How to teach to go to potty?

Question

Hi! I have a cute rottweiler puppy, she is 4 months and 2 weeks old. Her prevous master abandoned her and I see she dont know at all how to go to potty outside. I tryed to take her outside 5 times a day same time after she eat, and thats for 2 weeks. The same result, she stay outside for hours, when we come back home she pee right on the carpet. I cant say she is a stupid dog, because she is not, she understand a lot of things and do it. This is the only problem I have with her. Two weeks ago we went out of town, 8 hours at farm, outside, and I watched her all the time, she didnt do a thing, when we came back home she did it right then. If she go to the training school will they teach her there? I dont know what to do anymore. Please help!

Answer 1

Much of housebreaking is not training the puppy, but making it easier for your
puppy, you, and your carpet while its body to catches up to its instincts. At
around 8 weeks when the puppy goes to its new home, the time from when it
realizes it has to go, and when it can't wait any longer is a matter of
seconds. Only time will fix that. You can hardly be expected to be attentive
enough to avoid all accidents. There is no sense punishing the puppy for your
inattention. It is not fair to punish you either, but you still have to clean
it up if you didn't have the puppy outside in time.

Housebreaking starts before you get home with the new puppy. If you don't have
a crate, buy one. I prefer the more enclosed, den like plastic ones. Skip the
bedding. At first it gets wet, and later it can be chewed into choking
hazards. A wire grid in the bottom will help keep the puppy up out of
accidents at first. They are available with the crates, but expensive and hard to find. A piece of closely spaced wire closet shelving from a home supply place is cheaper. I am now using a plastic vegetable bin with plenty of holes drilled in the bottom. It helps block off part of the crate for the smaller puppy. If you already have a metal crate, covering it may help. Just make sure you use something the puppy can't pull in and chew. Dogs that start out in crates as little puppies, accept them very well. Never leave an unattended puppy loose in the house. If nobody can watch it, put it in the crate. I suggest letting the dog have its crate all its life. A crate needs to be just big enough for a dog to stretch out in.

Choose a command and spot you want it to use. The less accessible to strays,
the less chance of serious disease. If it is a female, choosing a non grassy spot will avoid brown spots later. When you bring it home, take it to the spot and give it the command in a firm, but friendly voice. Keep repeating the command and let the puppy sniff around. If it does anything, praise it. Really let it know what a good dog it is and how much you love it, and maybe a treat. Note, being out there not only means you can praise it, but it also keeps it from being snatched by a hawk. If it doesn't go, take it inside and give it a drink and any meals scheduled. A young puppy will need to go out immediately afterward. Go to the spot and follow the above routine. Praising it if it goes is extremely important. If it doesn't go, take it back inside and put it in its crate and try again soon. Do not let it loose in the house until it does go.

At first it is your responsibility to know and take the puppy out when it
needs to go. It needs to go out the first thing in the morning, after eating,
drinking, and sleeping. If it quits playing, and starts running around
sniffing, it is looking for a place to go. Take it out quickly. You will just
have to be what I call puppy broke until it is a little older. How successful you are depends on how attentive you are.

By the time most dogs are about 3 months old, they have figured out that if
they go to the door and stand, you will let them out. The praise slowly shifts
to going to the door. Some people hang a bell there for the dog to paw. If
your dog doesn't figure this out, try praising it and putting it out if it
even gets near the door. A stern "Bad dog!" is all the punishment that is
effective, and only when you catch it in the act and are sure you didn't miss
it going to the door. Clean up accidents promptly. I mostly keep the little
puppies out of the carpeted rooms. Still I need the can of carpet foam
sometimes. First blot up all the urine you can with a dry towel. Keep moving
it and stepping on it until a fresh area stays dry. A couple big putty knives
work well on bowel movements. Just slide one under it while holding it with
the other. This gets it up with a minimum of pushing it down into the carpet.
This works with even relatively soft ones, vomit, dirt from over turned house
plants, or anything else from solids to thick liquids. Finish up with a good
shot of carpet foam. Note, do not let the puppy lick up the carpet foam.
Once the dog is reliably housebroken, your carpet may need a good steam cleaning.

Many people strongly strongly push cleaning up all evidence of past accidents. I am slower to suggest that. Dogs will return to the same spot if they can find it. When you see one sniffing the spot, that is your clue to run it out.

The above can be applied to older dogs too. Biggest difference is the longer time after eating or drinking before they are ready to relieve themselves. If a dog has been living where it could keep its living space clean, it should quickly catch on. The important part will be teaching it that if it goes to the door, you will let it out. It will be much more difficult if the dog was forced to live in its filth. You will need to learn to read the dog and learn its schedule, and when it needs to go out. Keep it in sight, closing doors and setting up gates. Some people even leash the dog to themselves. I have used a tie down at my computer desk.

Answer 2

First, don't punish her. If you end up spanking her, scolding her, running her nose in it she will learn to become a shy potty dog. Which means she'll start hiding from you when it's time to do her business. You'll smell it but won't be able to find it, and outside - going with you there would be out of the question. You need something that smells like her. Next time she does her business in the house soak it up w/a towel. Use that towel outside for a base. Now she has a place that smells like her where she's SUPPOSE to go. (Clean you capets w/ a Steam Cleaner using simple solution or natures mircle. It has enzymes that remove the stain and breaks down what the dogs smell.)

When she goes outside make it into a game. When she does anything make a big deal about it. Feed her on a schedule, give her water on a schedule. Keep taking her out frequently.

She'll get the hang of it. If need be crate her or keep her confined to a certain area of the house (perferable some where w/ tile).

Training will help - it always does but this is a situation that's going to take patience and REtraining.

When she starts doing her business make sure to tell her over and over "go potty go potty go potty....." Now your training her to go potty on command.

Give her a command to go outside. When you're taking her to the door say outside. Now "outside" means going to do the business. See what I mean?

Good Luck

Answer 3

On the whole a just right time to start is between 18 months and a pair of years. My daughter is 18 months too and that i mostly offer her the potty, which she most of the time refuses. Up to now she has only sat on it for just a few seconds, without success. If your little one does not look to "suppose it coming", she's almost always now not competent yet. My daughter features to her nappy and says "poo" when she does a wee or poo, so she certainly is aware of anything is happening. Are attempting letting her run round within the nuddy mostly (might be easier in spring/summer), there'll be a couple of puddles, but she'll learn what's happening down there. Also that you can take her to the toilet with you to show her. And when she sits on the potty, you can distract her with a e-book or a favorite toy. We're keeping a fairly cool toy in a position as a present for her first "potty-job". *g* just right luck, however don't stress out, 18 months is still very young.

Answer 4

there's a lot of different ways to teach potty training. I think that positive training is the best. when you do see her go outside praise her & give her a treat-immediately. dogs have a very short memory, keep treats on you when she's outside so that you can give them to her right away. i also think that other dogs are a great learning tool for puppies. if she's around other dogs that go outside, she'll try it herself & then realize how cool you think it is when you praise her. yes, obedience school will help a lot. get nature's miracle to clean up her past mistakes inside. if she keeps smelling it inside, she'll keep doing it. & no matter how well you clean with other things only nature's miracle will get it all out so that a dog can't smell it. it will not happen "over night", be patient & consistant with your training. good luck!

Answer 5

it is good that you are taking her outside so often. it seems that at this point she should know that going inside is wrong. i know that you hate to bring reality on her but unless you want this to continue...
here is wha to do
when the dog goes inside bring her to the spot and rub her nose in it, then say NO! in a really loud deep voice, if she puts her ears back a cowers a little it means she submits and understands. also
try to take her outside until she pees then give her LOTS of praise and treats, you have to make a big difference in the way you act when she goes inside vs. outside.
also try taking her out the minute she wakes up from a nap or even wake her up a few minutes before you know she will. they always have to pee after they nap

Good luck!

Answer 6

first you need a crate.
keeping her outside isnt going to teach you that you want her to go out there, if she's already there constantly.

and your gonna need to bring her outside to go at least every hour, if she pee's or poo's in the house, you have to catch her within that 1 second of doing it, before she'll even begin to understand she's doing something wrong.
startle her, with a hand clap, a firm NO, or a jug with some coins in it, then take her out RIGHT THAT SECOND.

and lastly, only keep her outside to do her thing for maybe 5-10 min. any longer and she wont realize what she is outside for.

good luck

Answer 7

You just need to keep taking her out until she pees and pretty soon she will get the hint. I mean, dogs live to please, and when she does what you want, then praise the hell out of her and soon she will learn she has to pee outside and also that it will get her praise from you!

Answer 8

You need to lead by example. When you take her outside to potty you should potty out there so she can she what she's supposed to do.

Answer 9

You can look up the animal humane society. They post info. on house breaking puppies.

Answer 10

what you do is say "go pee" and after she does give her a treat (some kibble) try that for a couple of weeks and then try that without kibble