how can i potty train my puppy?

Question

my parents and i have recently discovered that when were not home my puppy potties on the floor. even if he's in a crate. he has a litter box that he knows to use. why wont he use it when were not home, and why does he potty when he's scared? is there anything i can do?

everything was working. but then i left home and the puppies got out. when they were out they pottied on the couch and pooed on the floor. they were doing so good. what happend? how can i convince my mom to not take them to the pound?

Answer 1

ive never heard of a puppy having a litter box. maybe your puppy thinks that since he is doing his business in the little box, which is in the house, then its ok to pee in the house. meaning it could be rebelling. i suggest u take away the litter box, get some puppy training pads, and every time he pees on that litter box, say "NO" very harshly, then take him outside. every once and a while, keep moving the puppy pads closer and closer to the door. finally yor puppywill get it. as for the potting when hes scared, he is still just a puppy, it could also be a bladder infection. where does he pee?? if its like in ur room, then he could just be marking his territory. if u have another dog in the house, he will be marking there a lot too, to try and tell the other dog that he's dominante. Hope this helped. Good Luck. God Bless!!
PS
btw, dont give ur dog a treat when he goes to the bathroom outside because when he does learn that he does have to go outside, he will expect a treat. which will also lead to MORE rebelling, insead just rub his belly and say GOOD BOY!! and just keep doing that. but yeah, i have a dog that im training to go outside, and i did that mistake, when i didnt give him a treat and only praised him, he started going in the house agian. so i really do suggest NOT to give him treat when he goes outside and does his business. and when he does poop or pee in the house u can slap him, not hard, but just so he will be scared. it WONT hurt him, he will still luv u no matter what. trust me, i know. ;) good luck again!

Answer 2

Focus on positive reinforcement. When you're home and see him go in the litter box, praise him like crazy, give him treats, pet him. If he goes in the wrong place while you're there, pick him up and take him to the litter box so he finishes there, then praise him.

Many excitable dogs will pee a little bit when they are all hyped up. They will also pee when they are scared. Cocker Spaniels are notorious for this problem.

If you scold the dog when you come home and find a puddle, the dog will be more scared of you that you will scold him the next time when you come home, so as the time approaches, the dog will pee or poop out of fear of what's going to happen next. That's why you never scold your dog for going to the bathroom at the wrong place.

Also, a dogs mind isn't like ours, he lives his life in the present. If he did something 5 minutes ago and he is being punished for it now, he doesn't understand what he's being punished for.

So stop scolding completely and start praising every time he goes in the right place and it will work out.

One final thought: most puppies don't have full bladder control until they are around 6 months old and sometimes older. So if you want to limit the accidents, let the puppy drink water an hour or half an hour before you leave, then take him to the crate, make sure he goes to the right place, praise and put the water away. As long as you're only gone for 8-9 hours and it's not really hot inside the house, this will be fine for the dog (if you're gone for longer, then you really do need to put some water out there, but still, try to give most of the water while you're there). Same goes for food.

Also, I strongly recommend you pick up a copy of Good Owners, Great Dogs by Brian Kilcommons. This will teach you more about housbreaking, understanding how dogs think, and training your puppy to do other things and listen to you.

Good luck. Let me know if you have questions.

Answer 3

The best way to potty train a puppy is without physical punishment so you do not loose any respect your puppy has for you. One way to do this is whenever you come home to find your dog has left you a "present" you take him over to it, and show him what he did wrong. Then sternly tell him NO! Its best to only use that one word so he can identify it as something that he did that was bad. Whenever you come home to see that he hasn't gone potty, reward him (it doesn't always have to be a treat though).
Your dog probably goes potty when he's scared because he might be a breed that has a week blatter and when he tenses up, it's body might confuse this with him needing to go to the bathroom.

Answer 4

Dogs usually won't go to the bathroom in their crate...you said there is a litterbox in there, so I'm guessing the crate is bigger than he needs. A dog's crate should be just be enough for them to stand up and turn 360 degrees in. Any bigger and they'll go to the bathroom on one side and sleep on the other. Are you making sure he potties before he is put in his crate for periods of time? A puppy especially can't hold it for that long. Also if you take your pup outside to go potty, when he is going say a keyword like "go potty" "go peepee"..etc..soon he'll go on command because he will associate "go potty" with going pee outside. Hope it helps.

Answer 5

I have a four month historical Pomeranian (I actually have a two 12 months historical Chihuahua and a two.five 12 months historical Japanese Spitz) and that i began off making use of the potty pads!! I set them beside my again door so he went there to visit the bathroom. When i noticed him heading over there i might open the again door and allow him out. Now he simply is going and waits on the again door until i open it for him, now not extra potty pads.

Answer 6

I read that you could first place newspapers all over the place where he likes taking a poop. Then, he'd get used to the "feel" of newspapers when he poops. Day after day, remove a couple of sheets, and when there are only a few sheets left, slowly move that over the place where you want him to take a dump.

As for the case in being afraid, I think he'll outgrow it :)

Answer 7

We have a small dog that we litter trained too. We started giving him a treat every time he goes potty in his litter box. Give him some time, he'll get it!

Answer 8

Any time the dog starts to use the bathroom in the house give it a small swat, show it it did wrong, then bring it outside. I did it with mine he learned in 2-4 weeks.

Answer 9

Every time the dog starts to relieve itself than put it in the spot you want it to go and it will learn in about 2 weeks

Answer 10

u could use pupy potty training pads. they give off a smell that attracts dogs and makes them want to go there.