Help! My Puppy Is Driving Me Crazy!!!?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
I have a shih tzu papillon mix. she’s about 9 weeks old. She frustrates me! i can’t get her to pee or poop on the pad. Everytime she’s about to go i bring her to the pad but she’ll stop. Once I let her go again, she’ll go on the carpet. I want to train her to go outside but she doesnt have all of her shots yet and I just moved into a new house and don’t really know the history. So i’m not sure it’s safe for her. I’ve been consistent with the pad training for about a week and a half but she doesn’t seem to be making any type of progress. What should I do???
Related Papillon Training & Care posts:
I have a puppy and crate training is the BEST! she got the hang of it right away. puppy pads are the worst way to potty train your dog
There is just too much involved to answer your question here. Purchase a book or magazine specifically on potty training. You need to understand the basics, until you do you will probably be sabotaging yourself.
Even with my first pup confined in kitchen at night — only room with hard surface– he would still mess in that sleeping area.
I thought he would NEVER be trained.
He was, and all was well — except he would wet somewhere, once, inside each new place we moved to.
I tried to take him out often: after sleep, food, play, so basically after everything. It’s still my recommendation.
Look at it as practice for a child!
First, if you just moved then i wouldnt of suggested getting a puppy until all these things were checked out. If you are really that concered it not being safe have someone come out to your house and have it checked out by a landscaper or yard specialist. But until then you cant expect to always have your dog using the bathroom inside the house because if you never take her outside to use the bathroom she will be harder to train to use the bathroom outside. To actually train her you need to make a schedule. Like take her outside right when you wake up. Then after you eat breakfast then give her her food and water and have that sit out for about 20-30 minutes or until she eats and drinks waht she wants and then walks away from it. wait about 5-10 minutes after she eats and drinks and then take her OUTSIDE and tell her to “go potty” or something in a little baby voice so she knows that it is a good thing to use the bathroom outside. Praise her a lot when she does use the bathroom outside or on her pee pad. Then once she is inside you HAVE to always watch her if that means putting her on a leash or just having her walk around and always watching her. And if she does go inside then you have to catch her in the act and if she starts peeing or pooig just pick her while this act is going on and then you scold her otherwise if you yell at her after she does it and walks away and you yell at her then she barely knows what she did wrong. but mainly you have to have a schedule or bathroom and food times, and always watch her. Hope this helps
Confine her to a small area such as a kitchen or bathroom or purchase get an exercise pen. You need to keep her in a small area away from carpet. Put the pad or newspapers covering most of her floor area. Gradually decrease the amount of newspapers until only one small area is covered. By then she should have gotten the idea and into the habit of going on pads or paper. If she seems to be not getting it and goes somewhere other than the papers then you need to proceed much more slowly. Also, crate training and setting up a feeding and watering schedule will make it easier to gauge when she has to go. Whichever room you choose to confine her in be sure it is a place where she can see you otherwise she’ll become upset. Whichever room you frequent most is a good place. An exercise pen would be the easist way to go though.
First off…you need to get rid of the pads…all that’s gonna accomplish it teaching your puppy it’s ok to go potty in the house……she needs to go outside on a leash and you go out with her…..you have to watch EVERY move she makes…the minute you see her acting differently, sniffing, circling..etc…scoop her up and take her immediately outside..telling her all the way ou the door, and while outside “go potty” or whatever phrase you choose…but you HAVE to be consistant with it..as does everyone else in the house. stay out there with her so you can immediately praise her for doing her business out there…… Anytime your not able to watch her…she needs crated……dogs will do their very best to not potty where they sleep… 1 1/2 weeks is nothing compared to the length of time it takes to house break a dog…not to mention…she’s very very young…still very much a baby. You will have to have patience…and a lot of it! when she goes in the house…clean the spot with something to eliminate the odor so she’s not tempted to go there again. I use water/vinegar solution.
always go out the same door..always to the same spot in the yard. and praise….lots and lots of praise. A dogs greatest pleasure in life is pleasing their master…so when she sees that she’s done good…she will desire to repeat that behavior.
Very very important that you go out with her and stay out there ….even when praising her…use your “phrase” in the praise….”good girl go potty” she must associate your praise with what she’s being praised for…
she needs a strict schedule for eating and pottying…
routine/cosistancy/ patience…..are your main solution
crate train
Start over,
You have to crate train your puppy or block off a very small area that she is allowed to be in when you are not home, sleeping or unable to supervise her.
If you want to train her on the pads make sure that she always has them available.
Keep her confined to one room, cover the floor 2/3 with the pads, as she gets better remove more of the pads so its less of the room.
If you catch her going on the pads, give her a treat, praise her and make a big deal about it.
If you catch her going on the floor make a loud noise, clap your hands, but dont scold her.
You have to be vigulant and watch her every move for about 3 days, if you can go 3 days without having 1 accident on the floor she will be trained.
Where I take my dogs for training, the instructor uses the saying “pee to be free”. This means, that you take the dog out or to the pad on a regular basis and if she doesn’t go potty, she would have to go back into her crate. Wait about 5 minutes, then take her back to go potty. This does work, I’ve used it for both of my dogs. Good luck, it’s going to take some hard work.
i have 3 shih tzus.they are stubern and very hard to housetrain. start going into the yard eith her and whenever she goes to the bathroom outside, give her a treat.
i takes a while so hang in there.
Well, I had a problem similar to this just a few weeks ago, my puppy finally stopped doing that, i would get SO mad at her. What i started to do was, to make a schedule of when she should go outside, i learned that a puppy can only be expected to hold their bladder for so long…which is, you take their age in months and add one and thats how many hours she can hold it. So if she is 9 weeks old then you can only expect her to hold her bladder for 3 hours. If you take her out every 3 hours, then there should be no reason for accidents. Remember, try not to get frustrated at her, she has a tiny bladder, and she knows when you are upset with her, and if she gets too excited it may give more reason for her accidents. Always take her out within a couple minutes after she drinks water, and within 10-15 minutes after each meal. It takes a lot of patience and time, but she should be going outside in no time. I wouldnt worry about her not having all of her shots yet, as long as you keep her on a leash it should be just fine. Thats what I have been doing with my two 3 1/2 month old puppies, and they are healthy and doing great. If you have any more concerns about it feel free to email me =] hope this helps!! and good luck with your baby puppy!!
Crate training is the best way to train a puppy. You feed them in the crate (dogs hate to mess up where they sleep or eat). When you take her out of the crate…place her on the pad or take her outside. Give her a treat only when she goes where you want her to. Then play with her. Sooner or later she’ll understand what you want. Just be patient. 9-weeks is young and she has a lot of adjusting to do.
We had the same problem. You just have to be patient and talk in a calm nice voice. What we do is when we want the dogs to go potty we say”lets go outside”, and they know what i means.
go to the site below, it has some really great ideas and information. But something quick, one of the most important things is positive reinforcement. If all you ever say is “NO! bad dog!” then they have no idea what to do with themselves. Puppies LIVE to please you, they just have to learn how first! Once you see your puppy about to pee, pick him up(but gently or he’ll piss all over the floor) and take him to the pad.
Check the site below 4 more info!
She is not going to be trained in a week and a half… housebreaking can take MONTHS. It is a process, and does not happen overnight. Be consistent and she will get it eventually.
Your puppy is just a baby it takes time. Puppys need to go out alot. I never had any luck training with pads. Crate training is the best most efficient way to break a puppy. If you are giving the puppy shots she should be fine. When you take her out always take her to the same spot. When you cant watch her inside put her in the crate. The crate has to be the right size just big enough for her to stand up, turn around and lay down. If it is to big she wll potty in one end and sleep in another. The big thing here is patience, the more frustrated you get with her the worse it will be, she will feel your frustration and will most definetely will potty when you cant see her because she will be afraid. It takes alot of time it dosent come right away. Look up crate training on the internet it is the most effective way.