A Question About House Training A Small Dog?
September 26, 2009 by admin
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
I have 2 papillons, the first one I got 4 months ago. She wasn’t hard to train, it took about a week and a half. The second one, I’ve had for a week, and she doesn’t seem to even be catching on. She refuses to go outside at all (lived in a kennel her whole 2 yrs.) and when we put her there she darts back in. She has done her business outside, but its difficult to know if she’s catching on to it, she doesn’t seem to be. She does her job inside also, anywhere and everywhere. Any suggestions? Are some small dogs just not trainable? I need as much advise as possible before I give up on her and let her go.
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You’ve had her a week and she lived in a kennel for her first 2 years? You need to practice more patience and kindness with her. It will take her much longer than the average dog to learn house training. In the mean time make sure you do not punish for accidents in the house and praise like wild for going outside. She will catch on eventually, but you really will need super patience. She will likely have other behavior issues as well. Good luck.
Keep an eye on her and give her a sharp “no” when she uses the bathroom in the house and give her lots or praise when she goes outside. You may even want to tret her when she does outside.
In my opinion, smaller dogs tend to be a little more stubborn than larger dogs. Smaller dogs were usually bred to kill vermin which is a totally different mindset than retrieving or scenting, although it can be really hard to get a hound dog off a scent.
Keep at it, stay pateint and try to keep a good attitude. It’s not your dog’s fault. She’s gone through some big changes in a short time. She’ll get it. Just be patient.
Do you praise her lavishly when she does do her business outside?
I have used this method. When they look like they are going to do it in the house, I say NO real loud and then pick them up, ( not grab, try not to terrify her) and place them outside and stand there saying, go potty, go potty and when they go I praise them up and down. It takes about 7 to 10 days, then they get it. Also, do you have a doggie door? She can’t unlearn her life style in just a few days. Living in a kennel. So be patient, she can do it!
You need to be really patient with her. If she was kept in a kennel and is used to using that as a bathroom, then it gets a little tougher. Make sure you praise the heck out of her when she does go outside. Maybe set aside a special treat she ONLY gets when she goes outside. If you catch her going in the house, make a lot of noise and grab her and take her right outside. You wanna distract her from what she’s doing so that hopefully she’ll finish outside. Some dogs just take longer to understand what they’re supposed to do. Especially if they were used to just doing what they wanted.
I agree with the advice above except about yelling,clapping, etc. It just scares a pap and they don’t know why and then they learn to not trust humans.
Also, some kennel dogs (from bad kennels) have had to learn to overcome the natural tendncy to keep their comfort area clean. Dogs do have different capacities for “holding it” and paps are very smart and not stubborn – if the human learns to communicate and understand “dog”. Please read all of my prior posts for today and taking a bit of advice from all shoulf help. Be patient. Try the paper towel advice and the enzyme cleaning advice especially.