Tips on housebreaking 2 - 6 month old puppies?

Question

I have been working with 2 puppies for the past 4 months and have not gotten them housetrained yet! They are crate trained. I feed them on a schedule. I walk them 3x per day with one walk at least 45 minutes. They go out ever 1-2 hours when not in the crate. I go out with them and give them praise for going and a treat. The go each time I take them so they seem to understand they are supposed to go outside BUT if the urge strikes while in the house - they will go in the house. I am about to lose it - any suggestions?????

Answer 1

If they are males neutering would probably help, they won't have the urge to mark. The first thing to remember about house training a puppy is there ability to hold themselves is limited. a rule of thumb is they can hold "it" usually 1 hour for each month of age. 2 months old = 2 hours, 3 months old = 3 hours, etc. when your puppy wakes up (morning, nap, whatever) the pup has to go, right then! take the pup out. when the pup eats or drinks, it has to go, take the pup out. after exercise (play), take the pup out. when the pup does it's thing outside praise it. a lot. tell the pup how good, how smart it is. you have to pay attention to the pups "looking for it's spot" behavior. when you see that behavior indoors, whisk the pup out. if you catch the pup in the act, simply tell it "NO!" and whisk it outside. if you find a puddle or pile after the fact, clean it up with an enzyme cleaner (pet food store) get a newspaper and hit.... yourself in the head and say "i should have been paying more attention" daytime training they get pretty fast. night time training is easier if you crate train the pup. also remember the one hour/one month rule. you will have to get up through the night to take the pup out. good luck

Answer 2

The first thing to do is as soon as they wake up and not a second after take them outside, to the same spot (everytime). The first thing they do when they wake up is go pee. They are too young to start "marking" territory. Their problem, along with any young child is that their bladders have not grown as fast as their body has and when it's full, it's full. You are doing everything right so far. Just make sure you ALWAYS take them to the same spot. I would start out by taking them outside every half hour (even if you know they don't have to pee, you are training their brains too) and if they did the deed then praise them like they just did the greatest thing in the world, i mean make a party out of it! Then reward them with their fav treat (but only give them one). If they make a mess in the house, do not make a noise, raise your voice, or call their name. Simply walk up to them quietly, pick them up, and place them outside in case they did not finish, do not punish (kennel) them unless you actually witness them in the act. and when i say punish i do not mean raise your voice or smack their butts. and when they're done doing the deed outside place them in their kennel for 15 min exactly (best to use an egg timer). and do that everytime you catch them in the act. do that for a couple days and you should start noticing a change.

FYI - you can kennel your dog for 15 min (max) to change ANY unwanted behavior. And do it EVERYTIME they do something undesireable. They will more than likely reaffend immediately. And they do this for a reason. They're trying to figure out why they were put in jail. Dog's are highly social animals and DO NOT like isolation. That is the worst thing in the world to a dog. they will go over every detail that landed them in their jail cell and will probably test you several different times so that thay can conclusively determine the behavior that landed them there. Dogs are very smart and only want to please their masters. Training a dog is no different than training a child. It really is simple once you learn how. All it takes is persistence, determination, repitition and a whole lot of patience and understanding.

Good luck!

P/S - Let me know if you need further help.

Answer 3

First of all, when you get a new puppy it is never to be allowed to wander the house alone. She is to have a small area of her own with her food and water, a bed, and a pee pad. You should take her out about once every two to three hours to go potty, and when you do, take her on a leash. (This is how you train her to go in a specific place in your backyard) Choose the place that is best for her to keep going to the bathroom, this will be her place. Take her out on her leash and walk her in circles and say a phrase of your choosing that she will link to the action of going potty. You could say something like "Go potty". Say this every few seconds until she finally goes potty, then reward her when she does it. When she's gone you can allow her to roam the house for a little while knowing that she wont go anywhere in the house. This can be for about 30 minutes to an hour before you put her back in her pin. Once she is used to this pattern she will learn to hold it in until she is outside, and as she learns you can give her a little more freedom. Puppies cant hold their bladder but so long at a young age but as they get older they can hold it longer. She was most likely not abused, because if that is so then she would avoid human contact. Puppies and dogs like to depend on a schedule, so set one up and this should stop happening.

Answer 4

What I did with my puppy was to start off on paper, everytime she went to squat in the house I would put her on the paper until she went, and then praise her for going. Once she was regularly using the paper I started moving it towards the door over a period of time, a inch or two at a time until she was actually at the door (this took quite a while), and then I started leaving the back door open with the paper just outside the door (obviously weighted down) ... she soon got used to going outside after this.

Although if you don't have a secure garden it's a lil harder to leave the door open for them, but getting them to the door in the first place is a start.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I had a similar problem. At first, his area was limited to just living room. So he would seaze any opporunity to sneak in any other room and did ’the thing’ there. Later we allowed him to go anywhere in the house and that’s when he started doing in outside. Now he will hold till we go for a walk and won’t even do it in the yard. I am not a dog expert, but I think that they don’t want to mess up their territory. That’s why they don’t do it in the crate. My friend did the thing with newspaper, also with praise every time his dog did it outside, but he kept the newspaper just in case. Never actually taught dog to do it strictly outside. When his dog was about 9 months he stopped going on the newspaper. Just like that! Now he holds it till he goes out for a walk. So my biggest advice, get the dog familiar to the whole house and have a nerves of steal. Good luck!

Answer 6

In all honesty... you seem to be doing everything correct. Follow them when they "disappear" to leave you a present in the house and give them a smack on the butt with a loosely rolled newspaper and put them immediately outside! You've praised them for going outside now discipline them for going inside!!!

Answer 7

Hi Bucca

Sounds to me like you are doing alot right with your pups. One suggestion would be to attach a cue word like "get busy" or "hurry up" to the act of your dogs eliminating. Never get angry with them if you come across any "mistakes" in the house.

This article has a good strategy which you could follow - http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/puppy-house-training.html

Good luck!