Lenie Posted October 2, 2018 Report Share Posted October 2, 2018 Hi all, it's me again! Lottie is five months old now and we are still having issues with potty training. I believe the main problem is that outside she doesn't always think about going potty and it only occurs to her when she comes back inside and goes in her crate. I have an area outside that I have blocked off and when I take her outside, she immediately is put in there and I don't let her out until she pees (sometimes this doesn't occur). Then we have play time. Pooping is a little harder to get because she doesn't seem to have a schedule. She might poop three times one day and six times the next day. She also will not pee or poop unless she is home, in the backyard, or in her crate in the car. If we are walking at the park or on a long drive and I take her out for a potty break, she will not go. I think she is just so excited about a new place that she can't settle down. So inevitably, she pees or poops in her crate while we are driving again. Any ideas on how to get her to potty in new places? In a previous post, I had mentioned that she has begun to potty in her crate. She used to never do that. She doesn't spend a whole lot of time in there, but I do use it when driving and to enforce nap times because she has a hard time settling down and just gets wilder and wilder the longer she is out of her crate. She used to settle down and go to sleep but now she has started to circle in her crate, looks at me, circles again, repeats, and then she might pee a dime sized amount (after having just peed outside) and I'm afraid I contributed to this behavior because I would immediately clean it up, giving her attention. Now I don't know what to do. Leave it there so she doesn't get attention after peeing and pooping in her crate? I hate to do that because I don't want her to have to be in there with it. She has grown to the point that she can't avoid it very well. People suggest making her crate smaller, but she has grown so much I may have to get her a bigger crate in order for her to be comfortable. I've been feeding her in her crate, hoping to teach her that the crate is where she eats and sleeps, but that doesn't seem to be helping. How far along is normal when it comes to house training five month olds? Am I expecting too much out of her? I kept thinking it was my fault, that I just wasn't taking her out enough, etc. But I can take her out five times in ten minutes and she will still choose to pee or poop in her crate after all that. She occasionally has accidents in the house when she is outside of her crate, but not very often and that usually occurs when I'm not paying attention and don't notice her sniffing and circling. I usually have time to grab her and take her outside before that happens. Apologies for yet another long question! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted October 2, 2018 Report Share Posted October 2, 2018 How long it takes a puppy to 'get' house training varies depending on the puppy. I had one who house trained himself at 6 weeks old and only rarely had an accident in the next couple months, another who was about 8 months old before it reliably clicked for him, and the rest at various ages in between. So one thing is just to be patient and keep doing what you're doing. At her age, it really shouldn't be too much longer before Lottie gets it. One thing you might try is putting outside elimination on cue. Using praise and treats when she goes, add a cue. Some people use separate cues for peeing and pooping, others just one. If you can get this on cue, there's a good chance she'll do what she's asked when you take her out. Just be sure only to use the cue when she's actually in the act, otherwise it'll be meaningless to her. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenie Posted October 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2018 On 10/2/2018 at 9:39 AM, GentleLake said: How long it takes a puppy to 'get' house training varies depending on the puppy. I had one who house trained himself at 6 weeks old and only rarely had an accident in the next couple months, another who was about 8 months old before it reliable clicked for him, and the rest at various ages in between. So one thing is just to be patient and keep doing what you're doing. At her age, it really shouldn't be too much longer before Lottie gets it. One thing you might try is putting outside elimination on cue. Using praise and treats when she goes, add a cue. Some people use separate cues for peeing and pooping, others just one. If you can get this on cue, there's a good chance she'll do what she's asked when you take her out. Just be sure only to use the cue when she's actually in the act, otherwise it'll be meaningless to her. Good luck. Thank you! I've been trying your suggestion of putting elimination on cue. I don't think she has made the connection yet, but we are working on it! One thing that has gotten better--she hasn't had an accident in her crate for three days. Three days ago, I decided to leave her crate in the bedroom instead of the living room. If she gets too wild or naughty, she is put in the crate for a quick time out and she also has a couple naps in there during the day. But when she is in the crate, she isn't able to see me. I don't know that she was eliminating in her crate because she knew I'd clean it up and thus give her attention, but it does seem like it. It feels like whack a mole with Lottie though. She behaves in one area and then something else comes up! The last couple nights, she has gone crazy in her crate. Bouncing against the sides, moving the crate around the room, scratching at the bottom, just being very hyper and not settling down like she normally does. She sleeps in her crate every night and has since we got her at six weeks. She has been sleeping through the night since she was about eight weeks old so this is out of the blue. I did cover her crate with a blanket last night and it helped a little but we've got to figure this problem out now! Anyway, thanks again for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reploidphoenix Posted October 8, 2018 Report Share Posted October 8, 2018 1 hour ago, Lenie said: Thank you! I've been trying your suggestion of putting elimination on cue. I don't think she has made the connection yet, but we are working on it! One thing that has gotten better--she hasn't had an accident in her crate for three days. Three days ago, I decided to leave her crate in the bedroom instead of the living room. If she gets too wild or naughty, she is put in the crate for a quick time out and she also has a couple naps in there during the day. But when she is in the crate, she isn't able to see me. I don't know that she was eliminating in her crate because she knew I'd clean it up and thus give her attention, but it does seem like it. It feels like whack a mole with Lottie though. She behaves in one area and then something else comes up! The last couple nights, she has gone crazy in her crate. Bouncing against the sides, moving the crate around the room, scratching at the bottom, just being very hyper and not settling down like she normally does. She sleeps in her crate every night and has since we got her at six weeks. She has been sleeping through the night since she was about eight weeks old so this is out of the blue. I did cover her crate with a blanket last night and it helped a little but we've got to figure this problem out now! Anyway, thanks again for the help! At her age, it could be her teeth bothering her and it could be setting her back. Make sure to keep some safe chew toys in the crate with her to ease her gums. With potty training, my dogs went out on a leash to potty. It kept them on focus knowing it wasnt playtime and they could just run around and sniff as they felt. My girl was potty trained by within 3 months old and had few accidents up to 6 months old. Females for whatever reason seem to need to potty more frequent. My boy is potty trained at 7 months but still has an occasional accident every couple weeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted October 8, 2018 Report Share Posted October 8, 2018 When and how many times a day do you feed her? Puppies intake generally causes a need to go soon after they're done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenie Posted October 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 22 hours ago, reploidphoenix said: At her age, it could be her teeth bothering her and it could be setting her back. Make sure to keep some safe chew toys in the crate with her to ease her gums. With potty training, my dogs went out on a leash to potty. It kept them on focus knowing it wasnt playtime and they could just run around and sniff as they felt. My girl was potty trained by within 3 months old and had few accidents up to 6 months old. Females for whatever reason seem to need to potty more frequent. My boy is potty trained at 7 months but still has an occasional accident every couple weeks She did lose several puppy teeth all at once about three weeks ago. She has just now stopped trying to chew everything in sight! I do have an area blocked off that I take her and she doesn't get play time until after she eliminates. I try to separate the playtime from the potty time but she may not have figured out the difference yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenie Posted October 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 16 hours ago, Journey said: When and how many times a day do you feed her? Puppies intake generally causes a need to go soon after they're done. I offer her food three times a day. She varies on if she eats it or not. If she does eat, then she usually does need to potty. But other times it might be a couple hours until she needs to. I've been trying to get her on a good schedule ever since she was a puppy because I'm told that's the key for house training, but she just doesn't seem to want to follow one! She often skips a meal entirely or only takes a couple bites. She's right on target with her weight and the vet says she's healthy though. I feed her dry food twice a day and usually the third meal I mix with wet food to encourage her to eat. Again, sometimes she eats all of that and sometimes she ignores it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted October 9, 2018 Report Share Posted October 9, 2018 I don’t do anything outside with my puppies until they potty. I mean I take them to the same spot and stand there boring as a post. And then party afterwards. AS soon as they start going right away (it happens pretty soon- within a week) I add a command. Once it’s trained at home, I repeat in new locations. Potty comes first then all the fun stuff. They don’t always poop but they need to at least try and pee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.