housetraining my puppy!!?

Question

I have had my puggle since he was 8 weeks old. He is a really good puppy ( I think) except for the housetraining thing. He sleeps in a kennel and stays in the kennel while I am at school during the day. He never goes to the bathroom in his kennel. We take him out about every 30 to 45 minutes and he will go to the bathroom everytime. . . Then we come in and not less than 15 minutes later he has gone in the house. He has been pooping in the house about 2 times a day. He will go in the hall or under the couch. I tell him "no no!!" and take him straight outside. He pees 2-3 times also. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. I have 3 small children and he is really great with them. He is very playful. I just really need help with the pottytraining thing!!!! Please help!!

I forgot to mention my puppy is 15 weeks old now. He is on Nutro lamb and rice formula which is a very good food and he eats 2 times a day 1/2 cup each time. He eats at the same time every day.

Answer 1

i would try changing his food..it could be he can't digest the food properly and its just going right thru him..get him on a higher quality food only feed him small amounts a few times a day..give it a week or 2 after you change the food and if that doesn't help, take him to the vet

Answer 2

The first step in puppy potty training requires that you learn the clues that indicate your puppy needs to potty. These clues are: restlessness, sniffing the floor, or returning to a previously soiled spot. Your pup will need to potty about 5-20 minutes after eating, sleeping or playing. When you take your puppy outside to potty, to to the same spot each time and don't play. You want your puppy to focus on one thing only during puppy potty training -- going in the right area. As soon as your puppy potties, praise enthusiastically. Give your puppy a small food treat to reinforce the positive behavior. While your puppy is going potty, praise very softly so you don't interrupt the behavior. Be enthusiastic after your puppy is done.

While you're puppy potty training, you must keep the puppy close to you always so that the puppy does not have the opportunity to fail. This means starting the puppy out in a small area of the house and following the puppy nonstop. Alternatively, attach one end of a leash to the puppy and the other end to you, so that the puppy is no farther away from you than the end of the leash.

When you are not able to watch the puppy, put the puppy into a kennel. Or, if you have a fenced yard and the weather is good, you can put the puppy outside. However putting the puppy outside when you aren't watching means you lose the opportunity to reward. The kennel is a preferable training tool. A young pup 7-9 weeks old should be in a kennel for no more than two hours at a time. A puppy cannot control itself for longer than that.

We've done some research on kennels. There are many great one's available. However, you might want to look at one of these multi-size, sturdy folding crates. One great feature is that they can be folded to about four inches wide. They are also light weight but durable. The corners are slightly rounded which helps prevent leakage. A small one might

Answer 3

You don't mention how old the pup is, but it sounds like he is eliminating a lot. My first thought is that he is getting too much food, or a food that his body is not processing well. Make sure you are not over-feeding (think about how many treats he gets, too; with kids in the home, I know that can be quite a few). He should be fed meals, as well, and not have constant access to food. When you control what goes in, you can control what goes out.

Otherwise, make sure you are constantly supervising him or he is confined. This should prevent most accidents. The more accidents he has, the tougher housetraining will be. Give him lots of praise and a small treat when he goes to the bathroom outside.

Housetraining can take about one year - small dogs tend to take longer.

Answer 4

We got our puppy when he was about 11 weeks old. he is now 9 months old and still not fully potty trained. We do not put him in a crate at night nor while we are gone--he is confined to our kitchen during the day and does not make any messes at all. What has helped immensely over the past few months is to put him on a schedule. He gets three "scheduled" meals although water is always available. We put away both his food and water around 8:00 - 9:00 pm and this allows him to make it through the night after his last "outing" at 10:00 pm. We have found with this schedule he regularly poops around 7 am, again at lunch, around 5 pm and then again at his last outing at 10:00 pm. Weekends are a little tougher because we are at home with him and he gets freedom in the house. However he doesn't ever have potty accidents - only poop.
He has made vast improvement with the schedule. His diet is comprised of Beneful puppy food and bottled water. He doesn't get any human food and he does get a treat after every pee or poop. One thing that I think you need to have that we do not is easy access to the door that you take him out of to go potty. Our back door is down a couple of stairs and he can't go down stairs yet. i think if he was able to go to the door to let us know he has to go it would make things easier. I have been advised to try and teach him to ring a bell but that sounds like more work!
A quick funny story - when he does have a poop accident I raise my voice a little and say Sebastian - BAD BOY. He knows instantly that I am disappointed. He falls down on his side, rolls over onto his back and "plays dead"....he then will stay in that position until I clean up his mess. Once I've cleaned up he gets up and comes over to me. I can't yell at him and he would NEVER get swatted with a newspaper or anything--I just have a talking-to with him and then we go about being lovey-dovey....I know, I know..that's probably why he's still not fully potty trained but he's so darned cute! By the way, he's a Shih-Tzu-Yorkie mix....you say mutt, we say designer dog!
Good Luck!