I've HAD IT with my pups!! I can't housebreak them!! HELP!!?

Question

I have 2 male mini dachshunds, 15 weeks old. As soon as they started walking, I have been trying to potty train them. I take them outside every hour on the hour or more if they start sniffing around. When I catch them "in the act" I tell them NO and immediately put them outside. When I take them out and they do their business, I praise them like crazy "GOOD BOY!!" and love on them.
They're old enough now that I thought they'd be housebroken.
I'm sick of cleaning up after them...thank goodness I have hardwood floors at least!

What am I doing wrong?? Their mama is housebroken, and I've never had a problem with her going in the house. Are these boys just being stubborn or what??

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Verbal praise is good but treats are better! I had my puppy housetrained in no time with treats for every time she went outside. I've heard that you can't reliably housetrain a dog that's under 6 mos. of age (but my dog is four months now, and she RARELY goes in the house, so....).

Try rewarding them with treats when they go outside. They also sell a housebreaking spray that you spray ONLY where your pets should go - some of it is for outdoor use too. I had moderate success with this product when I tried paper training. I never tried the spray outside though.

Also - maybe if you let them out with the older dogs in the house, they would catch on? Before my puppy came home, the owners of the mom would let the mom and the puppies all out at once, and they would go with the mom. I've heard from other friends who took puppies from this litter that housebreaking has been easy for them as well.

I hope SOMETHING helps, I know how frustrating a puppy mess can be! Good luck!

Answer 2

They smell the places they have gone, and think that is an acceptable spot. Get some stuff from the pet store to remove the odor, and if you can, crate train them. Get a small crate, only enough room for them to lay down comfortably. They won't want to go where they sleep, and they will get out of the habit of going in the house. Even if you have hardwood floor, the smell is still seeping in below, you may be able to just pour some vinigar on the floor to nuetralize the odor and clean the floor. People use vinigar to clean floors anyway, so just make sure those areas are extra clean. I have had to put baby gates up so my dog cannot access my dining room, she will go weeks without a mess, but the temptation of that room causes her to have an accident. I have to replace the padding, because I just can't get the odor all the way out. They are just tempted by the smell, because that is their instinct.

Crates work wonders for overall behavior, keep praising them as you have, stay consistent with the timing, little dogs have little bladders, you can also try those pee pads, but I believe they only create prolonged potty training. Sometimes you just have to do what works though.

Best of luck, and don't let them get the best of you!!

Answer 3

Have more patience with them. A 15 week old on average can only hold for about 4 hours. Being that your attention is divided between two pups at the same time needing the housebreaking and an adult dog...show even more patience. Don't use the NO word..it doesn't mean anything to them just immediately take the needing to pee dog out and use a command word, treat, and praise..and consistency.

Secondly. get each of them a body harness, and 5-6 foot leash. tie the end of the leash to your belt so the dogs go wherever you go...when you see them start to sniff, circle, or other signal they need to go, take them out immediately. If you can't have them tied to you, than I suggest crate training them for the times they can't be human supervised.

Answer 4

It doesn't sound like you are crate training them. The best thing to do is to keep them in the crate for a week or two. The only time they come out is to eat and go outside. Dogs will not (well they shouldn't) pee where they sleep. After the two weeks open the living room up to them - but keep them confined to that area. Keep the crate there and open for them to use. After every few weeks open the house up to them more and more. Crate training is a wonderful tool. Just make sure that the crate is in a room that you are in most of the day. Make sure they sleep in the crate at night - never your bed. Eventually they will catch on that the house is not a place to pee. Good luck!

Answer 5

Your impatient and they can tell, puppys will NOT be house broken at 15 weeks, I have a 15 week old puppy right now he's not fully house broken, and I don't expect him to be, but I'm patient enough to know this fact, were your kids (if you have kids) potty trained at 15 weeks? No. You just need to keep up what your doing, start crate training, that works wonders! I've crate trained all my dogs including the puppy, and though he has "accidents" he is doing very godo compared to most young puppys. You can look up "Housebreaking Tips" online, you can get alot of good tips that will work for your preference. Be patient!

Answer 6

How I Housebroke my dog

Supplies:
Patience
Nature’s Miracle (or similar)
6 foot leash
Timer (I used the one on the microwave in the kitchen)

Prerequisites:
Do not let the puppy out of your sight. You can do this by following him around or by tethering him to your belt loop using the 6 foot leash. When you are not home, confine him to a safe area such as a crate, puppy proofed room, or xpen.

Process:
1. Set the timer for 20 minutes.
2. When the timer beeps, say “Time to go potty!” (or your chosen phrase) and take the dog out to potty.
3A. If the dog does not go outside, bring him back in and repeat steps 1 and 2.
3B. If the dog has an accident before the timer beeps, try to interrupt the dog by clapping or saying a sharp “NO”, then immediately take the dog outside so he can continue his potty break outside. When you come back in, reset the timer for a shorter amount of time (10 minutes-ish) and repeat steps 1 and 2. Finally, clean up the mess with Nature’s Miracle or another similar enzymatic cleaner designed for cleaning up pet urine.
3C. If the dog goes outside, give him a treat, praise him, jump up and down, throw a party. Do whatever you have to do to show your dog that he is WONDERFUL for going potty outside.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you are certain the dog can hold it for 20 minutes. Then set the timer for 25 or 30 minutes and repeat steps 1 and 2. Keep increasing the time until you are at your desired interval. Eventually, the dog will learn that you are the keeper of the door and potty privileges, and he will come ask you to take him out when he has to go. Good luck!

Remember that a puppy can't "hold it" for as long as an adult (or even a child) human can. Your puppy may need to go out as often as every 20-30 minutes or as seldom as every 2-3 hours at 8 weeks. It depends on the dog, his activity level, and his access to food and water. I'd also recommend putting your puppy on a feeding schedule (meals at the same time every day). If you control what goes in and when it goes in, you are also controlling what comes out and when it comes out.

Also keep in mind that potty training is a process. It is impossible to housebreak a puppy in a day or a week, and difficult to accomplish to 100% reliability in a month. A more realistic estimate is 2-3 months for a completely reliably housebroken dog. Dogs are also terrible with generalizing. For example, a dog may learn that he cannot pee on the carpet in the living room, but that doesn't mean that he knows he isn't supposed to pee on the carpet in the bedroom or on the carpet at your friend's house. For each new area you introduce, you will basically have to start over with housebreaking and pay close attention to your dog.

Answer 7

Small breed dogs tend to take longer to housetrain. Why? I have no idea. They're only 15 weeks old. Maybe you should keep them supervised when indoors, and at night or when you're away from home, put them in a crate, that way, if they do make a mess, it's in a crate and not on your floors. First thing you do when you take them out of the crate, is put them directly outdoors. Some people will leave them outside until they go potty (supervised, of course.)

Answer 8

Sounds like you have done everything to potty train them except for utilizing a crate for those unsupervised times. Unsupervised does not mean you have to be gone but you might be doing the dishes or watching a show on TV. A crate helps as long as you don't put any bedding in it, maybe just a chew toy and get one for each of the males. You can put them side by side though.
This should help. Eventually they won't need the crates but you can add the blankets in there when they are fully trained and they will probably love them, like a little den.

Answer 9

Most dogs have a very hard time, being completely housebroken until the age of about 6 months or more. They do not have control of their bladder and bowel until that time, kind of like a newborn child. Smaller dogs are usually easier to train earlier because they mature faster, but they still need at least 6 months to complete the process. Have you tried crate training? With patience it usually works well. Hope this helps.

Answer 10

First, you would be able to desire to place down the regulation with your BF....if he needs the canines, he needs to put in the attempt to coach her, in any different case she has to pass, or he does. canines are like little ones, they opt for consistency! Get a crate! Finda used one on line (attempt kijiji) or contained in the classifieds in case you would be unable to arise with the money for a clean one. canines often won't make a multitude the place they sleep, so the sole thank you to stop her from going the place she needs is to limit her in her mattress by using a crate whenever you would be unable to be there to take her out. shop the crate is a niche close to a door, so as quickly as your open the crate you may escort her outdoors. It shouldn't take long for her to get the assumption in case you do it every time you enable her out. If she's around the abode, shop a special eye on her. shop her constrained to factors that are common to bathe (no carpet) until she gets some administration, and as quickly as you spot her initiate, enable her out! back, if she finally ends up outdoors everytime she pees, she gets the assumption.