you do not want to come home to an electrocuted puppy! So really case out the room and look at it from a puppies point of view so you can make this room safe for her.

Just remember, because of your situation you know will be doubling your work. You will not only have to clean up papers (or litter) you will still need to prepare this pup to go outside in the future. She might get confused for awhile because she will be receiving mixed signals, on one hand it was OKAY for her to soil inside and now it's not.

Also a reminder, that with smaller dogs it usually takes 6 months or longer to housebreak, why? Don't really know but it's a fact of life. Patience, consistency and setting your pup up for success is the key to housebreaking and anything else they need to learn.

I am providing a link to our recommended reading, if you can, please pick up a copy of "How to Housebreak Your Dog in 7 Days" but I can tell you from the get-go this is NOT going to happen lol! At least not with a JRT! It's still a great book to help you get your puppy started in the right direction with lots of common sense tips and even schedules to follow for all sorts of situations.