i am having a difficult time potty training my five month old pomerainian.. HELP !!?

Question

when i take him outside to use the bathroom and he does i give him a treat for doing so, and when he uses the bathroom in the house he's scolded and sent outside. but he seems to prefer just playing outside and using the bathroom in the house. am i doing something wrong?

Answer 1

Just for some background, I am a former AKC kennel owner (until I got a divorce :P), professional obedience, tracking, and area/personal protection trainer. I have also been a show handler with multiple AKC obedience titles to my dogs' credit. I am a founding member, former Chairman of the National Association of Professional Canine Trainers and Handlers (NAPCaTH) and certified Canine Behaviorist. I have also trained Search and Rescue dogs which have worked around the world. I'm not just spouting something I heard from Uncle Jake, saw posted in a forum on the internet, or saw on "The Dog Whisperer". (shudder)

A puppy can be successfully housebroken starting at the age of 6 weeks, but it is a serious responsibility and requires constant attention. The time it takes to housebreak a puppy in my home is 2-5 days. If it's taking longer than that then YOU are doing something wrong.

I'm going to use the term "poo" to cover both urine and feces.

Here is the recipe for successful housebreaking:

#1 Get on a schedule. – Bring him outside often (about every 2-4 hours) for the first week or so. Stay outside until he does his business. If you can't dedicate yourself to going outside with your puppy for 15 minutes every 4 hours for a few days then please take the puppy to a shelter and get a cat. Also, he should make a potty run every time he wakes up from a nap and about 5-15 minutes after he eats. NEVER withhold water from any animal without specific directions to do so from a veterinarian. Dehydration can happen _very_ quickly in a puppy and it’s known in most states as “animal abuse”, “cruelty to animals”, or “criminal neglect” (usually a FELONY) if an animal suffers because its owner is too lazy to get off their butt and take them outside.

#2 Praise early, praise often. - Make a BIG pleasant deal about what a wonderful thing it is that he has done his business outside **as soon** as he has done so. If you wait until a puppy wanders up to you to praise him, then he thinks you are praising him for coming to you and has forgotten all about the big stinky load he dropped a few minutes before. Your praise to correction ratio should be about 20:1. That means that you should be telling him that he is good for doing all kinds of little things about 20 times more often than you are scolding him for doing something wrong. This will teach him very quickly the boundaries of what acceptable behavior is and what is not.

#3 DO NOT RUB THE DOG'S NOSE IN POO! A dog has no way of getting the poo off of his nose except by licking it off. If he does this then before you know it, you have a poo eating dog on your hands b/c he has developed a taste for it! Instead, remember that a dog's nose is at least 150 times more powerful than your own (depending upon the breed) and use that to your advantage. Make the dog down-stay (lay down and stay there) in position for 1 minute per month of age very near but not in the poo. If your dog is 3 months old, then he stays with his nose next to the poo for 3 minutes while you clean it up. He will very soon associate pooing in the house with having to lay still for (what seems like to a puppy) a VERY long time and will instead wait for his next regularly scheduled potty break.

#4 Be consistent. The pup needs to know that if he poos in the house that there are consequences and, more importantly, that if he does it outside that there will be praise.

#5 NEVER call a dog to you for punishment. When you find the dog has dropped a load, go get him, pull him carefully but firmly to the site of the poo, and then scold him. If you call a dog to you for punishment then you are, in the dog's mind, punishing him for coming to you when you call him b/c that's the last thing he did before you lit into him with your loud, scolding mommy (or daddy) voice. If the dog's nose is filled with the aroma of his own poo, then it's pretty clear to him what you are bent out of shape about. If I had a dollar for every time someone has called me up and can't figure out why their dog doesn't come when he's called but yet they call the dog before they punish him, I'd be a VERY rich man. :D

The most important thing to remember with canine behavior:
Dogs LOVE praise. They LIVE for praise. If your pup knows that he will be praised for good behavior then he will do absolutely ANYTHING that will earn him "good luvins".

Good luck and please feel free to email me if you have any further questions.

Torin

Answer 2

No you are doing things correctly..however have you tried crate training? This worked well with my puppy (he was house trained within a few weeks). Dogs will not "go potty" in their beds. The problem is that your puppy doesn't see your house as his "den" so he will go to the bathroom inside. expose him to different rooms slowly, and until he is house trained, make sure to keep him NEAR you at all times. In doing so he will realize that the whole house is his "den" and will not go to the bathroom inside it.

Also, make sure you are cleaning the carpet VERY well so he can't smell it and think it's okay to go there again.

The last thing I can offer is to get a set of bells that he can reach from the floor. (being a pomerainian this could be hard....) Every time you put him outside, ring the bells and then open the door. He will start to connect the bells to "outside." This works wonders in telling you that he needs to go outside even if you aren't in the room. It sounds crazy, but it's really easy to train them and now we can hear my dog from different rooms so we always get to him in time before we get an accident on the floor!

I hope this helps!! Good luck!!

Answer 3

There could be a lot going on. Dogs respond to an entire environment, not just one thing you do or don't do.
First, if you leave the dog alone for a long time, you have no opportunity to scold or reward, either way.
Second, if you only take short little walks, your dog could be confused.
Here's what I did...
1. took my dog on several walks a day, and not just around the corner and back. 2. Contained her in a small area where I could watch her every move, and also where she wouldn't want to pee because she's hanging out there.
3. If she did pee in the house, instead of scolding, I just went "oh no, oh no" all sort of panicky like because they sense that better than anger... then picked her up and took her outside immediately.

My advice: use puppy pads also so you can start to contain the dog in a certain area for potty time, then you can move it outside.

consistency will win out so don't give up.

Answer 4

Poms are sweet and smart and also very sensitive to you and what you want. They would be very sensitive to behaving the way that you want them. You may be giving him too much attention with the scolding, or you are making him/her upset and he/she is reacting by going in the house. I have a Pom, but she was trained when I got her and she goes to the door when she needs to do her business. She is also crate trained, and sleeps in there at night and travels in it in the car. She has only had one accident in the house, and she was sick when that happened. Try taking yours out several times per day, and sometimes you have to stay out for a longer time as Poms generally are picky about where they go, especially number two and have to find the perfect spot. The only time that my Shelbie will go quickly is when it is stormy outside, she hates getting wet. Try staying outside with your pup a bit longer, and do not play during the bathroom time. Poms also can get easily distracted, and the playing time needs to be separate from the potty time. Hope this helps, good luck with your little cutie, they are special dogs...mine is staring at me as she knows that it is dinner time and she thinks I have forgotten her..... Good luck and have a good night!

Answer 5

You need to work with your puppy Or take him to obedeinci school.

Answer 6

Put some toilet paper in the bowl so he has something to aim at.